King cake coconut. Some bakers now offer king cakes for other holidays that immediately surround the Mardi Gras season, such as king cakes with green and red icing for Christmas, cakes with pink and red icing for Valentine's Day, and cakes with green and white icing for St. Patrick's Day. Others have gone a step further and produce specialty king cakes from the beginning of football season for Louisiana State University and New Orleans Saints tailgate parties, then for Halloween, then Thanksgiving—and do not cease until after Mardi Gras season, when they produce an Easter holiday king cake. In the Southern culture,
Mazurek (cake) top of "mazurek" is covered with a layer of icing (i.e. sugar icing or fudge caramel cream) or jelly. It is also decorated with nut-based icing or almond-based icing and candied fruits. Traditionally, home-baked "mazurek" cakes are often decorated with dried fruits and nuts. In case of one-sheet version the cake includes the borders made of rolled "half-short" pastry. Sometimes the shortcrust base is crowned with a lattice made of half-short or macaroon pastry. Among other versions, often to be found in popular cook books and gastronomy coursebooks is "Gypsy mazurek" ("mazurek cygański"). A sheet of "half-short" pastry is "half-baked",