Mardi Gras King Cake Recipe
The King Cake is a New Orleans tradition that involves a pastry, a small plastic baby, and a party. The King Cake is baked with a small plastic baby hidden inside, the person who gets the slice with baby in it has to host the next party.
Ingredients
PASTRY:
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 ounce packages active dry yeast
- ⅔ cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 pic eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 5 ½ cups all-purpose flour
FILLING:
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ⅔ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup melted butter
FROSTING:
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Scald milk, remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup of butter. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of the white sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
- When yeast mixture is bubbling, add the cooled milk mixture. Whisk in the eggs. Stir in the remaining white sugar, salt and nutmeg. Beat the flour into the milk/egg mixture 1 cup at a time. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. When risen, punch down and divide dough in half.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
- To Make Filling: Combine the brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix until crumbly.
- Roll dough halves out into large rectangles (approximately 10x16 inches or so). Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough and roll up each half tightly like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of each roll together to form 2 oval shaped rings. Place each ring on a prepared cookie sheet. With scissors make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Push the doll into the bottom of the cake. Frost while warm with the confectioners' sugar blended with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.
Notes
Nutrition Information:
- Protein: 7.2g 14 %
- Carbohydrates: 68.7g 22 %
- Dietary Fiber: 2.3g 9 %
- Sugars: 30.7g
- Fat: 13.4g 21 %
- Saturated Fat: 6.2g 31 %
- Cholesterol: 47.3mg 16 %
- Vitamin A Iu: 329.1IU 7 %
- Niacin Equivalents: 4.7mg 36 %
- Vitamin B6: 0.1mg 5 %
- Vitamin C: 0.2mg
- Folate: 111.7mcg 28 %
- Calcium: 53.2mg 5 %
- Iron: 2.8mg 16 %
- Magnesium: 22.5mg 8 %
- Potassium: 174.9mg 5 %
- Sodium: 300.5mg 12 %
- Thiamin: 0.4mg 44 %
