Recipe: Mardi Gras King Cake

King cakes, a three-color candy, are a Carnival tradition, the story of which is documented in “The Big Book of King Cake” by Matt Haines (Susan Schadt Press).

This recipe is courtesy of the New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute (NOCHI).

Don’t miss Kris Van Cleave’s special report on the history of this delicious Mardi Gras dish “CBS Sunday Morning” February 27!

NOCHI King’s Cake

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Stuffing:

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. honey
1/2 egg (reserve the other half for the dough)
Teaspoon. vanilla extract

Too:

2 ½ cups of bread flour
Teaspoon. except for instant or rapid ascent
3 tbsp. + 1 teaspoon. sugar
1 teaspoon. sal
1/3 cup butter
1 ½ ous
Teaspoon. honey
2/3 cup milk

Icing and decorating cakes:

2 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup of whole milk
1 teaspoon. vanilla extract
Sugar and food coloring to taste
Small plastic baby (a key ingredient!)

Instructions:

Start by making the cinnamon lime.

1. Melt the butter.

2. Pour the melted butter into a bowl and mix with the brown sugar until well combined.

3. Add the flour, cinnamon and honey. Mix well.

4. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix well.

5. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Then it’s time to make the cake king cake.

1. Place all the dough ingredients in a large bowl. Make sure the butter is soft.

2. Mix the ingredients on low speed with a whisk for 4 minutes until well combined. If you don’t have a blender, that’s fine too; you just need more elbow grease.

3. Then mix the ingredients on medium speed for about 6 minutes. To check that the dough is ready, cut it into small pieces. You should be able to stretch it thin enough to see the light come in without the dough breaking.

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let stand for 30 minutes to begin fermenting the dough.

5. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and roll it into a 1-inch-thick rectangle.

6. Slide the dough into a tray or baking tray and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge overnight to continue fermentation.

7. When ready to cook, take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest for 30 minutes.

8. Roll out the dough into a rectangle (approximately 20 x 8 inches).

9. Divide the cinnamon filling into a rectangle and fold it in half lengthwise. Your folded dough should be approximately 20 x 4 inches.

10. Cut the dough into 3 uniform strips lengthwise.

11. Stretch the strips to 24 inches each. Braid the 3 pieces, then shape into a circle or oval.

12. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place the uncooked cake in it.

13. Cover and set aside in a warm place for about 1.5 hours, or until almost doubled in size (for home bakers, a good trick is to place the uncooked cake on the center rack of an off oven Place a pot of hot water on the floor of the oven).

14. Bake in the oven at 325 ° F until golden or until the cake is at an internal temperature of 190 ° F. This will take about 12 to 15 minutes in a convection oven or about 20 minutes in a regular oven.

Finally, everyone’s favorite part: decorating!

1. Combine powdered sugar, whole milk and vanilla extract in a bowl. Mix until smooth and set aside.

2. To make colored sugars, place sugar in three bowls: one for purple, one for green, and one for gold. Start with a few drops of dye, mixing until incorporated. Add more, a few drops at a time, until the sugar is the desired color.

3. Once the cake has cooled, lift the cake and place the baby in the bottom for the future queen or king to find.

4. Sprinkle the icing over the cake.

5. Sprinkle sugar on top, alternating the three colors.

6. Eat and repeat.

For more information:

• “The Big Book of King Cake” by Matt Haines, photo by Randy Krause Schmidt (Susan Schadt Press), hardcover, available on Amazon and Indiebound
• New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute (NOCHI)

In:
• new orleans
• mardi gras