It's a Big World Baby: It's Mardi Gras Time and that means....

It's King Cake season my dear friends. For all of you gluten eaters out there, go with Randazzo's. I don't say that because I am from Slidell; I say it because it IS the best. I have had Gambino's and I won't even go there with Meche's....okay, so maybe I will. Meche's is a BIG doughnut, NOT a kingcake. There, I said it! Sorry Lafayette, do better! Gambino's is good but still no comparison to Randazzo's. When we lived in Albuquerque, we had a Mardi Gras ball at our house with our friends and had a king cake shipped from Randazzo's; it was worth every penny. I have to admit I have always had a soft spot for Mardi Gras, I suppose it is because I grew up right outside of New Orleans and we went to EVERY parade that we could get to. Sometimes we would hit 3-4 parades in a day. I even remember one year for Mid-City my mom and I were out in the rain. We stayed out for the floats and took cover as the bands passed. Mardi Gras day we would go to Metairie to our normal spot. We would park in the Schweggman's parking lot on Veterans Blvd. grab a couple boxes of Popeye's chicken and put it in the ice chest. We would set up our blanket on the grass and parade all day on Mardi Gras day. Of course, things are different now, we have a little one and going to Mardi Gras in Metairie with no place for little toot to nap all while being outside from 10am-3pm is just out of the question for the time being. If we had a place in the city right around the corner, sure, but, well we don't. c'est la vie. For now, we stay here in Lafayette for what they call Mardi Gras . (I have never and will never call it Mardi Gras here because....well, it isn't New Orleans, end story) We have a house to go to when Audrey gets tired of the commotion, and a way to get back to our house, which we are only 20 min. from max. It's a good deal. Not to mention Carlo plays for the City ball Mardi Gras night. I am sure you are all wondering where all of this babbling is going. It is getting somewhere, I promise. With all of this talk of Carnival, us gluten free people have a tough time when king cake is like a food group. I clearly remember as soon as twelfth night hit we had king cakes in numerous classes nearly every day until Mardi Gras, and that is no exaggeration. It is a BIG thing here. Therefore, I present, an AMAZING gluten free king cake. It is by no means sugar free, and I wouldn't dare change it. This is probably the only recipe I am unwilling to change or cut back on the sugar. Here is the recipe. Here are the pictures as I made it. I didn't change a thing recipe wise. Well, I used white rice flour instead of brown rice flour because I was out of brown. The dough will be SUPER sticky once done rising so you need to use a TON of flour, as in maybe a cup to get the stickiness out. You want it to feel like normal dough. I used the double batch cream cheese filling for 1 king cake and used a single batch cinnamon sugar filling for the other.

If this doesn't get you baking, I have no idea what will.