Happy Mardi Gras!
Please be advised this is not a beginner recipe and to read the after notes for more information and history.
Ingredients:
4-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1 1/2 tsps of salt
4 1/2 tsps of instant yeast or bread machine yeast
3/4 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup of water
1 stick of butter or 1/2 cup
2 tablespoons of butter (for melting)
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tlb cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 plastic baby or bean to place in cake
Filling: this can be by choice for the King Cake or you don't have to even have a filling at all. The sky's the limit! I like to make apple pie filling, but a mixture of sugar and cinnamon will do just fine. If you go with the cinnamon mixture you can do a cup of sugar with a tablespoon of cinnamon to taste.
Directions:
In a saucepan heat milk, water and butter to 120 to 130 degrees using an instant-read or candy thermometer.
In a large mixing bowl combine 1-1/2 cups of flour, sugar, salt, and yeast.
Add liquid mixture to the bowl and beat 2 minutes at medium speed with an electric mixer or kitchen aid.
Scrape bowl to make sure all ingredients are mixed well.
Add the eggs, egg yolk, 1/2 cup of flour, lemon zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla
Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
Again, scrape bowl to make sure all ingredients are mixed well.
Stir in the remaining 3-3/4 to 4 cups of flour to make a stiff batter (note you might not need the full 4 go by consistency of the batter).
Transfer dough to a bowl coated with cooking spray. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or foil for two hours in the refrigerator (instant yeast makes this step possible and it might seem odd but it's not).
Line a large cooking pan with parchment paper.
Punch dough down on a lightly floured surface. Then shape the dough into a roughly flattened rectangle. With a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch think, making a large rectangle roughly 24 inches long and 8 - 12 inches wide. Run a spatula or use a dough separator gently underneath to make sure the dough is not sticking to the floured surface.
(Note: I do at times make two cakes from this recipe as it's an extremely large king cake and depending on size or for a quicker bake I also twist the rolls together).
With a pastry brush, spread the melted butter lightly over the surface of the dough. Lightly and evenly sprinkle or fill with filling.
Starting with the long side, roll the dough tightly into an even roll. Transfer the roll to the baking pan covered with parchment paper. Shape the roll into an oval with the ends meeting on one side (not the top or bottom). Pinch the ends together firmly to connect the ring.
Cover the cake with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm none drafty spot until the cake doubles in size which is around an hour.
Preheat the oven for 375 degrees.
Bake tented in foil for 35 mins, please read further for alternate cook times.
Un-tent then cook for 10-15 mins longer. This bake time varies on if you provide a filling or not. These times are given when using a pie filling, if you plan on baking without a filling bake for 20-35 mins.
Cool cake for 10-15 mins, cooling is essential before icing as icing will melt if the cake is still warm.
Randomly place baby or bean on the underside of the cake carefully pushing into cake.
Icing:
2 cups of powered sugar
3 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon of milk
2 tablespoons of lemon juice or flavoring that blends with your filling (example for the pie filling I used vanilla)
Whisk sugar, flavoring, water and milk till smooth. Icing should drizzle easily off the edge of the spoon. I prefer to pour icing over the cake vs spreading but you prefer to spread via spatula go for it!
Decorate immediately with purple, green and yellow sprinkles.
Enjoy!
We're not ones for an excerpt before recipe or a long story of how we came across a recipe but here's the king cakes history and a bit more. Googling the history of king cakes it's quite vague. Not much is known of the pastry's origins but for southerns this is a must bake. The start of a king cakes was someone brings the cake to the ball or party, everyone at the ball/party gets a piece of cake and whoever gets the baby is the king or queen of the ball/party, they then also bring the king cake to the next ball/party. They're now enjoyed by southerns especially around New Orleans with or without a ball/party and come in array of shapes, sizes and fillings. A king cake is a brioche based rich pastry with a filling based in cinnamon flavors (usually) that’s a wonderful warm way to greet the January and February drear. If you need a bit of history, Twelfth Night (Epiphany) is the start to king cake season which runs till Fat Tuesday. Giving folks the perfect winter celebration after Christmas needed to spice up your winter months!
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