King Cake is a Mardi Gras tradition! It’s not really a cake, but after a few mint juleps, do you really care? It’s actually a large cinnamon coffeecake with colored sugar in Mardi Gras colors, gold, green and purple. To make it a true King Cake, there needs to be a plastic baby hidden inside. There are different versions of what getting the baby means, anywhere from making you buy the next round to moving the party to your house. Of course, if you make it, you know where you hid the baby….Enjoy this cake, and celebrate New Orleans and Mardi Gras!
Dough: Combine sugar, salt, yeast and 1 1/2 cups flour in a mixing bowl. Heat the milk and butter together to 130 degrees (you can heat them in a microwave for about 1 ½ minutes on high, or heat in a saucepan). Add warm liquid to the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Stir in the sour cream. Beat in the eggs and yolks. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in 3 ½ cups flour, then knead for about 10 minutes, kneading in additional flour ¼ cup at a time. The dough will be on the sticky side. Transfer to a large, buttered bowl. Flip the dough over, so the top has a light layer of butter from the bowl, to prevent the dough from drying out. Cover with a towel, and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until doubled in volume. The dough will lose its stickiness as it rises.Stir the cinnamon into the 1 cup of sugar. Cut the dough in half, then roll out to rectangle which is about 26” across, and 7” tall. Spread with ¼ cup melted butter, and sprinkle with half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Starting at the top, roll it up tightly into a very long tube. Pinch the seam so the cinnamon-sugar mixture doesn’t spill out. Form the loaf into an oval shape, with a big space in the middle to allow for expansion. Pinch the ends together well. Place the loaf onto a cookie sheet. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
Cover with a towel, and let rise for 30 minutes to an hour or until doubled in size.
While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Let cool, then push the plastic baby through the bottom into the cake.
Glaze: Add powdered sugar to the melted butter. Add water until you have a medium-thick glaze. Spread the glaze onto the two King Cakes, and sprinkle with stripes of yellow, green and purple sugars.







That cake looks so fun and yummy. I love the colors.
Thanks! I’ve never been to New Orleans, but someday I hope to!
What a fun cake, Candice!
Thanks! It’s fun to be over-the-top sometimes