The Best King Cake With Cream Cheese Filling for Mardis Gras

A king cake (sometimes shown as kingcake, kings’ cake, king’s cake, or three kings cake) is a type of cake associated in a number of countries with the festival of Epiphany at the end of the Christmas season; in other places, it is associated with the pre-Lenten celebrations of Mardi Gras/Carnival. There are many different recipes for king cake recipes. This recipe is a sweet yeast dough with a cream cheese filling. The three colors honor the three kings who visited the Christ child (Jesus) on Epiphany, the 12th day after Christmas.

I’ve  been to New Orleans, several times, but never during the Mardis Gras season.  (I’m not so sure I could handle the crowds and craziness.) Mardi Gras season begins on January 6, of each year and ends on Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent. One of the wonderful traditions of Mardi Gras, and probably the most delicious, is the King Cake. The “traditional” King Cake is made from twisted strands of cinnamon dough. 

 

Making bread dough, with my stand mixer reduces that amount of elbow grease that I need.  For the wet ingredients, I’m using scalded milk, butter and eggs.  Once the dough has been mixed and kneaded, it’s placed into an oiled bowl, covered and left to rise for 2-3 hours.

 

I have a shortcut that works for me, every time. I turn on my oven to WARM for 2 minutes, then shut if off.  This creates a comfy and cozy warm “proofing” area, that speeds up the process for me. This dough rose, beautifully, in just over an hour!

While the dough was proofing, I made the cream cheese filling: cream cheese, a little flour, lemon zest and juice, confectioner’s sugar and pure vanilla.

The dough has doubled, and I gently press it down, and press it into a rectangular shape.  I spread the cream cheese filling, leaving about a 1″ border.

Grabbing the long end, I rolled this up like a jelly roll, and then pinched the seams together so that the cream cheese filling wouldn’t ooze out.

I’m ordered this stoneware baking dish from King Arthur Flour– which made baking this sweet bread so much easier.

Because I had leftover dough, I used aluminum foil to help the bread bake with a traditional opening.  I’ve also read that you can shape the dough by wrapping it around a cake pan, then carefully remove the pan.

I brushed the “cake” with an egg wash, and baked it for about 40 minutes– ten minutes longer than the recipe said.  The difference, I think, is that this dough recipe makes two King Cakes, but this pan is quite generous, so I made one large King Cake.

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Mardis Gras King Cake (with Cream Cheese Frosting)

A king cake (sometimes shown as kingcake, kings’ cake, king’s cake, or three kings cake) is a type of cake associated in a number of countries with the festival of Epiphany at the end of the Christmas season; in other places, it is associated with the pre-Lenten celebrations of Mardi Gras/Carnival. There are many different recipes for king cake. However, the most common ones include: milk, butter, yeast, water, brown and white sugar, eggs, salt, nutmeg, flour and cinnamon. With this recipe, I decided to make a cream cheese filling (my personal favorite). The colors of the king cake originally came from the Christian Religion. The purple symbolizes justice, the green symbolizes faith, and the gold symbolizes power. The three colors honor the three kings who visited the Christ child (Jesus) on Epiphany, the 12th day after Christmas. Mardi Gras Day, also known as Fat Tuesday, is always 47 days prior to Easter Sunday (the day before Ash Wednesday). Ingredients

Total Time3 hours hrs

Course: Bread

Servings: 12

Author: Debby – www.AFeastfortheEyes.net

Ingredients

PASTRY:

• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 .25 ounce packages active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45
• degrees C)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING:

• 1 8 ounce package cream cheese at
• room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

EGG WASH:

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup water

ICING:

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 4 teaspoons corn syrup
• 4 teaspoons milk
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice or as needed

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.
• NOTE: I mixed the dough with my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. A hand mixer won’t work, though.
• 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.
• NOTE: I turn my oven on WARM for 2 minutes, then shut it off. This creates a warm “incubator” and helps the dough to rise even faster.
• Make the egg wash, and brush on the cakes, before baking.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
• NOTE: I ordered a ceramic baking dish, from King Arthur Flour online, which makes baking this cake a breeze.

FOR THE FILLING:

• Stir cream cheese, 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, lemon zest, juice, and vanilla extract, in a bowl until filling is smooth.

ASSEMBLE THE CAKE:

• Roll dough halves out into large rectangles (approximately 10×16 inches or so).
• Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border, and roll up each half tightly like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side.
• Pinch seams closed to seal in filling.
• Bring the ends of each roll together to form 2 oval shaped rings. Or, place into ceramic round baking dish, as noted above.
• 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.
• NOTE: I didn’t cut the dough, and my bread turned out great.
• Bake in preheated 375F oven for 30 minutes.
• NOTE: My bread took closer to 45 minutes.

DECORATE:

• You will need purple, green and gold coarse sugar and a plastic “doll” or use a “bean”. Do NOT bake the plastic doll with the bread!
• Push the doll into the bottom of the cake.

Tried this recipe?Mention @afeastfortheeyes or tag #afeastfortheeyesblog!

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