King Cake

Hello! I’m finishing up my week of Mardi Gras themed recipes with king cake, of course!

The king cake has a plastic baby or bean, or in my case a Sour Patch Kid, hidden inside of it. Traditionally, whoever finds the baby has to buy next year’s cake, or for some it means good luck for the year. Since I made the cake, I doubt anyone is going to buy next year’s, so ours will mean luck.

If you like cinnamon rolls, you’ll love king cake. It’s basically a cinnamon roll ring! It’s so delicious, drizzled with powdered sugar icing and topped with colored sugar… yum!!

If you’d like to make one for Fat Tuesday, here’s what you’ll need:

For the dough:

2 TBSP butter

1 cup sour cream

5 TBSP sugar

Pinch of salt

1 package active dry yeast

1 egg

3 – 3 1/2 cups flour

For the filling:

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

4 TBSP butter (melted)

For the icing:

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 TBSP butter (melted)

4 TBSP milk

Pinch of salt

Cooled sugar (green, yellow and purple)

Ok. Let’s do this!

If you’d like to make your own colored sugars like I do, it’s very simple!

Place 1/2 cup sugar into a zip top sandwich bag. Add gel food coloring and squish it around in the bag. Add more food coloring to get desired intensity of color.

When the sugar is the color that you want, pour it onto parchment paper and spread it out. Allow it to dry for 30 minutes – 1 hour.

When sugar is dry, pour it into a mesh strainer and sift it into a bowl. Store in a glass jar.

In a large mixing bowl combine yeast with warm water and 1 TBSP sugar. Stir to combine. Allow to sit approximately 5 minutes, until foamy.

In a medium saucepan, heat butter, 4 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt over medium high heat.

When the butter melts, add the sour cream and heat to 105°.

Add butter and sour cream mixture into yeast mixture.

Whisk in egg and 1 cup of flour until smooth.

Gradually mix in the remaining flour with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. This will take at least 2 cups of flour. You want the dough to be sticky, but not tacky. Add in the extra 1/2 cup of flour if necessary to achieve the right consistency.

On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for 5 – 10 minutes, until it becomes elastic, adding more flour by teaspoon, if needed.

Form dough into a ball and place in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Roll dough around to coat entire surface with oil.

Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Place in a warm, draft free area to rise for 1 hour, until doubled in size.

Make the filling by combining melted butter, cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.

After the dough has risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.

Roll dough out to an approximately 18×14 inch rectangle.

Spread filling onto dough, leaving a border of about 1 inch all the way around.

Roll the dough, starting with the long edge, jellyroll style. Pinch the seams together.

Carefully place roll, seam side down, onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bring ends of roll together, forming a circle shape. Press the ends together to completely seal the circle shape.

Cover dough with plastic wrap or a tea towel. Place in a warm, draft free place and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375°

After the second rise, remove the plastic wrap and bake for 25 minutes, until cake is golden brown.

Immediately transfer cake to cooling rack. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.

To make the icing, whisk together powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, melted butter and milk until smooth.

After 15 minutes, turn cake over and insert plastic baby through the bottom of the cake. Or, a Sour Patch Kid if, like me, you can’t find a plastic baby. Remember, I live in the middle of nowhere!

Turn the cake right side up and place on parchment paper to catch any icing and sugar used to finish cake.

Drizzle icing evenly over cake, allowing it to ooze down the sides.

Before icing has a chance to set, sprinkle colored sugar in stripes around the cake.

Remove cake from parchment paper and place on platter for serving.