It’s carnival season again! I have yet to make it to New Orleans for Mardi Gras so I brought it home to SoCal in the guise of a King Cake!
King Cakes are a huge part of carnival season and usually make their appearance after the first of the year and all the way until Mardi Gras (March 4th this year). In the U.S. it’s traditionally a ring of cinnamon roll style bread, almost like a coffee cake, topped with icing colored in purple, green and gold; traditional Mardi Gras colors. The most fun part of the king cake is the little baby inside. Whoever gets the piece with the baby has to make the next cake or host the Mardi Gras party the next year.
This was my first time making a king cake and I felt a lot of pressure. My husbands aunt from Mississippi was in town visiting so I had the perfect taste tester. Thankfully, she loved it and so did everyone else. I topped my cake with the traditional icing but added Captain Morgan Spiced Rum to take the flavor up a notch. It was delicious. I liked it even better the second and third day after I made it. Unfortunately, it was gone by the fourth. It’s easy to make so I’ll make a few more before Mardi Gras.
My mom got the baby this year so…just so you know, Mom…better start planning for next year.
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 8 oz sour cream
- 5 Tbsp sugar, divided into 4 Tbsp & 1 Tbsp
- Pinch of salt
- 1 package (2¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm water (between 100 and 110 degrees)
- 1 egg
- 3 to 3½ cups flour
- vegetable oil for bowl
- 1 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 8 Tbsp butter, melted
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Captain Morgan Spiced Rum (if you don't want rum in the icing, omit it completely and increase vanilla to 1 tsp)
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 4 Tbsp whole milk
- Pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup sugar for dusting, colored with food coloring (see notes below)
- To make dough: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add butter, 4 Tbsp of sugar and salt; stir. Once the butter has melted, add the sour cream and heat to lukewarm. (If using a thermometer, about 105°)
- Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, add ¼ cup warm water, yeast, and remaining 1 Tbsp of sugar; stir. Allow the yeast to sit for about 5 minutes until it bubbles and becomes active.
- Once the yeast is active, whisk in the warm butter and sour cream mixture, egg, and 1 cup of flour. Whisk until smooth.
- Using an oiled wooden spoon, begin mixing in small amounts of the remaining flour until you form a soft dough. This will take about another 2 cups of flour. You want the dough to be tacky, but not sticky.
- Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or turn the dough out onto a clean surface lightly dusted with flour. With oiled hands or dough hook, knead the dough until elastic, about 5 to 10 minutes, adding more flour by the tablespoon if needed.
- Place the ball of dough into a large, well-oiled bowl, then flip the dough so all of the surface area of the dough is oiled. Cover the bowl with oiled plastic wrap and a hand towel, then set the bowl in a warm, draft-free area and allow the dough to rise until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- While the dough is rising make the filling. Combine the melted butter, cinnamon and sugars in a medium bowl and stir to fully combine. Set aside.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Lightly flour the dough and a rolling pin. Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 1/4 thick. Ours ended up being about 18" x 14".
- Spread the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a border about 1" around the edges of the dough. Roll the cake up cinnamon-roll style starting at one long side and pinch the seams shut.
- Carefully move the roll to a parchment-line baking sheet, seam-side down. Bring the ends together to form an oval and press the edges together to completely seal the cake.
- Cover the cake with oiled plastic wrap again and a hand towel and allow it to rise for another 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375° while cake is rising.
- Once 30 minutes have passed, remove the plastic wrap and hand towel from the cake and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown. Immediately transfer the cake to a cooling rack after removing it from the oven. Allow the cake to cool for at least 20 minutes before icing. After it cools a little, push a little plastic baby or trinket of your choice up through the bottom of the cake. (We used a baby from a bakery and added it before baking. It didn't melt but I would not recommend this with babies purchased from a party supply.)
- To make the icing, whisk together the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, spiced rum, melted butter and milk until smooth. You want the icing to be able to drizzle easily but not just run right off the cake. If the icing is to thin, just whisk in more powdered sugar and if the icing is too thick whisk in more milk. After the cake has cooled, move it to a serving platter. Drizzle the icing evenly over the cake and allow it to drip down the sides. Before the icing has a chance to set, sprinkle on the colored sugar.
- To make colored sugar, place 1/4 sugar each into 3 small bowls. Add food coloring to sugar (I started with 3 drops each and added more to get desired color) and muddle with a pestle or the back of a spoon to spread and color all granules evenly. You'll want one gold (or yellow), one green and one purple (blue and red mixed together) bowl of sugar.
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