Easy Mardi Gras King Cake

I have only enjoyed two King Cakes in my life. Both cakes were purchased from a grocery store. The Mardi Gras King Cake is a New Orleans tradition served after January 6th until Mardi Gras Day - Fat Tuesday.

The cake has a small trinket (often a small toy baby, sometimes said to represent the Christ child) inside. The person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations (such as buying the cake for the next celebration).

You can click here to read the history behind this beautiful cake. King cakes are made of a Danish dough filled with a fruit filling, cream filling or a combination of both.The king cake is then baked and decorated in the traditional Mardi Gras colors; gold (for power), green (for faith) and purple (for justice).

It never dawned on me to try and make this yummy sweet bread with colorful sprinkles myself. I guess I thought they were kind of difficult to make.Well, they aren't!!! This pretty king cake is so easy peasy to make because it utilizes Rhodes frozen bread dough. 

Monday morning while I was blog hopping I came across this super easy recipe at Southern Plate. As soon as I saw the photo I immediately went to the store to get cream cheese and sprinkles. Well lets just say tried to get sprinkles. As you can see from my photo above, I encountered the same problem Christy did.  

I couldn't find purple sprinkles for the life of me. So I did just as Christy did and improvised with pink sprinkles. My kids were so excited to see this waiting for them when they got home from school.

My daughter loved the pink sprinkles, but then she loves everything PINK! Of course I had a piece and then sent the last of it off to work with my husband. All I can say is this is one dangerous cake to leave around our house. If you want to celebrate a little Mardi gras in your home, I hope you'll give this easy recipe a try.

Here are some step by step photos. In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and extract and mix until creamy and blended. Roll out your dough on a un floured surface. I found it so much easier to roll the dough out without adding flour. 

Roll to a rectangle approx. 10 x 18 inches. Spread the cream cheese mixture over dough to within an inch of each side. Roll up longways (to make a long log) and brush the final edge with water before pressing it into the log to seal. Take log and form into a circle, pressing the ends into each other and brushing with water if needed to seal together.

Spray top lightly with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap. Set in warm place to rise for 45 minute to an hour. Remove plastic wrap and bake in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool. 

Mix confectioner’s glaze and drizzle over top of cake with a spoon. I chose not to place anything inside of the king cake this time, but if you want to you can place a small plastic doll or trinket inside the cake after it's baked.

Immediately sprinkle colored sprinkles over the glaze. Allow to sit until the glaze dries. Goodness this was the hardest part of the whole recipe, waiting!!!!!! It was worth it because this King Cake was delicious. I loved the cream cheese filling and I can't wait to make it again.

Super Easy King Cake

Ingredients:
1 - 1 lb roll frozen Rhodes bread dough, thawed 
(or any frozen bread dough or homemade)
1 - 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1 - cup powdered sugar
1 - teaspoon lemon extract
small plastic doll or trinket (placed after baking)

Icing:
1-1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
3 - 5 tablespoons milk (more if needed)
1 - tsp vanilla extract or clear butter flavoring

Roll out your dough on a un floured surface. I found it so much easier to roll the dough out without adding flour. Roll to a rectangle of about 10 x 18 inches. It doesn’t have to be exact.

In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and extract and mix until creamy and blended.

Spread over dough to within an inch of each side. Roll up longways (to make a long log) and brush the final edge with water before pressing it into the log to seal.

Take log and form into a circle, pressing the ends into each other and brushing with water if needed to seal together. Spray top lightly with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap.

Set in warm place to rise for 45 minute to an hour. Remove plastic wrap and bake in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool.

To prepare the icing mix confectioners sugar, milk and vanilla extract together. You want it to be a pourable consistency.

Drizzle over top of cake with a spoon. Immediately sprinkle colored sprinkles over glaze if desired. Allow to sit until glaze hardens.

I chose not to place anything inside of the king cake this time, but if you want to you can place a small plastic doll or trinket inside the cake after it is baked.  

Whoever gets the baby in his or her slice of King Cake, is  traditionally the king (or queen) of the party. Getting the baby also supposedly brings good luck.

Cooks Note: If you can't find purple sprinkles you can use a bit of blue sugar and shake in small covered container with a drop of red food coloring to make purple. Spread on plate and allow to dry.

adapted from: Southern Plate

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