Mardi Gras Dessert Recipes

This is my daughters favorite. It is an easy mandarin orange cake with pineapple, nuts, pudding and whipped topping. Whip one up and it's pig-out time!

Chewy Texas pralines we make every year for Christmas! Delicious!

This is one of my grandmother's recipes, a Southern classic. It is similar to a doberge--six thin layers with a tart lemon filling. I usually need 3 large fresh lemons for this recipe to produce the zest and juice.

A sweet bourbon bread pudding for large get-togethers. My family requests that I bring this every holiday!

Hey y'all, I came up with a non-traditional way to make a very traditional cake, and just in time for Mardi Gras. Laissez le bon temps rouler!

Do you love the way a King Cake brightens up your party but hate the time it takes to bake one? Here's an easy recipe that's fast and fun and easier than pie! A small plastic baby inserted into the side of the cake will bring good luck in the coming year to whoever discovers it in their slice of cake. Beads, additional plastic babies, curly ribbon, and other festive trinkets can be used to decorate the cake.

This a sweet bread that is made during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It has a cream cheese filling and a simple glaze. A tiny plastic baby baked into the bread and will bring good luck to whoever finds it.

These are similar to doughnuts but much tastier! They are usually made on Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday).

I grew up eating king cake in NOLA but never really LIKING it. I finally decided to give it a go myself and have to say that this is, hands down, the best I've ever eaten. A conglom of several recipes, it's great with coffee, not too sweet, not too bready, with a rich, tender crumb and the traditional lemon/nutmeg flavors of a genuine NOLA king cake. Best eaten same day but pretty darn good the day after (if there are leftovers!). Enjoy, y'all!

This was my mother's recipe.

These Swedish desserts are traditionally served on Fat Tuesday, but nowadays they are happily eaten as often as they can be found. We love that these are not too sweet, and are just big enough.

Less yeasty and more cake-like than king cake, these quick cakes get you the vanilla-nutmeg-lemon-buttermilk flavor and fun colors of a traditional king cake - without waiting around for a yeasted dough to rise.

Bread, bananas, banana liqueur, cream and pecans are the featured ingredients in this slowly baked bread pudding spiced with cinnamon.

If you're looking for a new king cake recipe to celebrate Mardi Gras, you must try this one. If you're a little intimated, don't be. Follow this recipe and don't forget to put the baby in!

This is a very moist cake. With all the grated apples, raisins and pecans, it could stand alone without a topping; however with the praline glaze....well, you be the judge!

'Chiacchiere' is a dessert that is fried and sprinkled with confectioners' sugar and served with sanguinaccio. It is a traditional Italian dessert in the region of Campagnia, served during 'carnevale' or as we say Mardi Gras. It is served with 'sanguinaccio' a chocolate sauce used for dipping the 'chiacchiere'. Years ago the sanguinaccio was made with chocolate and pig's blood, but now the use of the blood has been banned due to health concerns, but in small villages across Italy it is still used.

Crostoli are a huge part of 'Carnevale' or 'Carnival' in Italy; these light, airy fried pastries are also a favorite holiday treat for Italian-Americans. This family favorite has been handed down from my great-grandmother, who brought the recipe with her when she emigrated to the U.S. from the Veneto region of Italy.

Great for a Mardi Gras-themed dinner party! I was a member of the Barksdale AFB Officers' Wive's gourmet club. This cake was made for one of our luncheons. Guaranteed Cajun!

A lighter version of the traditional dessert. Also yummy served over pancakes instead of syrup.

Had these in New Orleans and loved them, so I tried different combos and liked this best.

This festive Mardi Gras mashup is perfect for anyone seeking a lower-effort alternative to homemade king cake. The key to keeping this recipe big and easy is store-bought puff pastry--which encases a gooey cinnamon-sugar filling, and is frosted with a decadent cream cheese glaze. So while it's certainly not a traditional king cake, this giant brown sugar-cinnamon tart does offer a similarly flaky, buttery, and sweetly delicious pastry experience. In place of the plastic baby typically that's hidden in a king cake after it's finished baking, you can always tuck an almond or other nut.