King Cake

Yesterday was Kings day. The start of King Cake season in New Orleans. So I decided to bake a king cake since I can't buy one out here in California. My favorite from New Orleans Has always been Randazzo's king cakes, so I wanted to make one close to theirs. I used this recipe my mom gave me. It came out great I might add less lemon and maybe some vanilla to the icing next time. Other than that just watch the cake as baking temperatures greatly differ from oven to oven as mine only took 15 mins.

Ingredients

1/2 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)

2 packages active dry yeast

1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar

3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups flour unsifted

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon lemon zest, this is lemon rind, grated

1/2 cup warm milk

5 egg yolks

1 stick butter cut into slices and softened, plus 2 tablespoons more softened butter

1 egg slightly beaten with 1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

 

FILLING: 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup melted butter

Icing

3 cups confectioners sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 - 6 tablespoons water

 

Directions

  Pour the warm water into a small shallow bowl, and sprinkle yeast and 2 teaspoons sugar into it. Allow the yeast and sugar to rest for three minutes then mix thoroughly. Set bowl in a warm place for ten minutes, or until yeast bubbles up and mixture almost doubles in volume. Combine 3 1/2 cups of flour, remaining sugar, nutmeg and salt, and sift into a large mixing bowl. Stir in lemon zest. Separate center of mixture to form a hole and pour in yeast mixture and milk. Add egg yolks and, using a wooden spoon, slowly combine dry ingredients into the yeast/milk mixture. When mixture is smooth, beat in 8 tablespoons butter (1 tablespoon at a time) and continue to beat 2 minutes, or until dough can be formed into a medium-soft ball.  Place ball of dough on a lightly floured surface and knead like bread. While kneading, sprinkle up to 1 cup more of flour (1 tablespoon at a time) over the dough. When dough is no longer sticky, knead 10 minutes more until shiny and elastic.  Using a pastry brush, coat the inside of a large bowl evenly with one tablespoon softened butter. Place dough ball in the bowl and rotate until the entire surface is buttered.

Cover bowl with a moderately thick kitchen towel and place in a draft-free spot for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the dough doubles in volume.

Using a pastry brush, coat a large baking sheet with one tablespoon of butter and set aside. Remove dough from bowl and place on lightly floured surface. Using your fist, punch dough down forcefully. FILLING: Mix the cinnamon and brown sugar in a medium-sized bowl. On a floured surface, roll dough into large rectangle (about 10x15 inches). Brush the dough with the melted butter. Sprinkle the cinnamon/brown sugar filling evenly over the dough and roll up tightly, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of the roll together to form an oval shaped ring. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top, place the cylinder onto the buttered baking sheet. Pinch the ends together to complete the circle.

Cover dough with towel and set it in draft-free spot for 45 minutes, or until the circle of dough doubles in volume. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush top and sides of cake with egg wash and bake on middle rack of oven for 25 to 35 minutes until golden brown. Place cake on wire rack to cool. If desired, you can hide the plastic baby in the cake at this time. ICING Combine sugar, lemon juice and 3 tablespoons water until smooth. If icing is too stiff, add more water until spreadable. Spread icing over top of cake. Immediately sprinkle the colored sugars in individual rows consisting of about 2 rows of green, purple and yellow. It should look like this

Colored sugars

Green, purple, & yellow paste

12 tablespoons sugar

Squeeze a dot of green paste in palm of hand. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over the paste and rub together quickly. Place this mixture on wax paper and wash hands to remove color. Repeat process for other 2 colors. Place aside.