As Mardi Gras season is in full swing, I set out to make a king cake from a kit my sister brought me from New Orleans. It seemed pretty authentic, so I was very excited to try it out.
Ingredients:
The kit contained the 'king cake mix', yeast, praline sugar, glaze, three packets of colored sprinkles, and of course the baby! I added 1/3 cup of warm water, 3 eggs and 2 egg yolks, and 1 1/2 sticks of butter.
Recipe for king cake (following a kit):
1) Preheat oven to 350. Mix king cake mix, yeast, eggs, warm water and room temperature butter. Approx 3-4 mins
2) Cover dough with plastic wrap and set in warm place for 30 minutes to rise. Next, knead dough on a lightly floured surface. This dough was very sticky and not easy to work with, so I kept adding more flour, probably more than I should have. This made the dough a bit drier than I would have liked.
3) Brush 2 tablespoons of melted butter over the surface and sprinkle the praline sugar topping all over. Next, start to roll up the dough like a jelly roll. Pinch ends closed.
4) Place dough on a cookie sheet and bring the two ends together to form a circle or oval. Let rise for 30 minutes until the dough has doubled in size.
5) Bake for 20-30 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool completely. At this point put the baby somewhere under the cake.
6) To decorate, mix glaze with a bit of water until the consistency is of a thick icing. Add decorative sprinkle or sugars.
Happy Mardi Gras!
