Not being a native of Louisiana, my quest for the best king cake in Shreveport took me on a wonderful adventure throughout Shreveport and Bossier City. There are three local spots famous for their king cakes in the area, so I decided to visit them all!…
My next stop was Lilah’s Bakery. This was a very small establishment located almost in a residential neighborhood near Centenary College. When I walked inside, it looked like king cakes were the only product they were selling.
The owner was happy to take a picture with me and recommended his best cake for me to try—the cinnamon cream cheese. It was delicious! I will be returning after Mardi Gras to see what other wonderful goodies they sell.
Shreveport’s Lilah’s Bakery has developed quite the reputation for its king cakes since opening in 2006. Owner and head pastry chef Sopan “TK” Tike grew up in Mumbai, India, and worked as a pastry chef at a hotel and for Carnival Cruise Lines before moving to Louisiana in 1997. He and his wife now make what has become one of Shreveport’s best king cakes. From bananas foster to black forest and even maple bacon, Lilah’s has a king cake for just about everyone.
The 2019 Mardi Gras season in Shreveport-Bossier is underway now through Fat Tuesday, March 5. Thousands of locals and visitors will take part in parades, masked bals, food events and more during the largest Mardi Gras celebrations in north Louisiana. In addition to a busy schedule of parades and events, Shreveport-Bossier also offers travelers the opportunity to experience the legendary flavors of the season in Louisiana.
King cake – a ring of cinnamon roll-style dough, often filled with treats such as cream cheese, pralines, or strawberry preserves and topped with green, purple and gold sprinkles – is wildly popular in North Louisiana…
In Shreveport, try outrageous flavors like Ambrosia, Piña Colada and “Elvis” at Lilah’s Bakery. Lilah’s Bakery in Shreveport s known for their King Cakes.
Boudin king cake took Louisiana by storm four years ago after a University of Louisiana at Lafayette professor posted a photo of his creation to social media.
4. Lilah’s in Shreveport Lilah’s Bakery in Shreveport offers a boudin king cake.
This north Louisiana deli and bakery offers a boudin king cake that is filled with boudin and pepper jack cheese and topped with cane syrup and cracklin crumbs.
Christmas has come and gone, which can only mean one thing—it’s time to start counting down the days until Mardi Gras! Soon enough, you’ll start seeing king cakes pop up just about everywhere, and we’ve found some of the most amazing hidden gems that are baking up the best king cakes in Louisiana.
4. Lilah’s When it comes to king cakes, Lilah’s knows best. They’ve been baking up some of the best king cakes in Shreveport since 2006, and you simply haven’t lived until you’ve tried one. They’ll open their doors on January 5th and stay open until Mardi Gras day, so be sure to grab one while the seasonal treats are available.
Happy Mardi Gras y’all. Today’s a day to live it up before you give it up on Ash Wednesday.
We recently were treated to some fun Carnival activities in Shreveport, including visiting one of the city’s most popular businesses this time of year — Lilah’s. This family-owned business creates delicious king cakes, an essential element of Carnival and one of the Louisiana food groups (well, we think so).
These sugar-topped creations date back to France and the celebrations surrounding Twelfth Night, or Jan. 6, which is the beginning of the Carnival season. The king cake signifies the coming of the three wise men to the baby Jesus 12 days after his birth. Jan. 6 is also known as the Feast of the Epiphany or King’s Day.
In Louisiana, we start enjoying king cakes on Jan. 6 at the start of Carnival and continue eating these decadent pastries through Mardi Gras, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. They come in various flavors and styles, some plain with only sugar toppings, some filled with goodness like fruit fillings or cream cheese. Some really adventurous, such as the boudin king cake and the peanut butter and chocolate. And some people have loads of fun with the tradition, such as Alky Therapy Daiquiris, which makes an 18-ounce King Cake Daiquiri complete with king cake slice, king cake cupcake, fleur de lis candy and king cake vodka.
King cakes traditionally included a small plastic baby (in earlier times it was a bean or a porcelain king) and whoever gets the baby in their slice of king cake must buy the next cake. Nowadays, because a few people were surprised to bite into a small plastic baby and some broke teeth, bakeries place the baby in the cake box and let you insert it yourself.
Want to see how it’s done? We got an inside peek into how Lilah’s makes their cakes. This small bakery produces 400-600 king cakes a day during Carnival, producing about 12,000 for the entire Carnival season! The family does so well during Carnival that it’s now their only business.
Let us show you what we saw
The round dough is put through a machine to flatten it out.
Mark places the dough on a table.
Julie adds two scoops of cream cheese filling.
The filling is flattened out and praline crumbles added.
The dough is rolled…
…and made into a circle.
Then brushed and placed into the ovens
to become pralines ‘n’ cream king cakes.
Lilah’s can bake 100 king cakes in an hour.
Here’s what they look like baked.
Buttercream icing goes on top.
Then sugar sprinkles
in Mardi Gras colors.
Babies are included. Beads too.
The final product.
Flavors run the gamut,
like this tiramisu.
Talk about good!!
Gluten-free king cakes are also available.
They taste more like a king cake scone.
Lilah’s is run by Lisa and Sopan Tike with help from their daughter Lila.
In Louisiana, king cake is more than just dessert—it’s an entire season. From the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6 until Fat Tuesday (which falls on February 13 this year), these traditional Carnival treats can be found in nearly every bakery and grocery store in the state.
A standard New Orleans-style king cake consists of cinnamon-swirled brioche dough topped with icing and Mardi Gras-colored sugar or sprinkles: purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. A small plastic baby or other trinket is baked or placed into the cake, and the person who gets the piece with the baby is expected to provide the king cake for the next party.
While the cinnamon-filled versions are most traditional, cream cheese and fruit fillings are common additions. What’s more, many bakers go outside the box with exciting flavors, like Lilah’s Bakery in Shreveport, which offers a maple bacon king cake…
SWEET IN SHREVEPORT
When Lilah’s Bakery first opened in Shreveport nine years ago, owner and pastry chef Sopan Tike had never heard of king cake. Sopan grew up in India, where he learned his trade while working for a five-star hotel group.
“Somebody walked in our bakery and said, ‘Can you bake king cake?’ And my wife said, ‘Yes,’” Sopan says. “That year we made some 150 king cakes, and people loved it. Last year, we made 12,500.”
Today, the mom and pop bakery specializes in king cakes, which are made fresh daily during Carnival season and for holidays like Halloween and Christmas. Lilah’s offers king cakes in three sizes and 22 different flavors, including cinnamon and cream cheese, pralines and cream, and Black Forest. They even offer a sweet and savory maple bacon flavor, a boudin version with bacon and cheese, and a gluten-free variety. Sopan also takes custom requests every now and then.
Sopan and his wife, Lisa, moved their bakery to Centenary Boulevard a few years ago, and now, they open daily during Carnival season. Their king cakes are available at the bakery as well as various retail locations throughout the Shreveport-Bossier area. They also ship their king cakes all over the country, even to New Orleans, where they sent a few hundred king cakes last year.
“I’m proud of myself and what I’m doing,” Sopan says. “People ship from New Orleans to all over the country. We ship to New Orleans.”
The area should not be overlooked as a culinary destination. For Southern fare try Port-au-Prince Restaurant overlooking Cross Lake, Parish Taceaux’s more modern menu, or Fertitta’s Delicatessen for a great muffaletta.
King cakes are king during Mardi Gras and Lilah’s Bakery in Shreveport has almost two dozen flavors.
Eaters, beware. The next bite of King Cake could cost you.
It’s officially Mardi Gras season, marked by Epiphany on Jan. 6. It also marked the time when bakeries began selling the seasonal King Cake.
For those not familiar with King Cakes or Mardi Gras culture, know chances are high that there’s a little surprise hidden within that sweet doughy goodness — a naked plastic baby.
What is this baby doing in there and what does it mean if you receive the slice with it in there?
The Shreveport Times asked local residents what they think it’s all about and the answers varied.
Some take finding the baby in a literal sense.
“If you find the baby in the King Cake that means you’re the next one to pop out a baby,” Hannah Pierce said.
Some believe it means coming out of pocket for the party.
“From what I understand, the baby in the King Cake means you have to provide the next King Cake,” Michael Billings said. “I avoid it because I don’t want to bring the next King Cake.”
Then there are the hopeful ones who see the baby as a good luck charm.
“I think what it means to get the baby in the King Cake is that you’ll have good luck for the rest of the year,” Cassidy Farmer said. “I always want to be the one to find it because I want to be lucky.”
Lisa Tike, co-owner of Lilah’s Bakery, is expected to whip up a copious amount of King Cakes between Epiphany (Jan. 6) and Mardi Gras (Feb. 13). Each year, she asks customers what they believe is the meaning of the baby inside and the answers are always split, she said.
“Originally, when it was a bean or a token inside the cake, it was that you were king for the day or you had good luck for the year then eventually somebody decided you should buy the next King Cake,” Tike said. “Of course, I say if you buy the next King Cake from us you do have good luck.”
Though the custom has evolved over the years, legend has it that the person who receives the baby is expected to host the next King Cake party during Mardi Gras, according to Lilah’s website.
King Cakes are said to have come into play in the 12th Century in France as a celebration of the Three Wise Men who traveled to the “Christ Child” bearing gifts. The cakes are traditionally circular to represent the route the trio took to elude King Herod who wanted to have Christ killed.
It wasn’t always a baby in the cake, however, some used beans, coins, tokens or even jeweled rings. The babies are said to have come into the mix later and were porcelain and baked into the dessert. Now, they commonly are plastic and placed outside of the cake for the server to tuck into it before serving guests.
But this way, some people may attempt to take fate into their own hands by making sure the person who gets the baby is who they want it to be, Tike said.
“We get a lot of military guys in here and they got stuck having to buy the King Cake because they found the baby,” Tike said. “They like when we don’t put the baby in for you. We give them a little hint when they hide the baby to remember where they’ve hidden it, then strategically give it to the next guy. Usually, it’s the new guy on base who gets the baby.”
King Cakes are available in a variety of flavors and available many bakeries and stores across Louisiana.
If you go
What: Lilah’s Bakery Where: 1718 Centenary Blvd, Shreveport Hours: 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Tues. – Sat. Info: (318) 676-1407 or lilahsdeli.com If interested in learning how to bake King Cakes, Lilah’s hosts King Cake Making Parties, visit lilahsdeli.com/kingcakeparties/.
The king cake is a dessert that takes its name from the biblical kings. Associated with the Catholic Feast of the Epiphany, king cakes will be enjoyed by thousands beginning after the Twelve Days of Christmas up until Fat Tuesday before the start of Lent.
Photo Credit: Sharron Foster
This treat is often associated with New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. It’s believed that this tradition was brought to Louisiana by France in the 1800s after French-Canadian explorers introduced the Mardi Gras celebration to the region almost two centuries prior.
Now, as the holiday season is wrapping up, the Feast of the Epiphany will come soon and bring with it the beloved dessert. Often, it comes in the form of a sweet brioche dough in the shape of a hollow circle topped with glaze sprinkled with colored sugar.
Purple, green, and gold are the symbolic colors of the king cake. Purple represents justice, green represents faith, and gold represents power. Each cake typically has a tiny baby inside made of plastic or porcelain. It symbolizes luck and prosperity to whoever finds it.
The king cake season is very important for local bakeries. They have been stocking up for this booming baking season for weeks or months. Ovens will run all day during the peak of the season, with bakeries constantly churning out fresh cakes for customers. “Sometimes, during our busiest time of the season customers may get a king cake that is still warm because we bake them all day,” says Lisa Tike, co-owner of Lilah’s Bakery in Shreveport.
