NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) —Perhaps the sweetest ingredient of Carnival Season is King Cake itself.

In 2017, Matt Haines, ate around 88 king cakes and wrote a book about his experience, titled: The Big Book of King Cake. Recently Haines wrote a children’s book that was beautifully illustrated by Aileen Bennett, titled: The Little Book of King Cake.

Haines’ mission in 2017 was to try every king cake he could find because of his passions of food, culture and history.

Recently, he decided to take his book for a test run by reading reading it during story time. He took his children’s book, as well as some king cake from Bittersweet Confections Bakery, to Homer A. Plessy Community School in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans.

The Little Book of King Cake is about Miley, a little girl on a mission to find out what makes king cake special.

“Miley finds the King Cake baby at school and she has to choose what king cake she is going to bring. It gives her a lot of stress because there are so many to choose from.  That’s exactly how I felt back then in 2017 and I think it’s how a lot of us feel when we find the baby and are responsible to bring the next cake.  There are so many incredible ones to pick,” says Haines.

In the book, Miley goes on a her own king cake quest through history. She is accompanied by a giant king cake baby and learns the history, tradition, creativity and magic of her favorite treat.

“I loved reading this story to the kids. Nothing gets them more excited this time of year, than seeing a king cake on Friday.  To bring a couple of these king cakes in here, tell them a story about king cake and introduce them to real New Orleans bakeries and introduce them to the king cakes is really fun,” says Haines.

You can get your hands on a copy of The Little Book of King Cake in most book stores and bakeries around town or by clicking here.