At the mention of apple and goat cheese in a King Cake, elders of New Orleans may shriek with accusations of heresy. But no one has brought a torch to Cake Café in the Marigny yet - only their cravings for a new take on the Carnival's premier treat.

Cake Café head baker and owner Steve Himelfarb mused that King Cakes only started to assume new forms and flavors after the storm when artisan bakers added their twist to the historic. Even the big originals like Haydel’s and Gambino’s had to take notice, he said, as competition grew in the years since the big blow. Among the most improvisational of these additions is Himmelfarb's Apple and Goat Cheese King Cake, which is cementing a reputation far beyond the Faubourg in its second Mardi Gras season.

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To Himelfarb, King Cakes have become pieces of art. His mission as a baker of them, he said, is to hit his customers with a “wow factor.”

Cake Café's King Cake is deliciously unique inside and out. The decoration is made of a thick and sweet-but-not-too-sweet-in-fact-just-right-kind-of-sweet icing, applied in playful and spontaneous strokes, reminiscent of jazz. The cinnamon-dusted apple and goat cheese filling is so moist, more moist than any filling found in a King Cake, that the cake surrounding it has to be intentionally drier. In any other style of King Cake, the consistency of this cake could be considered on the dry side. But because of the very moist filling, it balances out to our satisfaction. The consummation of sweet and savory in the mouth is NSFW - especially if you want some left over to bring home at the end of the day.

Himelfarb said his inspiration for this King Cake comes from a memory long ago of the cinnamon rolls he used to get early in the morning at his junior high school’s cafeteria in Rockville, Maryland.

“My memory may be better than they really were,” Himelfarb said sitting in the front of his café, taking a quick break from the kitchen. “That was around 1975.”

Before he opened Cake Café, Himelfarb baked cakes out of his home for 15 years, selling by the slice to neighbors. He taught himself how to bake by reading recipes and experimenting, he said.

Since the early days of baking out of his home, Himelfarb has always had a strong loyal customer base that continues at Cake Café today. He allows some of them, if it’s early in the morning, to decorate their own King Cake. Himelfarb hopes next year to have celebrities decorate his King Cakes to be sold at a higher price, so the extra profit could be donated to charity. But, he warns, it’s just an idea for now.

Besides the Apple & Goat Cheese ($24), Cake Café also serves Raspberry Cream Cheese ($24), Traditional ($18), and Cream Cheese ($24) King Cakes, among many other pastries and sandwiches.

Cake Café is located at 2440 Chartres Street in the Marigny.