Mardi Gras King Cake

It’s Fat Tuesday and really in our family that usually just means we get pancakes for dinner!  Last year I heard about this cake and thought hey, that’s cool.  Until, of course, I heard that a plastic baby was baked into the bread.  EW.  It’s suppose be for good luck, but it’s just wrong.  So there is no plastic baby in my cake.

I also remember this post by Cake Wrecks about when they go terribly wrong.  It intrigued me.  I mean really, how hard can it be to make a decent looking King Cake.

So I took a quick Google look around and found this recipe on All Recipes and immediately had to change it because I didn’t have any lemon zest just orange.  It worked quite well.  The picture in the background below I got in New Orleans the October before Katrina hit. It hangs in our dining room, ok it sits on the floor because I haven’t hung it yet :)  And yes, I know it’s been almost a year since we moved in.

I loved New Orleans!  It was an absolutely beautiful city plus the food is a foodies delight! I think I gained 10 lbs over the 3 days I was there ;)

Recipe: Adapted from All Recipes

Dough:

• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar
  
• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
  
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
  
• 5 egg yolks
  
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 2 teaspoons salt
  
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Filling:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
  
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Icing:

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
  
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
  
• 2 tablespoons milk
  
• 1 tablespoon multicolored candy sprinkles (I made my own.  Just add a drop of AmeriColor to 1/4 cup white sanding sugar, mix around in Ziploc, pour out on parchment and let dry)

Directions:

1. Mix sugar, milk and yeast together and let sit 5-10 minutes until fluffy.
   
2. Add eggs and melted butter.
   
3. In bowl of mixer, combine flour, salt, nutmeg and zest.
   
4. Add yeast mixture and using dough hook, combine and knead until it all comes together.  Knead for about 4 minutes and the dough is soft and not sticky.
   
5. Place in bowl and cover.  Let rise to double, about 2 hours.
   
6. After risen, roll out dough to a 6 X 20 sheet.
7. Combine filling and spread down center of dough.
8. Fold long edges over and seal.
9. Place on baking sheet with seam down and form into ring.  You can place a coffee can in the center to keep it’s shape while baking.
10. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Let cool.
11. Combine icing and pour over cake.  Then use sprinkles as decorations.
12. Enjoy!

This is a great tasting cake.  Even the girls enjoyed it!  I really like the orange flavour in the dough and then topped with the lemon icing.  The citrus flavour is really refreshing.  I would make this again next year for sure!

Thanks for looking!

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