Jan 5, 2024 - Mardi Gras

Apple and goat cheese king cake won't be available for Mardi Gras 2024

Carlie Kollath Wells

Photo shows a circular king cake covered in brightly colored purple, green and gold frosting. — The original Cake Cafe apple and goat cheese king cake is covered with brightly colored purple, green and gold icing. Photo: Carlie Kollath Wells/Axios

The cult-favorite apple and goat cheese king cake won't be available for Mardi Gras this year in New Orleans.

Driving the news: The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts partnered with Chef Steve Himelfarb and his wife Becky Retz to make the nontraditional king cake after the couple closed Cake Cafe in 2020.

The two are taking a break this year "after working long hours every Carnival Season for nearly 20 years," Himelfarb wrote on his website.

State of play: NOCCA confirmed to Axios New Orleans that the school won't be selling the apple and goat cheese king cake and will focus on two new flavors instead: satsuma almond and gluten-free cinnamon.

What's next? Himelfarb says he'll be baking for Mardi Gras 2025, but it's unclear if the goat cheese king cake will be back.

"We're not sure what 2025 may hold," a NOCCA spokesperson told Axios New Orleans this week. "We need to get through 2024 first."

Worth noting: NOCCA is not shipping king cakes this year.

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2024 Mardi Gras parade schedule.

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Apple and goat cheese king cake won't be available for Mardi Gras 2024

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