King cake season: See the new king cakes rolling out for Carnival 2022

NEW ORLEANS (NOLA WEEKEND) - King cake season is back, which means some local bakeries are launching new, exciting creations for the 2022 Carnival season.

From well-known bakers, like Gracious Bakery, to newer players in the king cake game, such as Brennan’s Restaurant, bakeries are keeping customers interested with something new this year.

With the extended Carnival season, there’s plenty of time to feast on king cake.

Here’s a look at some new king cakes rolling out for Carnival 2022.

Do you know of other new king cakes that are worth a try this season? Contact us with details and photos.

Brennan’s Restaurant

Brennan’s Restaurant, the famed French Quarter restaurant known as the birthplace of Bananas Foster debuts its own Bananas Foster king cake for the first time.

The king cake starts with brioche-dough rolled with cinnamon, brown sugar and honey, kissed with banana liqueur and vanilla extract. It is filled with a creamy banana-flavored filling and topped with a butter rum and brown sugar icing, a drizzle of milk chocolate icing and crispy golden sugar pebbles.

In the 1950s, Owen Brennan - the paternal uncle of current proprietor, Ralph Brennan - first presented Bananas Foster as a generous gift to the long-term patron, Richard Foster, a local New Orleans civic and business leader. The most ordered item on the menu, Brennan’s flames 35,000 pounds of bananas each year for the famous dessert which is still prepared tableside.

The restaurant also brings back its traditional and “Pink Parade” king cake flavors this year.

King cake lovers can order Brennan’s king cakes online for nationwide shipping or for local pick-up from Ralph’s on the Park and Brennan’s Restaurant.

Gracious Bakery

Each year, Gracious Bakery surprises king cake lovers with new, specialty flavors. This year, the team debuts a boudin-filled king cake.

The savory king cake is filled with housemade boudin and topped with pepper jelly glaze, bacon and a huge crown of cracklings.

“We did a thing. A big, big thing,” Gracious Bakery posted on its Instagram page.

Gracious Bakery’s new boudin king cake can only be pre-ordered online 48 hours in advance.

The bakery also brings back its Queen Cake with almond paste, nectar cream king cake and galettes des rois.

Gracious Bakery has three locations in the New Orleans area.

Bywater Bakery

Bywater Bakery is known for incorporating signature twists on classic sweets into its cutting-edge king cakes

Owner Chaya Conrad, known for her iconic Chantilly cake creation, has two new additions to her line of king cakes this season.

For 2022, the baker debuts Brownie Bomb, described as a “chocolate fan’s dream.” The bakery says its new Brownie Bomb tastes like “if a brownie and a chocolate lava cake had a baby.”

In a new partnership with Seven-Three Distillery, Bywater Bakery also debuts Bywater Bourbon Cinnamon Swirl, a completely plant-based king cake made from a soft sweet potato dough, smeared with a cinnamon bourbon filling.

The bakery also brings back its other filled king cakes from past years. Conrad’s savory line with crawfish, boudin and spinach and artichoke king cakes also make a return trip.

All King Cakes are 10 inches round and are available whole, or by the slice.

The Station Coffee Shop & Bakery

The Station Coffee Shop and Bakery rolls out some new king cake flavors this season.

One new offering for 2022 include a roasted banana-pecan frangipane king cake with banana espresso glaze. The bakery also debuts a savory breakfast king cake with housemade breakfast sausage, scrambled eggs, cheese and green onions.

The Station Coffee Shop also brings back its “kouign” cake — a kouign-amann rolled in cinnamon sugar and topped with purple, green, and gold sugars.

The bakery says it will offer king cakes by the slice daily until they run out. Customers can also pre-order whole cakes available, with one-day advance notice required.

Breads on Oak

The vegan king cake experts at Breads on Oak adds a newbie to the roster this season.

Co-owner Chamain O’Mahony says the bakery debuts a new brandy raspberry almond cream king cake with a cinnamon maple glaze.

“The flavor mix is really out of the world,” O’Mahony said.

The new flavor features the bakery’s organic plant-based brioche king cake, filled with house-made almond pastry cream, a generous brandy wash and an organic raspberry spread. The king cake is then topped with our cinnamon maple glaze and then sprinkled with natural and vegan purple, green and gold sugar crystals.

Over the years, Breads on Oak has become known for its organic, vegan king cakes. Even the Mardi Gras colors on top are made of natural plant-based ingredients, with an almond in lieu of a plastic baby. The bakery also breaks the mold by infusing alcohol into their adult double-filled cakes.

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