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
Course Bread
Total Time 3 hourshours
Servings 12
Author Debby - www.AFeastfortheEyes.net
Ingredients
PASTRY:
1cupmilk
1/4cupbutter
2.25 ounce packages active dry yeast
2/3cupwarm water (110 degrees F/45
degrees C)
1/2cupwhite sugar
2eggs
1 1/2teaspoonssalt
1/2teaspoonfreshly grated nutmeg
5 1/2cupsall-purpose flour
FILLING:
18 ounce package cream cheese at
room temperature
1cupconfectioners' sugar
2tablespoonsall-purpose flour
1tablespoonlemon zest
2tablespoonslemon juice
1teaspoonvanilla extract
EGG WASH:
1egg
1/4cupwater
ICING:
1cupconfectioners' sugar
4teaspoonscorn syrup
4teaspoonsmilk
1teaspoonlemon juiceor 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 10x16 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!