BATON ROUGE - King Cake, a sweet, circular pastry tied to the Catholic celebration of Epiphany, is typically enjoyed on January 6. But this year, the pandemic is motivating some to purchase the beloved holiday pastries much earlier. Some bakeries say the festive dessert is already being sold, and that customers are grabbing two or three at a time.

"I like to get an early start with king cakes because I love them and even though it starts Wednesday, I'd like to have one today for my family," David Griffin of Baton Rouge said.

Operators at The Ambrosia Bakery, on Siegen Lane in Baton Rouge, are not helping folks stick to the King's Day tradition, with some of their fresh-baked Mardi Gras pasties now available for sale.

"We have a little bit of a teaser out here today, and people are buying them right off the shelf," Felix Sherman, Co-owner and operator of The Ambrosia Bakery said.

With there not being any parades or balls this year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Griffin plans to keep his family safe indoors and just pick up a few more king cakes this year.

"Mardi gras is something that people do, but during the pandemic, we're just going to kinda leave it alone this year and hopefully next year it will be better," Griffin said.

With so many people staying in during Mardi Gras, Sherman is expecting a lot more king cake sales.

"We're prepared to have a really phenomenal season when it comes to king cakes this year," Sherman said.

Ambrosia is already seeing an uptick in their online orders for king cakes this year.