Mardi Gras is Tuesday, and I have always wanted to make a King Cake, so this year I did. This was really yummy. It was the perfect texture, and the pecans I added to the filling gave it a nice bite and a bit more flavor than those without.
I was actually terribly sick when I made this, so I made my own yellow sugar, since I didn’t have any on hand, and didn’t want to leave the house to get some. Somehow, I always thought that when making your own colored sugar, it would end up a bit damp and need to dry out, but that really wasn’t the case. So, if you ever need a color you don’t have on hand, just add a few drops of food coloring to your sugar. You kind of have to rub it in with your hands, but it only takes a couple of minutes. So easy that I can’t believe I had never tried it.
Anyway, back to the King Cake. This recipe is one I adapted from Southern Living via MyRecipes. I used the same recipe for the pastry with the exception of using all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, and I used a bit of a different method for mixing. I also added pecans to the filling and used a simple confectioners’ sugar glaze instead of the lemon one in the recipe. Oh, and I roughly halved it. Not everything is exactly half, but it is close. The original recipe makes two cakes, and I really don’t need two of these in my house! I’m telling you, this was seriously yummy.
King Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 1/2 cup butter softened and divided
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 packet dry yeast
- 1 egg
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- purple, green, and yellow sugar
Instructions
- In a large container that you can loosely cover, stir together yeast, 1/2 cup warm water and 1 1/2 tsps. sugar.
- In a small bowl microwave 3 Tbsps. sugar and 2 Tbsps. butter until melted.
- Stir sour cream into the butter mixture and then stir the sour cream mixture into the yeast.
- Lightly beat the egg and stir it into the mixture.
- Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is mixed in well. If this gets too difficult, you can wet your hands and work it in by hand.
- Loosely cover the mixture and let stand in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 2 hours). I always put mine in the oven with the light on.
- After the dough has risen, you can refrigerate it until you are ready to use it. I try to use mine within 24 hours.
- When ready to make the cake,grease a large baking sheet.
- Place dough on a well-floured surface. Sprinkle a little more flour on top and knead. Keep dusting with flour and kneading until dough stops being sticky.
- Roll out into a 12 by 20 inch rectangle.
- Spread with remaining butter and sprinkle with remaining sugar and cinnamon.
- Sprinkle pecans over the cinnamon sugar.
- Roll up from the long side. Bring end-to-end to form a ring a place on prepared baking sheet.seem side down.
- Allow to rise again until double (about 30 minutes). Don’t put it in the oven this time because you need to preheat the oven.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees while the cake rises.
- Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
- Drizzle glaze over cake and sprinkle with colored sugar.
- Whisk together confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and 1/4 to 1/3 cup water.
Courses Dessert
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