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Spatula Diaries: Enjoy the last of Carnival with homemade king cake bread pudding

  • By Maggie Heyn Richardson
  • Photography by Maggie Heyn Richardson

This is it, folks. The 2022 Carnival season is about to wrap, signaling a last minute gorge on all things king cake. Perhaps you’ve stockpiled a few king cakes for this weekend’s festivities. And who knows, by early next week, you might find yourself with extra pastries you’re looking to repurpose.

King cake bread pudding is the perfect reimagining, and it’s something Baton Rouge adores. Every year, Bistro Byronz gets tons of love for its anticipated release of king cake bread pudding, as does Reginelli’s for its over-the-top skillet version gilded with tri-colored sugars and whipped cream.

Making king cake bread pudding at home is easy. Except for a couple small adjustments, it resembles regular bread pudding.
Start with a traditional king cake, not with a filled one.

Start with a plain king cake, preferably slightly stale, and cut it into cubes or tear it into small pieces.

Combine it with the same ingredients you use for regular bread pudding. A sprinkling of tri-colored sugar later and, voila!, king cake bread pudding.

Be sure to use a traditional king cake flavored only with cinnamon, not a filled one. Bread pudding is always better when the bread has had a chance to dry out, and filled king cakes will be too gooey.

Tear the king cake into small pieces. The sweet brioche is already flavored with cinnamon, giving the bread pudding a head start on flavor.

If you’re more of a traditionalist, you can also combine the king cake cubes with cubes of regular French bread. If so, consider increasing the sugar in this recipe to 1 cup.

King Cake Bread Pudding

Serves 10-12

1 10-inch plain/traditional, unfilled king cake, cut into 1-inch cubes or torn into small pieces

½ cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 cups heavy cream

¼ cup rum, optional

6 tablespoons butter, melted

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon vanilla

Purple, green and gold sugar

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Place bread pieces in a large mixing bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine next 7 ingredients. Pour over bread and gently combine. Mixture should be moist, but not runny.
  4. Pour mixture into a 9×12 baking dish that has been greased or sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until golden brown and slightly jiggly.