Several special pastries are available at Today Cafe in Universal Studios Florida for Mardi Gras: International Flavors of Carnaval 2023.

We tried the king cake brioche, rum cake, and pecan tart. A cheesecake pop, cookies and cream mini cake, and muffuletta flatbread are also available.

Mardi Gras King Cake Brioche – $4.99

This cake is pretty but otherwise bland and basic. We expected some sort of cinnamon flavor in a “king cake,” but there was none.

It was like a dry cinnamon roll with no cinnamon or other sweetness. The icing and sprinkles on top helped, but not enough.

It’s a brioche, so we did expect it to be simple, but it was too simple. Maybe dunking the cake in a coffee or hot chocolate would be nice, but it didn’t impress us.

Mardi Gras Pecan Tart – $4.99

This came close to being the best of the treats we tried at Today Cafe. Every part of this pop tart is delicious and memorable, but the proportions are off.

The pecan filling is warm and delicious. Unfortunately, there are only about two bites worth.

The pastry is phenomenal, but without more filling, we can only handle a few bites without reaching for a glass of water. 

There is a crunchy coating of sugar around the pastry and a nice amount of sweet icing that saves it from being a failure. If there had been more filling, this would have been one of our top Mardi Gras picks.

Mardi Gras Rum Cake – $5.99

We were sad to see the Mardi Gras cinnamon cake did not return to Today Cafe this year, but this is a nice replacement.

The rum flavor comes from the sweet frosting and not from the cake. The cake is fluffy with a simple vanilla flavor but it’s excellent.

There is just the right amount of frosting for this to be the winner of the three desserts we tried.

Which Mardi Gras dessert are you looking forward to tasting? Let us know in the comments and check out our full guide to Mardi Gras: International Flavors of Carnaval 2023.

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