Who are the King Cake Mafia? TikTok account rates king cakes from Mississippi, Louisiana
There’s a new mafia in town.
The so-called King Cake Mafia has infiltrated Louisiana and Mississippi in search of the best king cake.
On social media under the handles @985kingcakemafia on TikTok and @kingcakemafia on Instagram, Slidell friends Patrick Heim, Dakota Tregre and Joshua Bono started posting videos at the beginning of Mardi Gras season rating king cakes on a scale from 1 to 10 with the goal of posting a review every day until Fat Tuesday.
So far, Heim, who is the main face featured in the reviews, says they’ve tried about 40 king cakes from all over south Louisiana and Mississippi.
“By the time we get to Mardi Gras we will probably have tried around 60,” Heim said. “I’ve eaten so many king cakes at this point. It’s just super fun.”
Inspired by Dave Portnoy’s pizza reviews for Barstool Sports, Heim says he and Bono used to joke around and rate whatever king cakes they tried throughout the season.
This year though, Heim said, “We were like let’s just do this for real. Make a TikTok page. So we did, and here we are.”
They dubbed themselves the King Cake Mafia after their love for the Sopranos. Heim took on the nickname Don Baby and Bono the name Don Couteau — the French word for knife.
Heim says they’ll stop at 3 or 4 bakeries in one area, such as Lafayette or the Mississippi Coast, film their reviews and then post them over a few days so they don’t have to stop at a different bakery and eat every single day.
“We’re not trying to steer people one way or another,” he said. “We’re just letting people know, hey, we tried this and then they can see it for themselves, see what it looks like and kind of get an idea of what it tastes like.”
Heim says when he’s giving each king cake a rating, he’s comparing it to his all time favorite king cake, the Dong Phuong king cake, which sets the standard at a perfect 10. For him, the look, the taste and the texture all play into his rating. Heim says he prefers a king cake that is more fresh and not dry.
Hattiesburg-based Loblolly Bakery, which recently held a popup at the future site of The Downtowner in Gulfport, so far has the highest rating with a perfect 10 from Bono and 9.7 from Heim for their Mississippi blueberry cream cheese king cake.
The King Cake Mafia also rated king cakes from Mississippi bakeries Fleur De Lis in Gulfport, Cheeky Monkey in Gulfport, Paul’s Pastry in Picayune and Sugar Pop Bakery in Waveland.
Heim, who is a New York native, moved to Slidell in 1996 following a Marine Corps tour. He now owns a series of businesses in Slidell, including Olde Towne Pizza Company, Brass Monkey, Whiskey and Ashe, and Luna Tequila.
Heim says he is a big lover of Mardi Gras. He rides in the Endymion parade in New Orleans every year and his businesses are one block away from the parade route for some of Slidell’s parades.
“I like the family atmosphere of Mardi Gras because it seems like everybody gets along and there’s no sides to pick on Mardi Gras,” he said.
So far he says he’s gotten a positive reaction to the king cake videos, with commenters recommending other king cakes for him to try.
As far as what will happen to the TikTok account once Mardi Gras ends, Heim says he’s not sure, but he’s realizing there’s a lot more bakeries making king cakes than he thought, and hopes to make more videos next year.
Heim says making the videos “is one of the things that has brought me some joy as a break away from my everyday stress levels of running a business.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 10:41 AM.
