A Cake Worthy of a King

The first time I ever tasted King Cake was when I was a student at Centenary College of Louisiana, roughly a month before Mardi Gras. I was already familiar with Mardi Gras, but I had never experienced the delights of the King Cake until then. What a happy day that was.

A King Cake, named for the three kings who visited the infant Jesus, is only available between Epiphany and Mardi Gras. During Mardi Gras season, folks in Louisiana host King Cake parties and the person who finds the baby inside hosts the next King Cake party.  This goes on and on throughout the season and the parties get livelier and more raucous as Mardi Gras approaches. Unfortunately I often start thinking about devouring a piece of King Cake around September which makes the agony of waiting so much worse.

Don’t let the name fool you; a King Cake isn’t what you might normally think of as a proper cake. It’s an enriched bread dough that is traditionally filled with cinnamon and sugar, topped with fondant icing and sprinkled with gold, purple and green sugar. 

You can make this either by hand or with a mixer and it will turn out great.

Ingredients:

For the dough

60g butter

500g plain yogurt or buttermilk

80g sugar

1tsp salt

2 packets of dry yeast (14g)

1tbs sugar

125ml warm water 43C/110F

2 eggs

985g bread flour, divided

1 plastic baby (can be omitted)

For the filling

125g sugar

½tsp ground cinnamon

80g softened butter

For the fondant

480g icing sugar

3tbs melted butter

3tbs full fat milk

½tsp vanilla

For the sugar

Yellow

Green

Purple

Instructions:

To make the cake

1. Put the first four ingredients into a medium pan over a medium heat until the butter melts. Set aside and let cool to 43C/110F.
   
2. Dissolve yeast and 1tbs of sugar with ½ cup of warm water in a large bowl and let stand five minutes until frothy. 
   
3. Add yeast and butter mixture to a large bowl and whisk in the eggs. Once combined, add in 280g of the flour and beat for two minutes until smooth. If using yeast that can be added directly to the flour skip this step but add the water and the sugar to the yogurt/buttermilk mixture and the yeast to the flour.
4. Gradually add the remaining flour to make a soft dough (not sticky)
   
5. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for ten minutes until it’s smooth and elastic. You can do this in a mixer with the dough hook as well.
   
6. Place the dough into a well greased bowl, cover and place in a warm place for one hour until the dough has doubled in size. 
   
7. Knock out the air and divide the dough in half and set one half to the side.
8. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a large rectangle that is about ½inch/1cm in height. Spread half of the butter over all of the dough and then sprinkle with the cinnamon mixture.  Roll the dough into a tube and then bring the two ends together to firm a circle. If you want to add in the baby you will need to do so before you roll it up.
   
9. Place on a baking sheet, cover and set aside for 30 minutes for a second rise. Repeat with remaining half.
10. Once the dough has risen put into a preheat oven at 190C/375F and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
11. Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack and let cool completely.

To decorate the cake

1. Add the sugar, butter, milk and vanilla to a bowl and whisk until smooth.
2. Drizzle half the mixture over a completely cooled cake.
3. Sprinkle the coloured sugars over the fondant in the order of purple, green, and then gold.

As long as the final cake is pulled into a circle you could do pretty much any decorative braiding or twisting to make your King Cake even more impressive.