Some us are travelling to New Orleans for Mardi Gras (March 6-11) and we are dying to taste a king cake. We were wondering who has the best traditional king cake? Cost does not matter to us, we just want to taste the best. We've heard from friends who have gone in the past years that Cannata's is the best, is this true? Also would it be better to buy one from the stores while we are there for that week or order online and have it shipped?

Thanks in advance!

Louisiana native friend says Gambino's (yes, like the crime family) is the place for her. She swears by them.

Ordering and shipping is a good option, but really the cakes are so overrated it's preposterous.

I think the cakes are way overrated too, but the ones sent by a customer of ours to our office are gone in about 1 hr. This is one third the lifespan of a Costco cake.

Make that 3. I had one for the first time last year. What is the big deal? I think it is more of a "cultural/regional pride" thing than anything else

Yep - the King Cake is famous because of the tradition, not because it is some fabulously wonderful cake. It is really a regular tasting cake, the quality depends on the quality of the bakery.

I lived in N.O. for two years. IMO the thing is wonderfully traditional and if you are fortunate enough to "get the baby" then it's even more fun. But the ones I had while there, and believe me, I had more than a few, were no more than a rather dry coffee cake type concoction dressed up in purple, green, and gold. But, to each their own.

One of my coworkers is from Shreveport and went to med school at Tulane. Every year he orders us a king cake from Haydel's:

http://www.haydelbakery.com/

He swears it's the best, and they include some chicory coffee with the cake when you order it. I don't have vast experience, but the king cakes I've had generally taste similar to a glazed doughnut with cream cheese. It's fun, though.

I thought the title meant there are NO king cakes available, and thought, not a bad idea. BUT I have never had one in NOLA, but I still can let it pass, I think.

Jent's suggestion is correct! Haydel's Bakery is one of our favorites! Also, Randazzo's (Manny Randazzo) in Metairie has the best dough and is only open during Mardi Gras season. They make only a certain amount every day and sell out.

You can have one shipped now to enjoy ..... It will start getting you excited about your trip! Mardi Gras week, locals line up early at the best bakeries so it will be difficult to get these if you wait until your trip. Also, be thinking about what kind you want. There are plain, cream cheese, praline, lemon, blueberry, apple, etc.

Agree that king cakes are no big deal - they taste like dry coffee cakes to me, too. And I thought your title meant you wanted to AVOID them, not find them!

I know about the King cakes but have never tasted one, but it reminded me of a thread on the Europe Forum about the famous Austrian Sacher Torte. Some loved it, but I thought it tasted like chocolate sawdust.

We have a friend that makes the cake and is making one soon for a New Year's celebration for a French Class. Apparently it is customary for New Year's as well as Mardi Gras.

The traditional king cake found in all of the grocery stores is a yeast dough shaped into a ring, iced with powdered sugar frosting and sprinkled with green, gold and purple sugars. Some cakes may have a filling and all will have a tiny plastic baby in them. I always found the cakes to be dry and highly overrated but something fun to have during Carnival season. I believe a few specialty bakeries do a king cake with puff pastry, but that is definitely not what is eaten in workplaces and schools (usually each Friday during Carnival season). Personally, I prefer a good Danish kringle!

I really like moist filled King Cakes. Pralines & Cream Cheese are really great. I see where www.BuyLouisiana.com is running a special this week. $23.99 for a Medium shipped anywhere in the lower 48. Had their Praline last year. It was really good.

When I lived in New Orleans every one of them was dry as a bone and about as tasty.

There are definitely many differing opinions about King Cakes; the comments section on this is about as funny as the content:

http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2011/3/7/king-me.html

We've had Gambino's and Haydel's and enjoyed both. I prefer the ones that have the fillings to jazz it up a bit. Some that we've ordered came frosted and others came with frosting that we had to put on ourselves along with the colored sugar. The prefrosted ones looked pretty messy when they arrived, but tasted good.

I grew up eating King Cakes from McKenzie's (no longer around). They were only available during Mardi Season (Jan 6 - Mardi Gras day) and were pretty dreadful. But the ones from Gambinos, Haydel's, and Randazzo's are much, much better.

Consider Sucre's -
http://www.shopsucre.com/sucre-king-cake.html

why a baby?

I guess it is supposed to represent baby Jesus which really makes no sense since it is Mardi Gras not Christmas.