It’s that time of year again. The time when the grand ole king cake makes its way to the DesignLab-ers in DC.

Pause to salivate.

The tradition extends back to January 2007. Deanna’s mother so generously shipped the cake from her hometown of Baton Rouge so that our team could gain inspiration, if you will, from the savory sweetness of this sinful donut cake.

As seen below, our honorary Design Lab member, Mia, models her slice and magical baby-finding finding skills (for the third time). #3-peat

Naturally, there is a reason why this cake is critical to our design work and environment. So here goes. It promotes happiness and full bellies, which supposedly can trigger high levels of right-brain creative activity.

Who are we kidding? We do it because it is delicious and a great reason to congregate even for a few minutes.

Happy Mardi Gras, fellow designers and creative thinkers.