We Tried Five King Cakes for Mardi Gras and This Was the Best One

和Mardi Grasfast approaching, Carnival season is coming to a close—and so is your window to eatking cakes放弃。环形，肉桂状的奶油蛋卷甜点是在第十二夜和狂欢节本身之间的几周中享受的假日主食，尽管它们并没有那么广泛地销售新York City，多年来，我们的办公室很幸运能够从南方滴下几个蛋糕。脆脆，五颜六色的沙糖和甜蛋糕的结合以及在里面找到小塑料婴儿的新颖性，即使这意味着您正在挂在明年的蛋糕上，这是不可抗拒的。

This year, we called in several at once for ataste test。我们已经在列表best mail-order king cakes, but wanted to reach out to a few other bakeries to see if we could get their cakes to New York. This proved more difficult than we had initially thought. Several bakeries explained, understandably, that they don’t ship in order to preserve the freshness and structure of the cake; others wouldn’t have arrived in time for us to try them. Ultimately, we wound up with cakes from five different purveyors:Willa Jean, Cartozzo’s Bakery, Caluda’s King Cake, Three Brothers Bakery, and The Gumbo Bros. The first three are based in Louisiana, Three Brothers is in Texas, and Gumbo Bros is from our own home base.

While we typically wait to try everything at once during our taste tests, in this case, we ate each cake as soon as it arrived for maximum freshness. Some were dry, others were moist and packed with flavor. It was by no means an all-encompassing representation of all the gorgeous, sugar-dusted king cakes that are out in the world. But in the end, there was one that seriously impressed us. Read on to find out which king cake reigned supreme.

Where: Kenner, Lousiana

的五个蛋糕我们试过了,Cartozzo’s Bakery是一致的最爱。实际上，它击败了我们所拥有的每个国王蛋糕everhad delivered to the office. What really set it apart was how moist and flaky the cake was—one editor compared it to a potato bun cinnamon roll—in a good way. Factor in the perfect amount of cinnamon and it’s a treat we’d gladly enjoy annually.

“我最喜欢的！”高级编辑和Mardi Gras痴迷于玛格丽特·埃比（Margaret Eby）在她的笔记中写道。“一个坚实的国王蛋糕一直远。我知道和喜欢的很多温暖的香料和布丁质地。”

Where: New Orleans, Louisiana

Willa Jean’s cake was very visually appealing, tall and circular as opposed to ovoid. It had a thick layer of white frosting with the customary layer of gold, purple, and green sanding sugar—small little white “pearls” dotted the top and added a nice, sweet crunch. Although it arrived a little dry and we felt it could have used more cinnamon, it was still enjoyable. Bonus points for the crackly caramel crunch which added extra sweetness and texture.

“Nice coating of sugar around the outside and soft center, not very dense,” associate editor Megan Soll noted.

Where: Harahan, Louisiana

Caluda’sking cake also got high marks from our editors. We were a big fan of the icing-to-cake ratio, and enjoyed the flavor, too. It was a bit dry, but had a nice texture.

“This is what I consider a ‘great king cake,’” digital operations editor Elsa Säätelä said. “Not dry, lots of cinnamon. Sweet but not overly sweet.”

Where: Houston, Texas

Three Brothers’ king cake came with a lot of fun props, including beads, masks, and a little plastic crown. Compared to the others, it wasn’t as sweet—it was also on the dry side, and had an unexpectedly savory filling.

我在自己的笔记中写道：“我不能完全放在这里。”“奶油乳酪？马斯卡彭？”

地点：布鲁克林，纽约市

Gumbo Bros“国王蛋糕立即通过在装饰上有多色糖霜而不是与打磨糖来脱颖而出。代替里面干燥的肉桂漩涡，有一个粘糊糊的肉桂馅，它赢得了我们。总体而言，这是一个坚实的蛋糕。

"Much more like a cinnamon roll than the others!" associate food editor Kelsey Youngman said. "The gooey cinnamon swirl offsets a drier cake and very sweet icing."