If you’ve had a delicious king cake this month, there’s a good chance Nannette Mayhall made it.
The local baker says if you would have told her a few decades ago that she would end up selling king cakes and other baked goods for a living, she wouldn’t have believed you. Sure, she used to give goodies out as Christmas presents, but she never dreamed of selling them full-time.
“People said, ‘You know, you should do this as a living,” the baker says.
Mayhall, who used to refinish furniture, transitioned into baking in the late ’80s. Early on, the Capital City native realized that king cakes were a must.
“Growing up, I didn’t have king cake,” she says. “But I knew to survive in the business, I had to start making them.”
She’s now been making king cakes for more than 25 years and has grown from the self-taught best-kept secret of the city to one of Baton Rouge’s go-to bakers. Not only does she make wedding cakes out of her commercial kitchen, she also makes fresh desserts for catering companies and restaurants such as Juban’s, Heather V’s Café, DiGuilio Brothers and Yvette Marie’s Café.
Mayhall’s king cakes are cream cheese-based. Her flavors include raspberry, blueberry, praline, cinnamon and chocolate toffee.
The day after Christmas, the calls start coming in. “I was getting them out for New Year’s Eve,” she says. “I’m very grateful. I have a lot of positive response and repeat business. To me, that says I’m doing something right.”
For more information, call 343-4530.
