A Mardi Gras Tasters Choice
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
Homemade recipes ruled the realm on Thursday morning as samplers from the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission King Cake tasting competition decided that declaring an annual champion was too difficult a chore.
Instead, for possibly the first time in event history, the number of winner doubloons was equal as cakes from the Sweet Dough Pie team from Grand Coteau and the LeBeau-area Peyton Actus Capital group caught the attention of the 20 eager judges that ate their share of the traditional Mardi Gras delicacy.
There were no complaints from the attendees as everyone seemed content as they used multiple napkins to wipe away the fillings and icings on the 12 cakes that were presented for tasting.
Hosted at the Tourist Commission office at the Nuba exchange off Interstate 49, the king cakes set before the judges contained an assortment of inviting fillings and icings.
Scott Peyton said the cake he entered was prepared by Mary-Helen Peyton.
“All the ingredients in this cake are fresh and it was prepared with her usual care,” said Peyton, who is involved in financial investment.
Peyton said the cake consisted of blueberry and cream cheese fillings and topped with a lemon icing.
“It’s a cake that (Mary-Helen Peyton) makes every year and I told her it was certainly good enough to enter (on Thursday),” Scott Peyton added.
Peg Ramier and Annette Charles provided a winning cake that was possibly the most intricately-prepared of all the entrees.
Ramier said instructions for her entry covered seven pages and the preparation and baking process consumed about 15 hours.
“We started at about 3:30 pm (on Wednesday) and we didn’t finish until early (Thursday morning),” Ramier noted.
The cake also represented an interesting journey..
Ramier said the instructions came from Philip Clark, a Minnesota cousin, who previously lived in Louisiana.
Her cake, Ramier added, was packed with a cinnamon filling, cream cheese and the important icing component.
