EASY KING CAKE

Hey friends! I am back. I took a week off to gather my thoughts and get organized for planning two babies birthday parties in March. I probably should have tried to space that out a bit, but it didn’t quite work out that way. Something else that is happening in March is Mardi Gras! New Orleans is one of my favorite cities in the world. It is literally the only place we ever went on vacation as a child and only being a few hours away from my hometown, we frequented there. I learned to love the culture of that city at a young age. It is such an interesting, weird and (in parts) beautiful city. There is no other place like it and there is NO OTHER FOOD like it. It’s some of the greatest food around. And one of those classic New Orleans foods is the King Cake.

One of my fondest of memories is when my dad would go do work in Louisiana and always bring back a King Cake around this time of year. We used to love eating it and hoping I would get the baby. You can buy King Cakes at Whole Foods now, but for awhile when I moved to Tennessee, they were hard to find. I always thought about baking my own, but it’s a lot of work. It is less of a cake and more of a pastry and super laborious. I found a shortcut recipe in a cookbook I bought years ago in NOLA, and I thought I would try it out so I could scratch that itch.

It turned out to be really easy to do and absolutely delicious, so I am sharing with you. Remember, we gotta get in all this goodness before Lent next week, so go ahead and eat up!

See below for step x step instructions (with pictures) and scroll to the bottom for the printable recipe!

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Mixing Bowls

RECIPE:

STEP 1: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

STEP 2: Make the filling by creaming the butter, cinnamon and sugar until light and fluffy and soft enough to be spreadable.

Glass Bowl

Glass Bowl

STEP 3: Fix the dough according to the box instructions.

Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl

STEP 4: Take half of the dough and roll it out on a floured surface. Try to make a rectangle about 18 x 12″. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Cutting Board

STEP 5: Spread half of the butter mixture in the center of the dough.

Cutting Board

STEP 6: Starting with the long end, roll up the dough and place on a baking sheet with parchment. Make sure the seam in down.

STEP 7: Repeat with the other half of dough and butter mixture.

STEP 8: Add the second roll to the baking sheet, seam down, and connect the two ends together to create an oval.

Cookie Sheet

STEP 9: Cover the pastry with a tea towel or saran wrap and let rise in a warm place for 20-25 minutes.

Cookie Sheet

STEP 10: After the pastry has doubled in size, bake it for 15 – 20 minutes.

Cookie Sheet

STEP 11: Make the icing, by combining powdered sugar, lemon juice and water. Mix until smooth.

Glass Bowl

STEP 12: Pour and spread icing on top of the cooled pastry and immediately sprinkle with green, yellow and purple sanding sugar. You can make you own with sugar and food coloring.

Cookie Sheet

Enjoy!

Product I Used:

Printable Recipe:

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