Last Mardi Gras season, St. Bruno Bread Co. owner Steven Gottfried threw his hat into the king cake ring, debuting massive braided beasts. And they immediately had a viral moment.
While most of those who indulged in a cake from Gottfried tore into it in the privacy of their own homes, ESPN newscasters did so on national television. Gottfried baked up a beauty to be presented during coverage of LSU Women’s Basketball’s matchup against South Carolina. But, instead of taking a slice, the anchors began mutilating the cake in search of the plastic baby inside. (Guess no one told them what happens if you find it.)
Gottfried watched in horror, a moment his wife caught on video. That clip has over 4 million views on the bakery’s Instagram and prompted an apology from ESPN’s Elle Duncan.
“Any press is good press,” Gottfried says today. “Especially as a brand-new business … it definitely helped get some brand recognition.”
Perhaps Gottfried will carry that buzz into this season. Just like his quest to make “better bread,” Gottfried elevated his king cake recipe with a sourdough brioche mixture that makes the cakes more flavorful and a little easier to digest for those indulging in one slice too many.
St. Bruno goes the extra mile—the cinnamon is ground in-house, the thick cream cheese frosting is made with locally sourced vanilla, and a dusting of purple, green and gold sprinkles is the final touch.
“One of the main perks of being a bakery in south Louisiana is you get to put your spin on king cakes,” Gottfried says. “People are interested, and they dig it.”
Cookie, meet king cake. King cake, meet cookie. The popular cookie shop’s king cake cookies come in flavors like cream cheese king cake, pecan cream cheese king cake, Bavarian cream king cake, blueberry cream cheese king cake and Biscoff king cake. Or, grab a ring-shaped cookie cake in the same flavors.
Here’s the scoop: Sweet cream ice cream is swirled with hunks of CounterspaceBR king cake, cream cheese buttercream bits and dashes of cinnamon. It’s all finished off with a dusting of hand-dyed, purple, green and gold sugar.
The NOLA-born cakes are enjoying their first official Carnival in Baton Rouge. If Sucré’s shimmering cakes look too pretty to eat, a bite into the pockets of whipped cream cheese filling may convince you otherwise.
If any establishment could harness the essence of Carnival into a pie, it’s Elsie’s. It starts with a gooey, marshmallowy Cinnamon Toast Crunch crust. Fluffy scoops of chilled cream cheese filling follow.
When I dip, you dip. We dip! Tredici’s monkey bread-inspired dessert is designed for dipping and dunking slices in the sweet frosting bowl in the middle of the cake.
This article was originally published in the February 2025 issue of 225 Magazine.
