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King Cakes Try To Give Paczki A Run For Their Money On Fat Tuesday

FARMIINGTON (WWJ) Move over paczki--there's a new "king" in town! While thousands of the Polish sweet treats are being devoured to mark this day before lent, there's a bakery in Farmington that's selling the traditional New Orleans Mardi Gras delight-- king cakes.

Jeff Pavlik, owner of historic Sunflour Bakehaus, said it isn't just the Mason-Dixon line that divides the north and south. Fat Tuesday does, as well.

Yankees in the north tend to eat paczki today, while southern folks go for king cakes, said the St. Louis native. All the cakes have a small plastic golden baby inside, and legend has it whomever gets that special slice is king of the party.

"This is a traditional New Orleans style king cake so it's like a cinnamon coffee cake, (that) is really what it is," he explained. "And then it's covered in different colored decorative sugars, an orange-ish, like a gold-ish color, a purple color and a green color."

Pavlik worked on his king cakes all night, selling 100 or so on Fat Tuesday alongside paczki. "They're a nice alternative," he said, adding that cutting it yourself makes portion control a little easier.

Customer Anthony James went for the king cake.

"It's my wife, ever since she found out they made them here, she's been getting them here," he said. "I just pick them up, and enjoy them when I get home."

 

 

 

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