Friends, while I’ve already reviewed some nontraditional king cakes, you can go ahead and file this one under hyper-nontraditional. But nontraditional does not mean non-delicious. Such is the case here. I present to you, dear reader, the Leo’s Breads Ricotta, Chocolate, and Orange king cake. My colleague ordered and purchased this cake and brought me a giant slice to the office. 

I’ve never been to @leosbread but apparently it is a bakery that specializes in bread. The internet tells me that Leo’s started out selling loaves of bread out of the trunk of a car (I’m assuming the car belonged to Leo, but have not confirmed). Leo’s now has a storefront located on Bell Street, which is off of Esplanade (near Broad) on the outskirts of the Treme near the Fairgrounds. They also still sell at local farmers markets on Tuesday and Thursday and also serve breakfast. This is another baker I hadn’t heard of and am now very glad that I have. I will DEFINITELY be heading over to Leo’s next time I want a loaf of bread because it was extremely memorable. (If you’re buying bread at the grocery store, don’t; get it from a bakery instead. You’re welcome for the hot take.)

Leo’s specialty is immediately apparent when you look at the cake. It honestly looks like a gorgeous loaf of freshly baked bread (or maybe a perfectly toasted bagel?) with a deep brown crust. And while the dough was what I would classify as “bready,” strictly speaking, the way that the cake was filled presented a lot more like a pastry. There was an extremely generous amount of filling which filled my little filling-loving heart with glee. Team #givemefillings for life.

The cake is filled with a ricotta, chocolate, and orange filling. Y’all already know I love chocolate orange things so this is right up my alley. If you’re not a fan of ricotta, I would still encourage you to check this out. I didn’t get a lot of ricotta flavor (not that ricotta has a particularly strong flavor to begin with) but it really makes the texture of the filling, and the cake as a whole, incredible. The chocolate, in particular, is CRAZY good. It has a beautiful dark chocolate flavor that isn’t overly sweet. The king cake is topped with a piece of candied orange peel, which my colleague aptly noted “adds a divine crunch and citrus punch.” It does. I found it a bit chewy (compared to the soft springiness of the dough, which is just perfect). But the flavor is just outstanding. This one does not have icing (My colleague noted that the cake “absolutely did not need” icing because of the flavors and richness of the cake, and I could not agree more). It is also topped with large crunchy sugar crystals that did not overpower and look adorable. I will add that I must have eaten the slice about an hour after it was taken out of the oven because it was still ever-so-slightly warm and I would highly recommend taking the same approach if you try this. Wow.

My colleague, calling herself a “traditionalist,” said she wasn’t sure she could call this a king cake. She specifically highlighted the lack of cinnamon, which is certainly a key element of a traditional king cake. And although I agree that there is nothing traditional about this cake, I think that it is fantastic overall. If you dream of freshly baked bread and love the combination of dark chocolate and citrus flavors, this is a cake that should not be missed this season. 4.5 stars.