King Cake Recipe

Happy Fat Tuesday!  Are you celebrating the day?  I know they are having a big ol’ bash in New Orleans today and the traditional King Cake will be consumed at all the parties!

I’ve never been to New Orleans, but my sister in law was just there for a conference and she brought back a traditional King Cake for us to try, and it was delicious!  It actually reminded me of a giant cinnamon roll with frosting and sugar.  I wanted to make a King Cake for my family, but found that it’s actually a super time consuming cake to make, so I found this easy King Cake recipe in the Safeway recipe archives that can be whipped up using store bought cinnamon roll dough.

What is a King Cake?

The King Cake is a New Orleans pastry traditionally served in honor of Mardi Gras that involves a pastry, a small plastic baby, and a party.  The King Cake is contains a small plastic baby hidden inside and the person who gets the slice with the baby in it has to host the next Mardi Gras party.

Making a traditional King Cake can be a bit time consuming and requires some baking skills, but you can cheat and use store bought cinnamon roll dough and have a version of a King Cake on the table in under an hour.

If you want to bake a traditional King Cake,  I would recommend following the recipe over on the Kitchen here, just be sure to have yeast, butter, sugar, flour, eggs and plenty of time available to make the dough, let it rise and bake the cake properly.  However, if you are short on time and want to have an easy King Cake for your family, try this recipe below.

Easy King Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cans refrigerated cinnamon roll dough
• For the frosting:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• green, yellow and purple sugar sprinkles and food coloring if you want to have colored

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet.
2. Open the cans of cinnamon roll dough and unroll the dough and pinch together to form 3 long strands. Working on a clean surface, braid the dough strands into one large braided log.   Place the braided dough on the prepared baking sheet and shape to make a ring, overlapping the ends and pinching them together to make a complete circle. Pat the dough into shape as necessary to make the ring even in size all the way around. Cover loosely with foil.
3. Bake in preheated oven until firm to the touch and golden brown, 40 to 50 minutes. Check often for doneness so the ring doesn’t over bake. Place on a wire rack and cool completely.
4. Place the cake ring on a serving plate. Cut a slit along the inside of the ring and insert a small plastic baby, pushing it far enough into the cake to be hidden from view.
5. Prepare the frosting by mixing the sugar with the milk until smooth.  Drizzle the cake with the frosting when the cake has cooled.
6.  Dust the cake with multi-colored sprinkles and decorate with beads, additional plastic babies, curly ribbon, and other festive trinkets.
   

   Easy King Cake

   Use store-bought cinnamon roll dough as a shortcut to make this delicious and Easy King Cake to celebrate Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday.

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   Course: Dessert

   Cuisine: American

   Keyword: King Cake

   Servings: 6

   Calories:

   Ingredients

   • 2  cans refrigerated cinnamon roll dough
   • For the frosting:
   • 1 cup powdered sugar
   • 2 tbsp milk
   • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
   • green yellow and purple sugar sprinkles and food coloring if you want to have colored

   Instructions

   • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet.
   • Open the cans of cinnamon roll dough and unroll the dough and pinch together to form 3 long strands. Working on a clean surface, braid the dough strands into one large braided log.   Place the braided dough on the prepared baking sheet and shape to make a ring, overlapping the ends and pinching them together to make a complete circle. Pat the dough into shape as necessary to make the ring even in size all the way around. Cover loosely with foil.
   • Bake in preheated oven until firm to the touch and golden brown, 40 to 50 minutes. Check often for doneness so the ring doesn't over bake. Place on a wire rack and cool completely.
   • Place the cake ring on a serving plate. Cut a slit along the inside of the ring and insert a small plastic baby, pushing it far enough into the cake to be hidden from view.
   • Prepare the frosting by mixing the sugar with the milk until smooth.  Drizzle the cake with the frosting when the cake has cooled.
   • Dust the cake with multi-colored sprinkles and decorate with beads, additional plastic babies, curly ribbon, and other festive trinkets.

   Nutrition

   Serving: 0g | Carbohydrates: 0g | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 0mg | Potassium: 0mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 0g | Vitamin A: 0IU | Vitamin C: 0mg | Calcium: 0mg | Iron: 0mg

    

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