Homemade King Cake For Carnival/Epiphany Season

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My family is from New Orleans originally and were there for six generations. Flipping through the family albums from my father's side is like a time travel through the city's history. Mardi Gras was always a constant in their lives. My 3rd great-grandfather opened his hotel around Christmas of 1983 to have it ready for Carnival Season of 1894. We have photos and documentation of every generation down to my grandparents having involvement in the Mardi Gras krewes -- my grandfather and great-grandmother were in the courts of Rex and Comus (the two premiere krewes), respectively. One of my earliest memories, even, is my dad holding me up at a Mardi Gras parade with one hand and catching a string of beads with the other. We used to have big parties at our house during the season, but my parents don't like to go through the trouble of hosting a party these days, so it's usually more low key. We also used to order king cakes straight from NOLA (and there are also a few locally made ones we like -- we live in NC now thanks to my dad's job). We still do this on occasion, but several years ago, we decided to experiment with making our own king cake after finding the recipe from Haydel's, one of our favorite bakeries in NOLA, online. It is a lot cheaper than buying a king cake, but moreover, my parents actually liked the homemade one better, being that we could eat it fresh from the oven rather than after it was sent to us package air. We therefore do this every year. I even brought one to my church last year and now I am famous there for my king cake! The picture is actually one of our homemade creations. Have any of you ever had king cake before?