King Cake

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This classic King Cake is a Mardi Gras favorite—soft, buttery yeast cake filled with cinnamon sugar, topped with vanilla icing and festive purple, green, and gold sanding sugar.

Prep Time1

Cook Time25

Chill Time and Rise Times:2

Total Time3 25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Keyword: king cake, mardi gras

Servings: servings

Author: Lori Lange

Equipment

Stand Mixer (for mixing and kneading dough)
Candy Thermometer (for measuring the temperature of the liquid)
Pastry Mat (for kneading and rolling dough)
Rolling Pin (for rolling the dough)
12-Cup Bundt Pan (for baking the cake)
Cooling Rack (for cooling the cake)

Ingredients

DOUGH:

3½ cups all purpose flour, divided
2¼ teaspoons instant yeast (one envelope)
1 cup milk
¼ cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces

FILLING:

⅔ cup packed light brown sugar
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

ICING:

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DECORATION:

dark green, purple and yellow/gold sanding sugars

Instructions

PREPARE THE DOUGH:

Mix 2½ cups flour and yeast in mixing bowl of stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, on low for about 30 seconds.
Heat milk, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and milk is between 120°F to 130°F.
With the mixer on low, pour in liquids and mix until incorporated. Add eggs one at a time. Continue mixing until a shaggy dough forms. Clean off paddle and switch to dough hook. Mix in the remaining 1 cup flour a little at a time, adding more or less flour as needed to make a soft dough. Add the softened butter, a piece at a time, kneading until each piece of butter is absorbed.
Knead for eight minutes on low. The dough should completely clear the sides of the bowl. If it is too sticky, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing in thoroughly before determining if more flour is needed. If the dough seems too dry, spritz with water from a spray bottle a couple of times, mixing in thoroughly before determining if more water is needed. Every 2 minutes, stop the machine, scrape the dough off the hook, and then continue kneading.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times by hand to be sure it’s smooth and elastic. Form the dough into a ball. Place dough into a greased bowl. Turn once so greased surface is on top. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

ADD THE FILLING AND SHAPE:

While the dough is chilling, make cinnamon filling. In small bowl, combine the brown sugar and ground cinnamon. Combine butter with cinnamon mixture and mix well.
Roll the chilled dough into a 10x20-inch rectangle. Spread the filling on half of the long side of the dough. Fold the dough in half covering the filling. Pat the dough down firmly so the dough will stick together. Roll up the dough into a log- jelly-roll style. Shape it into a circle/oval and press the edges together.
Spray a 12-cup bundt pan with baking spray. Transfer the ring to the pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled, about 1 hour. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350℉. Bake the cake until it is golden brown, 20 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes, and then place it on a cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

ADD ICING AND DECORATIONS:

In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth (add additional milk if mixture is too thick or powdered sugar if too thin).
Spoon the icing over top of the cake. Immediately sprinkle on colored sugar, alternating between the three colors.

Notes

For best results, use a thermometer to heat the milk to 120 to 130°F so the yeast activates properly.
Let the cake cool completely before icing so the glaze doesn’t melt.
Store covered at room temperature for 1 day or refrigerate up to 4 days.
Freeze un-iced cake up to 2 months and decorate after thawing.

Nutrition