I  bought two King Cakes in the last 24 hours, both strawberry, one from Rouses and one from Winn Dixie this AM for the wife’s work. Both grocery chains make their own King Cakes by the thousands during the season. The small filled King Cake sells for $7.69-7.79 at the two stores. Unfilled small King Cakes retail for around $5.59 or so.

King Cake - YUM!!- photo- befitnola.com

King Cakes are HUGE in New Orleans. From January 6 until Mardi Gras Day, March 8, 2011- this is a very late date, almost the latest date possible. The weather should be warm for Fat Tuesday 2011. This allows for over 2 months from January 6 until March 8. All this time is King Cake  time!! NOLA King Cakes feature more sugar than most.

Historically, King Cakes have been around Europe for centuries before New Orleans was settled. We had plain King Cakes for a long long time in NOLA. Then McKenzie’s Bakeries started filling their King Cakes, and charged like $9.95 for a Medium filled one. This was back in late 1970s as I recall.

Pretty soon, filled King Cakes had created a whole new King Cake Economic Model, based on a more expensive King Cake. Then the Mail Order Model was created, and hundreds of thousands of King Cakes started being shipped worldwide.

Who makes the best filled and unfilled King Cakes in the NOLA metro area?  There are a lot of entrants, since the shipping/local markets have exploded over the last

http://bit.ly/emh7cl is a King Cakes of the World article I found while researching this post. The blog is entitled- A Malaysian in France. Here’s an European King Cake:

Northern France King Cake

2009 PPP

Tonight the Phunny Phorty Phellows take a decorated, historic St. Charles Streetcar down St. Charles Avenue from the Willow Street Car Barn onto Carrollton Avenue then down St. Charles to Lee Circle, where the Streetcar turns down Carondelet Street to Canal Street, turning on Canal to St. Charles  Avenue, all the way back to Carrollton Avenue and the Willow Street Car Barn. They are accompanied by New Orleans own Storyville Stompers.

I’m a huge fan of the PPP, as they have a creative solution to float building. They take an already build historic street car, and decorate that! I’ve caught them for years on St. Charles. Cannot wait to catch them tonight.  Happy Mardi Gras to the World! Go Saints! Who Dat Who Dat Who Dat!!!

Why all the Who Dats? Saints play their first playoff game defending their World Championship Win this Saturday against the Seattle Sea Hawks- Jan 8, 2011. Sat 1:30 PM, Seattle,WA Qwest Field

I’ve loved King Cakes for many years. Over the decades, I’ve preferred various types as they are developed.