Mardi Gras King Block

As an Amazon affiliate, and affiliate with other businesses, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Jump to Recipe

It's Mardi Gras fourth dimension! Mardi Gras conjures upward images of fun, frivolity and feasting and no Mardi Gras celebration would be complete without a colorful Mardi Gras King Cake. Make your ain, meliorate-tasting Male monarch Block this yr.

Mardis Gras King Cake with beads and Mardi Gras Napkins

What is a Mardi Gras King Cake

A brioche or sweetness roll dough is braided, baked in a circle and decorated with icing and majestic, greenish and gold sugars. Kind of like a crown-shaped cinnamon roll all dressed upwards for a party.

My sis has lived in Louisiana for many years and she talks about all the fabulous Male monarch Cakes she's had over the years. So when Betty Crocker offered me the opportunity to develop a Mardi Gras King Cake recipe for their site, information technology was the perfect opportunity for me to bake this scrumptious bread/coffee cake.

collage of Mardi Gras King Cake after baking

My recipe uses Quick Ascent yeast which eliminates the time consuming outset ascent in many brioche recipes. My cake is filled with a traditional cinnamon saccharide filling but it would be fabulous with a foam cheese or fruit filling as well.

Traditionally a King Cake has a tiny, plastic baby figurine hidden inside the cake. Tradition says that whoever finds the baby in their piece,  must host the party next year.

photo collage showing one photo of an unbaked King Cake and one photo of a King Cake after baking.

Just like when y'all bake cinnamon rolls, some of the filling will leak out onto the bottom of the pan. Be certain and bake it with some parchment paper or a Silpat underneath it, so information technology's easy to clean upward.

If you have questions near how to braid the Male monarch cake, be sure and spotter the video.

Mardi Gras King Cake with gold, green and purple beads

What Is Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras in French means "Fatty Tuesday." Mardi Gras is a decadent commemoration before Lent, a six-week-long religious fast before Easter. Carnival celebrations kickoff on January six, a engagement referred to every bit the 12th Night because it marks the stop of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Mardi Gras ends on Fat Tuesday, the 24-hour interval before Ash Wednesday and the showtime day of Lent. This year Tuesday, February 25, 2020,

Sliced Mardi Gras King Cake with gold, green and purple beads

Of course, yous don't take to live in Louisiana to enjoy this Mardi Gras King Cake. Information technology's been nine years since I first posted the recipe, and I've had comments from people all across the U.s.a., many who have Southern roots and celebrate with a King Cake this time of twelvemonth.  Mel said:

I'm from New Orleans but live in a different city at the moment. I was really missing dwelling during this Mardi Gras flavor and had never made a male monarch block before I found this recipe. Tried it and it was AMAZING! Give thanks y'all so much for this accurate recipe. Yous not only helped me brand a flop king cake, but allowed me to share information technology with my out-of-town friends and brought back some MG memories through this perfect recipe.

I promise you'll requite it a try too! I've added a video to prove y'all how piece of cake it is to make.

More Commemoration Desserts You Might Like:
Pithivier (Galette De Rois / King Cake), Barbara Bakes
Like shooting fish in a barrel Beignets, Barbara Bakes
Mardi Gras Cupcakes, Java Cupcake
Pull-Apart Mardi Gras Rex Block, Joy the Bakery

Ingredients

  • iii 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 packet (ii one/4 teaspoons) Quick Rise yeast
  • ane loving cup milk (120º to 130º)
  • 1/4 loving cup carbohydrate
  • ane teaspoon table salt
  • 2 eggs
  • vi tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, cutting into 12 pieces

Cinnamon Filling:

  • 2/3 cup packed light dark-brown carbohydrate
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Icing:

  • 1 cup powdered (confectioners) sugar
  • i tablespoon milk
  • one/ii teaspoon vanilla

Decoration:

  • dark green, majestic, and yellow or gilt sugars
  • miniature plastic infant

Instructions

  1. Mix 2 1/2 cups flour and yeast in mixing bowl, using the paddle attachment, on low for about 30 seconds.
  2. Oestrus milk, sugar, and salt in a pocket-sized saucepan over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and milk is betwixt 120º to 130º.
  3. With mixer on depression, pour in liquids and mix until incorporated. Add together eggs one at a fourth dimension. Go on mixing until a shaggy dough forms.
  4. Make clean off paddle and switch to dough hook. Mix in the remaining i cup flour a trivial at a time, adding more or less flour as needed to make a soft dough.
  5. Add the softened butter, a piece at a time, kneading until each piece of butter is absorbed. Knead for eight minutes on low. The dough should completely articulate the sides of the bowl. If it is too sticky, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a fourth dimension, mixing in thoroughly before determining if more than flour is needed. If the dough seems besides dry, spritz with water from a spray canteen a couple of times, mixing in thoroughly before determining if more water is needed. Every 2 minutes, stop the machine, scrape the dough off the hook, and and so continue kneading.
  6. Plough the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times by hand to be sure it's smooth and rubberband. Class the dough into a ball. Place dough into a greased bowl. Plough once so greased surface is on top. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  7. While the dough is chilling, make cinnamon filling. Combine the brownish sugar and footing cinnamon. Combine butter with cinnamon mixture and mix well.
  8. Ringlet the chilled dough into a 10 x xx inch rectangle. Spread the filling on half of the long side of the dough. Fold the dough in half covering the filling. Pat dough down firmly so the dough volition stick together.
  9. Cut dough into iii long strips lengthwise. Printing the tops of the strips together and braid the strips. Press the ends together at the lesser.
  10. Gently stretch the complect so that it measures 20 inches again. Shape it into a circle/oval and press the edges together. If desired, hide the miniature plastic babe in between the ends of the circumvolve before sealing together in a ring. (You can also make a slit in the lesser of the cake and put the baby in after the block is baked.)
  11. Transfer the ring to a parchment lined or greased baking sheet. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it ascension until doubled, about 1 hour.
  12. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350º. Bake the cake until it is gilded brown, 20–35 minutes. (It should experience business firm to the bear on, and have an internal temperature of about 190°.) Remove from oven and allow cool x minutes on baking sheet and so place information technology on a cooling rack to absurd completely before icing.
  13. Icing: In a small basin, mix powdered carbohydrate, milk and vanilla until smooth (add additional milk if mixture is too thick or powdered carbohydrate if too thin). Spoon icing over meridian of the cake. Immediately sprinkle on colored saccharide, alternate between the iii colors.

Notes

Tips: - Apply a pizza cutter to easily cut dough into strips. - The cake tin also be fabricated without braiding. Just curlicue up the dough jelly roll fashion afterward spreading the filling.

Pivot It:

Mardis Gras King Cake with beads and Mardi Gras Napkins

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for the states to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.