Monday, January 14, 2008

Got it! Catholic King Cake for Mardi Gras


New Orleans King Cake

2 packages dry yeast
½ cup lukewarm water
½ cup lukewarm milk
½ sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 stick butter or margarine, room temperature
4 ½ cups to 5 cups all purpose flour, divided
Filling (recipe follows)
Glaze (recipe follows)

Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, eggs, margarine and 2 ½ cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn the dough on to a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, (about 5 minutes).
Place dough in a greased bowl and turn greased side up. Cover, let rise in a warm place until double in bulk, about 1 ½ hours. Dough is ready if impression remains when touched.
Punch down dough. Turn on to a floured surface and roll into a large rectangle about ¼ inch thick. Sprinkle with filling to about 1 inch of all edges. Moisten the edges with water. Start on the long side; roll dough into a jellyroll. Next arrange the dough into a circle on a greased pizza pan or baking sheet. Pull the dough to stretch into a longer tube. Seal the ends together by dampening fingers with water and pinching.
Let rise 30-45 minutes or double in size. Moisten top and sides with a beaten and mixed with 1 tablespoon milk. Place in 350 degree oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Cake is done when golden brown.
Insert prize into the bottom of the cake. Drizzle on glaze and decorate with colored sugars.

Filling
1 stick butter or margarine, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup broken nuts
Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well blended. Crumble over dough and proceed with recipe.

Glaze
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
Milk as per directions
Mix the sugar and vanilla in a small bowl. Add small amount of milk and stir. Keep adding small amounts of milk until a smooth, thick glaze is made. Pour over top of cake and let it run down the sides. Immediately sprinkle on stripes of colored sugars, green, purple, and yellow. Serve and enjoy.


The person who gets the prize is the king of the party and tradition says they are to bring the cake for the next get together.

2 comments:

wineandroasts said...

I hafta ask: From which Catholic was this obtained? Cuz, not any old Catholic will do. ;o)

Country Girl said...

You know, actually that WAS mentioned! The Catholic who gave me the recipe is from...points northward, and she says she didn't have king cake growing up. But her husband is Cajun, born and bred, and it's from his family. So I can rest easy.