I did use the Southern Living recipe as a guideline for these cakes. I pulled the one off of All Recipes, and even though I've made this before, I had forgotten that not everything in that recipe adds up. For instance, the amount of sugar called for in the ingredient list does not match up to the amount in the step-by-step directions. Since I only make this once a year, I had forgotten about these little discrepancies and I have no idea what I did in previous years to make it come out okay. So, based on that Southern Living recipe, and adding filling, the following recipe I came out with this year. This dough is super easy to work with as it rolls out very easily and doesn't rip. The image above is both baked cakes. The decorated cake on the left is the filled cake. The one on the right, is not filled nor have I decorated it yet because I might freeze it.
King Cake
based on a recipe from Southern Living
Makes 2 cakes
2 tablespoons butter
8 ounces sour cream
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (.25 ounce) envelope active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 egg
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, softened, divided
water for sealing dough
Filling
2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
Icing
1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon and 1 1/2 teaspoons butter, melted
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
milk
lemon zest
Colored sugars
3/4 cup sugar
green food color
yellow food color
red food color
blue food color
1. Cook first four ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, stirring continually, until butter melts. Cool mixture to 100-110 degrees.
2. Dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl (I warmed up my mixer bowl and used that); let stand 5 minutes or until frothy. Add butter & sour cream mixture, egg, and 2 cups of flour; beat at medium speed with mixer about 2 minutes or until smooth. Gradually add in the remaining flour until a soft dough ball is formed.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic about 10 minutes. Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease entire surface. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
4. For the filling, first stir together 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon; set aside. In a separate bowl, mix until smooth the cream cheese and 1 cup confectioners' sugar.
5. Punch dough down and divide in half. Turn one portion out onto a lightly floured surface and roll to 28-x 10-inch rectangle. Sprinkle half of the sugar & cinnamon mix over the dough. Top with half of the softened butter. Next, spread half the cream cheese mix down the center of the dough. Roll dough, jellyroll style, starting at long side. Place dough seam side down on a lightly greased RIMMED baking sheet (or pizza pan). Bring ends together to form a ring. Using your fingers or a brush, coat the seams with with water, and pinch edges together to seal. (I swear you can't seal the thing enough because something is bound to seep out, which is why a rimmed baking sheet is best and will save your oven from oozing filling.) Repeat with remaining half of dough, sugar & cinnamon mix, butter, and cream cheese mix.
6. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, for 20 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Let cool completely before decorating with icing and sprinkles.
9. For icing - stir together confectioners' sugar and melted butter. Add milk until desired consistency for drizzling or spreading is reached. Stir in vanilla and lemon zest.
10. For colored sugars - In three separate zipper-top bags, place 1/4 cup sugar. Add green to one bag, yellow to another, and red and blue (to make purple) to the last. Shake and squeeze each bag to mix color and sugar. I find that two drops of each makes passable colors. Purple is the hardest one to achieve and mine usually is a grayish-lavender color.
11. When cakes are cool, divide the icing in half and drizzle/pour/brush/spread it on top of each. Sprinkle the colored sugars on top in either bands of each or sprinkle all together in a great mish-mash of Mardi Gras colors.
12. Before serving, hide a plastic baby charm in the cake by pushing it into the bottom. The person who has the baby in their slice of cake has to buy or make the next King Cake!
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