Alice in the Kitchen

Easy Mardi Gras King Cake

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

The last time I blogged about King Cake was in 2010, and I was in a rush and didn’t include the recipe.  That version was a very simple one which you’ll find on the Internet that uses refrigerated sweet dough, like crescent roll dough or cinnamon roll dough.

But traditional King Cake is made from a sweet, yeast-risen dough (more like bread), sometimes filled with a cinnamon mixture, sometimes filled with a cream cheese custard.  So this year I set out to make a more traditional King Cake, with a basic white bread dough and an orange-flavored cream cheese filling.

You’ll need:

• 1 recipe white bread dough (before rising) or 1 store-bought frozen bread loaf, thawed
• 1 8 ounce block cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar (for glaze)
• 1 tablespoon milk (for glaze)
• 1 teaspoon orange extract (for glaze)
• purple, green, and gold sugars (for decorating)

On a floured surface, roll your dough out to roughly an 8×16 rectangle.

Using an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, and orange extract until smooth.  Spread over the dough, leaving a little bit of room at the edges to help with a seal.

Roll the dough up into a cylinder length wise.

Create a ring from the dough, sealing with wet fingers if the dough is too dry.

Lightly spray the dough ring with cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for at least an hour, until your dough has roughly doubled.

Bake for 30 minutes in an oven preheated to 350 degrees.

After baking, if you desire, insert the small plastic baby or other “token” into the bottom of your cake.  The person whose slice contains the token is responsible for supplying the King Cake next year!  Also, this photo is kind of freaky…

After the cake cools, combine the powdered sugar, milk, and extract into a glaze, and drizzle over the cake, decorating immediately with the colored sugars.

 Laissez les bons temps rouler!