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Navigation: Weblog / Blog article: King of Cakes
King of Cakes
•
King
ON FEBRUARY - 17 - 2011
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by Erin Z. Bass Louisiana’s capital city of Baton Rouge held its •
first-annual King Cake Tasteoff last night at
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Hollywood Casino. It all started on Twelfth Night,
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when Visit Baton Rouge asked its Facebook fans to share their favorite place for King Cake in the city. The heated conversation then moved to •
Twitter, where follower @lynseydesign put together a map of King Cake locations. From
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there, a competition began to take shape,
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culminating in last night’s event with 17 local businesses participating, and local blog Bite and •
Booze helping present as part of its “Bite Club.” With claims to fame on Mardi Gras often going
Calenda
to New Orleans, President and CEO of Visit Baton Rouge Paul Arrigo explained Baton Rouge’s role this
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way: “Mardi Gras does not belong to one city in the state,” he said. “As a state capital, we get to share Mardi Gras too!” • Categories were split into traditional King Cake (must
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have cake, icing and possibly a filling) and non-
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traditional King Cake-flavored items, which ranged from coffee to cake balls and even soap. As a judge,
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my job was to taste them all and rate each one on taste, texture and presentation. Going in, I knew I preferred traditional, no-frills King Cake, but wasn’t
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sure if I’d be swayed by some of the fancier entries. As it turns out, I wasn’t. It was Ambrosia Bakery’s simple, cinnamon swirl (pictured on the left) that came close to perfection for me, and I was glad to
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Deep South Magazine » Blog Archive » King of Cakes
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see it take second place at the end of the night. (All of the winners are listed at the bottom of the this post.) The non-traditional items were also lots of fun, and I found out I love King Cake Balls as well as King Cake-flavored coffee. I had a chance to talk to fellow judge Jeremy Wells, who hails from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and is in graduate school at LSU, about his thoughts on the event. (He writes the blog Faire les Courses about makin’ groceries in Baton Rouge.) During his first year of grad school, when King Cakes started showing up in his department during Mardi Gras season, Jeremy says he had no idea what they were. Now, after four years in South Louisiana, he’s tasted King Cake from Lafayette to New Orleans and says, “I’ve not had a bad King Cake, but the more I’ve had, the more I realize just the traditional cinnamon with a bit of frosting is where it’s at.” Well said Jeremy. What’s up next for Baton Rouge’s Bite Club? Crawfish!
To see more photos, check out our Flickr set. King Cake Tasteoff Winners Traditional First Place: Calandro’s Supermarket for its Mississippi Mud King Cake
The supermarket offers more than 25 flavors of King Cake, available at store locations on Government Street and Perkins Road. Second Place: Ambrosia Bakery for Traditional King Cake
Ambrosia will ship its winning King Cake, plus pecan praline, fruit-filled and chocolate-coconut cream cheese flavors. Non-Traditional First Place: A Coffee Truck Raspberry King Cake Latte
Follow @acoffeetruck on Twitter to find out where they’re brewing in the capital city. Second Place: King Cake Soap by Handmade at Homestead (pictured on the right)
Handmade at Homestead has its King Cake Soap available whole and by the slice on its website. I’d like to thank Visit Baton Rouge and Theresa Overby, Jay Ducote of Bite and Booze and Hollywood Casino for inviting us to participate in this wonderful event. King Cake is such a part of life in South Louisiana during Mardi Gras season and we’re thrilled to see it celebrated and appreciated! Popularity: 2% [?]
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3 Comments
July 2010 February 17, 2011 at 4:38 pm
Theresa says:
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Thanks, Erin! We were so happy to have you as a judge! Great post! Hope we can collaborate soon!
April 2010 March 2010 February 17, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Christy says:
MOST COMME
There is also the original king cake tasting event this Saturday in New Orleans. Check out http://nolaeats.com for the details.
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February 17, 2011 at 5:00 pm
erinzbass says:
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Thanks for letting us know about this, Christy. Checking it out now!
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ABOUT US Deep South is a magazine with a regional focus on capturing life, Southern style. From the faces, places and food to the art and music of the region, Deep South aims to bring readers stories that portray life in the South as it exists today, while also harking back to the history and traditions of an area known for its culture, color and style.
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PHOTOS
• Yeah! Now, who's got da baby? RT @cypresstees: We got the shirts!! http://fb.me/PujNRgrT 9 minutes ago • @lynseydesign @visitbatonrouge Thanks for the RTs! Great to see you guys last night! 14 minutes ago
• King Cake Tasteoff post is up on the blog, complete with winners, how to order cakes & more photos! http://fb.me/A6u2rCAz 19 minutes ago
• Ooh. RT @palomasnest: Our new collection launched yesterday http://bit.ly/cGA3tu ! Win it at @100layercake here http://j.mp/g25bID. about an hour ago
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