Happy King Cake season! (1 Viewer)

[buzd]

Back to king cake, for as good as Randazzo's is, Haydel's is always a HUGE let down. It's a dollar store ripoff of Randazzo's.

I had a plain Chez Pierre last night and it was really really good. The icing isn't my favorite, but the cake was soft and moist and had great cinnamon flavor throughout.

We got the blueberry Azul from Bywater Bakery via king cake hub, and it was a huge hit today.

 

[superchuck500]

Is Gambino's any good?

 

[buzd]

Is Gambino's any good?

The cake itself is not bad (moist and lots of cinnamon - quite sweet) but it has the overly sweet white cream icing that is very prevalent. Last time I check (a while ago), they didn't use the purple green and gold colors.

edited to add: google image search seems to indicate differently, so I may have out of date info.

 

[Booker]

Dong Phuong? Oh yeah! I ordered one the other day, but it wont ship until 1/27. But definitely worth it. We ordered two last year and they were two of the best King Cakes I’ve ever had (better than Randazzo’s).

Timely update for this thread — my king cake is supposed to be delivered today!

 

[Booker]

Is Gambino's any good?

I remember the one in Baton Rouge was well regarded when I was a kid, but that was a long (long) time ago.

 

[boutrous]

Is Gambino's any good?

I've always found it to be meh overall, too sweet and not balanced enough. The praline stuffed is the only one I'd try again.

I had a District Donut King Cake donut the other day and it was fantastic! They also have 2 different kinds of king cakes this year that I want to try, but at the time I was only buying for myself so went with the single serve.

I also had the Clauda's Maple Bacon Praline which was their cake of the week last week. The maple was good, but with the bacon it was just... too much I guess. I didn't even finish my whole piece which is blasphamy for me.

 

[boutrous]

A friend of mine had a Italian Fig Cookie king cake and said it was amazing. I asked her to save me a piece, but they ended up eating it all.

 

[Moon]

Is everyone still going crazy for that Vietnamese bakery in the east?

Just had my first piece from there yesterday—-Oh my Bacchus, the hype is justified

 

[Doug B]

Just had my first piece from [Dong Phuong] yesterday—-Oh my Bacchus, the hype is justified.

They're good, but they do the overload of white icing just like 90% of the other king-cake bakers in the city. I would like to try a special-order Dong Phuong king cake without the white icing -- just colored granulated sugar with a soupcon of thin glaze to help it stick.

 

[Doug B]

The [Gambino's] cake itself is not bad (moist and lots of cinnamon - quite sweet) but it has the overly sweet white cream icing that is very prevalent.

We should do a list on this thread of king-cake makers that DON'T use this white icing. Or at least make available a good king cake without it. I'll start:

Hi Do Bakery, Terrytown: very, very close to the old McKenzie's gold-standard king cake. Only things they don't do are the cherries.

Terrytown Donuts, Terrytown: Their king cakes are very close to the old Tastee Donuts king cakes from the 1970s -- yep, the ones with the plastic clown heads and the pink-and-teal sugar. Their king cakes are much like a big donut, but they keep the glaze level just right -- just enough to keep the granulated sugar in place.

Tastee Restaurant, Metairie: On Transcontinental and West Esplanade. They still make the McKenzie's recipe king cake. Have not had one of theirs, but have good reports from others.

 

[Yatman]

As good as their bakeries are, Publix seems to have gotten out of the king cake cooking biz. Last year I had to make my own.

Today, however, they had some from a bakery in Tampa. Very good, with an old-school-sized baby, not the safety-sized adolescent.

 

[zeetes]

attention new orleans transplanters to baton rouge:

have you found any good/great king cakes in baton rouge? i am supposed to travel with a few next week

 

[boutrous]

We should do a list on this thread of king-cake makers that DON'T use this white icing. Or at least make available a good king cake without it. I'll start:

Hi Do Bakery, Terrytown: very, very close to the old McKenzie's gold-standard king cake. Only things they don't do are the cherries.

Terrytown Donuts, Terrytown: Their king cakes are very close to the old Tastee Donuts king cakes from the 1970s -- yep, the ones with the plastic clown heads and the pink-and-teal sugar. Their king cakes are much like a big donut, but they keep the glaze level just right -- just enough to keep the granulated sugar in place.

Tastee Restaurant, Metairie: On Transcontinental and West Esplanade. They still make the McKenzie's recipe king cake. Have not had one of theirs, but have good reports from others.

District Donuts: I haven't had it yet, but they are doing an old-school tribute to McKenzie's king cake this year, complete with a cherry.

 

[boutrous]

attention new orleans transplanters to baton rouge:

have you found any good/great king cakes in baton rouge? i am supposed to travel with a few next week

Thee Heavenly Donut has a decent King Cake, although it's basically a giant donut and not a New Orleans style king cake. However, it's quite delicious.