Maybe the excitement around a Daphne caterer’s crawfish king cake is our definitive sign that this whole king cake thing has gotten completely out of hand.

But it’s not the only one. Here’s a look at the current state of play. And remember: As a currently popular meme states, the king cake knife stays in the king cake box, crusty icing and all. It is the way.

Crawfish king cake

Gourmet Goodies, a Daphne-based business that offers take-home meals and catering, made quite a splash the annual King Cake Extravaganza, an event presented by the Friends of St. Alphonsus Art & Cultural Center in New Orleans. King Cake expert Brendon Oldendorf – famous for sampling more than 100 king cakes in a season – had a hand in the judging, in which the Gourmet Goodies entry ended up ranked as the top Alabama entry, the top savory entry, the best new contender and the third overall, out of 150 entries from five states.

Since then, Gourmet Goodies has been trying to keep up with demand for its award-winning product, which uses a homemade bread recipe that’s filled with crawfish dressing and topped with bacon, scallions and a Cajun crawfish cream sauce. To augment the limited supply, they’ve been putting out batches of smaller “king cake bombs” at $20 for 4. But you’ll have to keep a close eye on their Facebook page for word of fresh batches, because they go fast.

‘Fully booked’

If you were wondering who won that King Cake Extravaganza, the best overall submission was from James Beard Award-winning Dong Phuong Bakery, “the oldest and most established Vietnamese bakery in New Orleans.” How hard is to get one of these Holy Grail King Cakes? Well, they started taking online ordering back on Dec. 31 and pre-orders were sold out within 48 hours, according to their Facebook page. Online orders for 2023 are fully booked, it says at kingcake.dpbakery.com. A limited number of king cakes are made available for walk-up sales every day but Tuesday, and you might get lucky with one of the authorized resellers listed on the Dong Phuong site.

The King Cake King

As a leading King Cake influencer, Oldendorf dresses up in tricolor regalia and gives his royal King Cake King verdict on presentation, icing, dough and filling. He literally takes this royal act from city to city: He recently dropped in to check the mini king cakes (basically king cupcakes) at Bake My Day on Old Shell Road in midtown Mobile. Overall he gave them a 9 out of 10 and said he would “maybe bring a couple back to New Orleans.” High praise indeed. Not all heroes wear capes, but this one is decked out in purple, green and gold. Check out his further adventures at www.kingcakeplanet.com or on Facebook.

King Cake-Off

Speaking of competitions, Mobile’s own 5th annual King Cake-Off takes place from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27, at the Mobile Civic Center Expo Hall. This event, which benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Alabama, lets visitors vote on the best king cakes and king cake-inspired treats. It also features live music, local vendors, kids’ activities and more. For more information or to order tickets, visit www.kingcakeoff.com. (Advance ticket prices are $15 for adults, $5 for children ages 3-12 and $50 for VIP access.)

The Randazzo pipeline

With all due respect to the many Mobile-area purveyors of fine king cakes (not to mention the stacks of cakes available in every supermarket), it’ll come as no surprise that cakes brought in from New Orleans have a certain cachet. Specifically, cakes from the Randazzo family seem to have the same mystical appeal that Coors beer had, back when you weren’t supposed to be able to get it east of the Mississippi.

If you know, you know. And if you don’t, there’s Facebook. That one gas station out in west Mobile has been shipping in Manny Randazzo cakes again this year, most recently posting a big batch on Jan. 4. The Urban Emporium in downtown Mobile has been taking orders and shipping in cakes from Nonna Randazzo’s Bakery. And a cursory search turned up at least two fundraisers using Randazzo cakes. The Eastern Shore Medical Alliance’s annual sale of cakes from Randazzo’s Camellia City Bakery benefits the Alabama Free Clinic, Baldwin Family Village and Under His Wings, and is taking orders until Jan. 24. Email [email protected] for info. Miracle on the Bay, a nonprofit that supports St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, is taking orders for a Jan. 26 delivery of Manny Randazzo King Cakes at www.adjustersgivebackstore.org.

The Randazzo name is attached to a few different bakeries. As with king cakes – and Mardi Gras in general – the madness tends to ramify.