Sunday, February 10, 2013

Simple Mardi Gras King Cake

.... as they say in Louisiana, laissez le bon temps roulet!  Let the good times roll!



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!