If there's an edible equivalent to gaudy plastic beads and giant papier-mache floats, it is the king cake. As a Louisiana native and Mardi Gras enthusiast, I've eaten more slices of the holiday's signature dessert than I'd care to admit. (We were even served king cake in the school cafeteria during January and February.) That could be why every January, I get a certain sugar craving that can only be satisfied by an icing-drenched, cinnamon-laced braided wreath.
In New Orleans and throughout Cajun country, you can't enter a bakery or supermarket without tripping over boxes of king cakes. In the Washington area, however, getting a king cake fix requires a little more legwork. Bakeries or grocery stores that carry king cakes tend to have them late in the Carnival season, which runs from the beginning of January through Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras Day (March 8 this year). David Guas's Cajun haven, Bayou Bakery, has limited its king cake production to Tuesdays and Fridays.
The alternative: Let the king cakes come to you. Most New Orleans bakeries ship Carnival goodness across the country each year.
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