Bakeries bring Mardi Gras flavor to southwest Virginia

Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday, is Feb. 16. Traveling further south to places like New Orleans to celebrate isn’t ideal because of the pandemic, but local bakeries are bringing the fun to you.

King cakes originated in France and are a delicacy during carnival season. This year the season is Jan. 6th to Fat Tuesday, Feb. 16th.

As a French café and bakery with multiple locations throughout the region, Our Daily Bread in Blacksburg has been baking king cakes all season long. They top it with sprinkles with the traditional colors: green, gold and purple. Then they add beads and a mask to finish the perfect package.

“We make everything from scratch. It’s a sweet dough, raspberry filling, cream cheese filling. It’s got a little baby, plastic baby, hidden in it. That’s pretty much our thing here, everything made from scratch,” said executive chef David Jenne.

Usually, during carnival, there are parties, the person who finds the baby in their piece of cake is king for the day, hosts the next party and brings the king cake.

Jenne said when you bite into a piece it’s light, sweet with a little touch of cinnamon.

Our Daily Bread has been baking king cakes the Mardi Gras season for years while this is the very first year Evie’s Bistro and Bakery in Roanoke is getting in on the celebration.

Bakers at Evie’s have been hard at work perfecting the traditional recipe into their own; spreading cream cheese filling and rolling the dough into the polished round shape.

Owner Evie Edman said this was a way to bring some fun back in customers’ lives despite the pandemic.

“With the spring coming and hope on the horizon, we decided to jump in and do a fun exciting Mardi Gras king cake and we’re also going to run our gumbo on fat Tuesday,” said Edman.

If you want a king cake you have to order by Friday, Feb. 12.

Our Daily Bread king cakes are available for pick up until Tuesday, Feb. 16.