Classic Kings Cake Recipes

Steps:

• In small bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water to dissolve. Set aside.
• Combine flour, sugar, nutmeg and salt in a large mixing bowl of stand mixer. Stir in lemon and orange peel. Make a well in the center and add yeast mixture, milk, beaten eggs and beaten egg yolks. Gradually fold together. Add 1/2 cup of the butter and beat using dough hook of a stand mixer on Low speed until dough forms ball.
• Place ball on floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, adding flour if necessary. Butter the inside of a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of the butter. Place dough in bowl and turn to coat the entire surface with butter. Cover and set aside for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
• Heat oven to 375°F. Brush a large baking sheet with remaining butter. Return dough to lightly floured surface, knead several times. Shape into 14 inch long roll. Place on baking sheet and form from a ring, pinching ends together.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool cake on a wire rack.
• For the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Stir until smooth. Once cake has cooled, drizzle icing on top using a fork. Top with colored sugars and plastic baby, if desired. Serve.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1/2 cup sugar, butter, milk, egg yolks, salt, lemon zest, nutmeg and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky)., Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. , Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 16x10-in. rectangle. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over dough to within 1/2 in. of edges. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam to seal. Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet; pinch ends together to form a ring. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Brush with egg., Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack. For glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and enough water to achieve desired consistency. Spread over cake. Sprinkle with colored sugars.

Steps:

• For the dough: Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat and pour in the milk and water. The mixture should be just warm to the touch, about 110 degrees F; let cool or heat over low heat as needed. Stir in the yeast and let stand for 5 minutes, until bubbles come to the surface.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, orange zest and egg yolks. Whisk in the yeast mixture. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients; fold with a rubber spatula until all the flour is incorporated and a slightly sticky dough forms.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and sprinkle the top with flour. Knead for 2 to 3 minutes, until the dough becomes smooth and no longer sticks to the work surface. Lightly grease a medium bowl with the canola oil and add the dough, turning to coat. Cover the bowl and let proof in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• For the filling: Add the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, orange juice, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg to a medium bowl. Mix with a hand-held mixer or rubber spatula until completely combined and smooth. Set aside.
• Bake the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
• Remove the proofed dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll into an 8-by-28-inch rectangle, about 1/4-inch thick. Spread evenly with the cream cheese filling, leaving a 2-inch border. Add the plastic baby to the filling, and then roll the dough into a 28-inch log. With the log seam-side down, bring both ends together to form a circle. Lightly brush the inside of one end with water and insert the other end inside to close the circle. Brush the seam lightly with water and pinch to seal. Place the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, making sure to form it back into a circle--it should be approximately 10-inches in diameter. Using a paring knife, make six 2- to 3-inch diagonal slits in the top of the dough (to act as vents during baking). Let the dough rise an additional 30 minutes, until puffed up and the vents have opened slightly.
• Bake the cake for 40 minutes, until the top and bottom have a deep golden-brown crust. The slits may also widen as during baking; that is normal. Remove the cake from oven and let cool for 30 minutes on the baking sheet.
• For the icing: Whisk together the confectioners' sugar, milk and orange juice until smooth. Spoon the icing over the top of the cooled cake, pushing it to either side. If some icing pools in the center or on the sides, just scoop it up and drizzle it over the cake again; you want to make sure the entire cake is covered in icing. Working quickly, so the icing doesn't set, sprinkle the yellow sanding sugar over a 2-inch section of the cake. Next to that, sprinkle the green sanding sugar, followed by the purple. Continue in this pattern until the entire cake is covered in sanding sugar.
• Transfer the cake to a cake stand and serve immediately, or hold at room temperature until ready to serve. This cake is best served the same day.

Steps:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast in warm milk along with 6 tablespoons bread flour and the honey. Combine until smooth, about 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise 20 minutes or until doubled.
• Add 3/4 cup bread flour, the cake flour, the eggs, the sugar, the cinnamon, the extracts and the salt to the dough and combine with paddle attachment on low. Switch to a dough hook and knead for 2 minutes on medium speed.
• Turn speed to medium high and add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, to dough, allowing each pat of butter to dissolve into dough before adding the next tablespoon. Mix until dough becomes a slack, tacky ball. If dough doesn't come together, add up to 1/4 cup more bread flour.
• Once the dough is kneaded, transfer into a greased bowl and cover. Let rise 1 hour or until doubled.
• Melt butter over low heat. Add sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Remove from heat. Mix in pecans. Set aside.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment. Lightly flour a large work surface with remaining bread flour (if you used 1/4 cup of bread flour in step 3, use more). Roll out dough into an approximately 6-inch-by-24-inch rectangle, 1/4-inch thick.
• Spread filling along the length of the rectangle and tightly roll so you have a rope of dough about 2 feet long and 2 inches thick. Pinch seam, and transfer dough to the baking sheet, forming dough into a ring with the seam side down. With wet fingers, pinch ends of dough together. It is fine if the ring looks uneven. Cover dough with plastic wrap or damp towel and let rise about an hour. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Whisk egg and milk with a fork until combined. Once dough has risen, use a pastry brush to spread egg wash thinly over the dough.
• Bake cake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove cake from oven and let cool for 5 to 10 minutes. While warm, carefully flip ring over. Using a pairing knife make a small x in the bottom of the cake and insert the king cake baby, if using. Flip cake upright and let cool on a rack.
• While cake cools to room temperature, use a stand mixer on low to whisk condensed milk, lemon juice and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Add more lemon juice if frosting is too thick.
• Once cake has cooled, frost using a pastry bag or spatula until the cake is covered. Working quickly, sprinkle iced cake with dusting sugars in an alternating pattern of purple, gold and green. Cake is best served fresh, but will keep covered in plastic for a day or two.