King Cake

Photo: flickr user MGShelton

Ingredients

PASTRY:

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

2 packages active dry yeast

2/3 cup warm water

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING:

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2/3 cup pecans, chopped

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup melted butter

FROSTING:

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon to 2 water

MISC:

2 smalls plastic dolls (from party supply store)

green sugar

yellow sugar

purple sugar

Preparation

Scald the milk, then remove from heat and stir in the butter. Cool the mixture until it reaches room temperature.

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of the white sugar. Let stand until creamy, approximately 10 minutes.

When the yeast mixture is bubbling, add the cooled milk mixture. Whisk in the eggs. Stir the remaining white sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Beat the flour in, adding 1 cup at a time.

Once the dough has formed, put it on a lightly floured surface and kneed until smooth and elastic, approximately 8 to 10 minutes.

Lightly oil a large bowl. Put the dough in the bowl and turn it to coat the dough with oil. Cover the dough with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, approximately 2 hours. Once the dough has risen, punch it down and divide it in half.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 cookie sheets, or line them with parchment paper.

Make the filling: combine brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour the 1/2 cup of melted butter over the mixture and mix until crumbly.

Roll out the dough halves into large rectangles (approximately 10 x 6 inches). Sprinkle the filling over the dough and roll the dough up like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of each roll together to form two oval shaped rings. Put each dough ring on a prepared cookie sheet. Use scissors to make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, approximately 45 minutes.

Bake the rings in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove cakes from oven and press a plastic baby doll into the bottom of each cake.

Mix the confectioners sugar with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water and frost the cakes while warm. Decorate with green, yellow, and purple colored sugars.

Tools

Comments

Permalink Jessica Boscarini
February 19, 2012

Here's a recipe for a healthier version of the traditional Mardi Gras King's Cake: http://bit.ly/zqByal
*Note - "healthy" doesn't mean it taste bad - this cake is great!!

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About

Popular in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. There are lots of different filling options, including fruit pie fillings, cream cheese fillings, etc. The plastic baby is said to represent the Baby Jesus, and whoever gets the slice with the baby gets to bring the cake to the next year's celebration.