Crowding the shelves of Jack Lampert’s refrigerator, homemade king cakes take up every square inch before making their way into the hands of eager Mardi Gras enthusiasts.What began as an annual tradition for Lampert and his partner has since blossomed into a transformative way to keep the spirit of Mardi Gras alive and flourishing. Beginning in January, Lampert lent his baking techniques and personality to cheering up friends and family through homemade king cakes and Facebook videos to celebrate this year’s anything-but-ordinary Mardi Gras season.

“Every year, I always bake us a couple of king cakes for January 6, Twelfth Night,” says Lampert. “I posted them this year on Facebook and friends started saying ‘Can I get one?’ so I started taking orders from friends and family, and I’ve been baking them every day since.”

With an opportunity to share the love of Mardi Gras through king cake, Lampert and his partner knew there was an even better way to encourage the celebration.

“Then we decided to start posting Mardi Gras videos,” says Lampert. “If we can’t go to Mardi Gras this year, I thought well, we’ll just talk about Mardi Gras on these videos every day and just have a good time doing it and making it part of everyone’s Mardi Gras.”

With a praising response from friends and family, you’d be correct in imagining Lampert up to his elbows in flour and sugar.

“It’s been great,” says Lampert. “I’m baking sometimes six, sometimes eight, a day.”

To keep everything manageable, Lampert has provided his sweet-tooth friends with the option of two flavors.

“I’m doing cinnamon sugar, and I’m doing a cinnamon cream cheese,” says Lampert. “I’ve just done two options, otherwise it gets too crazy.”

Lampert’s king cakes and Facebook videos have brought smiles to the faces of viewers in an otherwise unpredictable time.

“I think that I have brought the spirit of Mardi Gras to people through my videos and, of course, through my king cakes,” says Lampert. “It’s helped me with the Mardi Gras spirit because, like I said, we never miss it. People are responding on my Facebook page saying that they love my spirit, and thanking me for keeping the Mardi Gras spirit alive, so I think it’s bringing some joy to people—including myself—during this crazy time we’re in. We’ve got to try and do something to keep our spirits up.”

When asked about any future baking plans, Lampert’s response was on-theme with the times.

“Who knows what will happen next!”