Can you Bring King Cake on a Plane?

Can You Bring King Cake on a Plane?

King cakes are so delicious on the ground, why not also enjoy them in the air? You might have wondered if it’s possible to carry this legendary New Orleans delight with you on a flight. Maybe you’re from far away, a distant land that is tragically unaware of the glories of king cake, and you want to bring back to your clan the bounty of Louisiana. Or, maybe you’ve just developed a taste for the best king cake bakery in New Orleans and need to bring home as much as you can to sate your sweet tooth. Maybe you’ll even snatch a bit or two while on the plane!

However, a worry pops into your mind: what if, carelessly, robotically, a TSA agent takes your freshly-iced king cake and drops it right into the garbage along with all of the half-empty water bottles and 99-cent nail clippers? The horror would be too great for any but the strongest of souls to endure.

Fortunately, we’ve done the legwork for you, and the results are in: you CAN take king cake on a plane!

See, a cake either freshly baked or preserved and packed in any way, once it passes inspection, can be in either your checked luggage or your carry-on baggage. You’ll be able to eat king cake mid-flight while also imagining the joy and surprise on the faces of friends and family once you get back home. It’s a good thing that the checked luggage is separate though, otherwise you (and a couple of friendly passengers) might polish it off during an impromptu mid-flight Mardi Gras!

However, it’s important to understand that these rules apply when flying within the United States and departing from the United States only. If you are eating king cake in New Orleans and flying back to a foreign country, you might have a unique rule or regulation that could impede the import of the cake. Not to mention that the length of time that a cake spends in transit could take away from some of its freshness.

The caveat about frosting is that you want to make sure that your king cake is already frosted and that you won’t be carrying more frosting in a separate container. If you do, it needs to follow the 3-1-1 rule regarding liquids and be stored in a container that is 3.4 ounces or smaller.

Now that you don’t need to worry about the legalities of taking a king cake with you on a plane, your next dilemma will be picking the flavors and icing combinations from your favorite king cake shop!