Mardi Gras King Cupcakes

I love New Orleans.

So it doesn’t really matter that I’ve never been. What matters is, I know I’d love it if given the chance to go to New Orleans. I mean, how could I not?

It has history. And graves are above ground. And it has Cajun food. And boy, do I love Cajun food.

Hello, authentic red beans & rice! Real-deal jambalaya! And mint juleps. I’ve always wanted to try one. Yeah, I realize I could get a mint julep anywhere, but I want one in New Orleans. Don’t judge my dreams.

Everyone knows yesterday was Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, or Eat-Whatever-The-Hell-You-Want-Day, and I definitely saw this as cause for a tremendous Cajuntacular feast. Yup, I also just said ‘Cajuntacular.’ Try not to get too jealous.

Along with making a really yummy dinner of shrimp po’boys, dirty rice, corn and black eye peas, I also made some shrimp beignets (which will show up in my next post) and some of these fabulous Mardi Gras King Cupcakes.

Just in case you want to hear a super-cool history lesson, the King Cake is traditional for Mardi Gras. In authentic King Cakes, a small baby is baked inside. Saying goes, if you get the slice of cake with the baby, you’d have good luck. But since I typically don’t like to play favorites, I decided everyone should have the equal opportunity of snagging the baby, so I only put a single baby figurine on one cupcake and let ’em have at it.

All’s fair in superstitious dessert making and eating.

Also, seeing as Mardi Gras is this huuuge celebration, I wasn’t going to make some ordinary cupcake with purple, green and gold sprinkles. Do I look ordinary? So I dyed the batter three colors (purple, green, and yellow-gold) and tie-dyed the cupcakes for that super cool, super festive Mardi Gras look [for a complete cupcake tie-dying tutorial, click here].

Once cooled, I frosted them with vanilla icing and topped with the festive sugars. So yummy.

And then I devoured them.

The End!

xo, Hayley