Where to Buy the Best King Cakes for Mardi Gras

With apologies to Flannery O'Connor, a good King Cake is hard to find, unless you happen to be in Southern Louisiana or parts of Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama between January 6 to February 25, this year's Carnival season. But believe me, you want to find one.

A traditional New Orleans-style King Cake is a ring of cinnamon-laced brioche dough topped with a glaze and sparkly sanding sugar in the colors of Mardi Gras: gold, green, and purple. Famously, King Cakes also include a small plastic baby inside, or sometimes other ceramic or plastic trinkets—if you get the slice with the trinket inside, so the tradition goes, it's your job to host the Mardi Gras party next year. I've never seen anyone actually held to this rule, and also the sheer国王蛋糕消费水平在狂欢节期间，这意味着您至少让婴儿很高的几率很高。

King Cake is one of those regional treats that's just going to be better in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or Lafayette (and the other Gulf Coast cities that observe Mardi Gras) than in any other part of the country. Many bakeries have their own versions of the treat, including James Beard winner东凤，谁的king cake got so popular在years past that it inspired a wave of king cake scalpers. But outside of Louisiana and Louisiana-adjacent states, your best bet for finding a King Cake is ordering one to be shipped to you by mail, a service that, luckily, many bakeries provide. Here are some of the best options for buying a King Cake to bring a little bit of the Carnival spirit into your February, no matter how far away you are from the parade routes.

Along with traditional options,Bywater bakery提供了一个塞满Azul Dulce的国王蛋糕，当地精致的路易斯安那州蓝莓煮熟到浓郁而甜美的果酱中。国王蛋糕（包括交货），运行50至55美元。

One of the King Cake stalwarts,曼尼·兰德佐（Manny Randazzo）King Cakes出售三种国王蛋糕进行运输：a traditional medium-sized cake它提供了约22至24的服务，另一个中型的国王蛋糕和奶油奶酪馅，还有一个超大的大蛋糕，最多可提供48片。他们所有人都有一夜之间的运输，它们的起价为55.95美元。

A New Orleans bakery that has been serving up King Cake since 1949, Gambino's offers shipping of several kinds of King Cake through Goldbelly. Their cakes come with gold, green, and purple sanding sugars on the side, so you can assemble the cake when it comes to your door. A传统的国王蛋糕套件，包括运输，将为您付44美元。

A favorite of Meredith Food eCommerce writer Katie Macdonald, a Louisiana native,Keller's自1929年以来一直是拉斐特机构。您甚至可以订购一个金蛋糕，该蛋糕是一半的味道，而另一个蛋糕。国王蛋糕的价格为38至71美元，具体取决于您的风味。

Another great King Cake option that's not in New Orleans proper,BisKing Cake路易斯安那州的什里夫波特（Shreveport）在标准的奶油蛋卷蛋糕上进行了基于饼干的即兴演奏。他们以25美元的价格出售一个小蛋糕，而大蛋糕则以34美元的价格出售，不包括运输。

A New Orleans bakery that inspires fierce loyalty in its fans, Haydel's offers several kinds of King Cake for delivery, including apraline pecanthat's a best-seller for $58 including next day shipping. They'll also ship a dozen mini king cakes if you'd prefer a more personal-pan pizza vibe to your King Cake experience.

位于密西西比州的Picayune，Paul's Pastryis one of the few shops that will ship you a King Cake all year long, just in case you're feeling that Mardi Gras doesn't last long enough. Their cakes come with a variety of fillings, including apple, raspberry, lemon, and peach, and come with the icing and decorating sugar packaged separately so you can do your own decorating and not worry about the glaze getting smeared en route. A medium King Cake from Paul's will run you $53.95—a pittance to pay for a true taste of Carnival.