John Clancys Kings Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Stir the yeast and one-half teaspoon of the sugar into the lukewarm water. Let the mixture stand until it foams about four to six minutes.
• In a large bowl, combine the remaining sugar, four cups of the flour, salt, nutmeg, lemon peel, milk, egg yolks, butter and the yeast mixture. Stir all the ingredients together until the liquid is absorbed by the flour. Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured work surface.
• Knead the dough by pushing it forward and folding it back in half on top of itself. Continue to knead the dough for 15 to 20 minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic. Where necessary, sprinkle the dough with enough flour to keep it from sticking to your hands or the work surface.
• Place the dough in a large buttered bowl and turn it to coat it with the butter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and let the dough rise for about one hour or until it doubles in size.
• Transfer the dough from the bowl to the work surface and very gently knead the citron into it, just until the citron is well incorporated. Return the dough to a clean, well-buttered bowl and coat it with butter as before. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 45 minutes to one hour, or until it doubles in size.
• Punch the dough down in the bowl, then transfer it to the work surface, and shape it into a 14- to 16-inch-long cylinder. Press the pecan half into the dough so that it is completely encased. Place the cylinder on a buttered and floured cookie sheet and shape it into a ring by twisting and then overlapping the end securely. Brush the entire surface of the cake with beaten egg yolk and let it rise again for about one hour, or until it doubles in size. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Bake the cake on a rack in the middle of the oven for 35 to 45 minutes, or until it is golden brown. Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool.

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:

• Make the dough. Sift the flour with the sugar, sea salt, lemon zest, and yeast into the bowl of a food processor. Process on low speed, then add the eggs. Continue processing just until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Add the orange-flower water and rum and continue processing just until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
• Dice the candied orange peel, chop the butter into pieces, and add them both to the dough mixture. Process again just until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Place the dough in a large bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Set aside to rise for 2 hours at room temperature.
• Punch down the dough then place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and punch it down again. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, roll out the dough into a square, and place it on the lined baking sheet. Bring the corners of the dough to the center and insert the bean. Turn the dough over and shape it into a ball. Press your thumb in the center to make a depression and push the dough out around it to form a ring or crown. Cover it with a damp cloth and set aside to rise until doubled in volume, at least 2 hours in a warm room (77°F to 82°F [25 to 28°C]).
• Preheat the oven to 360°F (180°C).
• Prepare the glaze. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, whole eggs, sugar, and salt. Brush the crown with the glaze. Dip a pair of scissors in water, and make cuts in the top of the cake, so it resembles the points of a crown. Place it in the oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes.
• Warm the apricot preserve or jelly, then strain it. Remove the cake from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack, then brush with the jam. Sprinkle with the pearl sugar and decorate with strips of the candied melon, candied orange, and coarsely chopped almonds.

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large saucepan, add cocoa and stir until smooth.
• Add sugar, beaten eggs, flour, milk and vanilla.
• Stir together and pour into a greased ring tin and bake at 170-180°C for approximately 30 minutes.
• A Kuglehopf or Bundt tin works best.

Steps:

• For the cake: Add the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Scrape in the vanilla bean seeds. Add in the melted butter, 2 of the eggs and the milk.
• Combine on low speed until all the ingredients are incorporated, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and mix until the dough is elastic, smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, 8 to 10 minutes. (If you are in a more humid climate, you may need to add a little more flour, a couple tablespoons at a time, to reach the desired consistency.) Transfer the dough to a large, greased bowl. Cover with plastic or a damp kitchen towel and allow to rise until it doubles in size, 60 to 90 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the filling: In a small bowl, add the cream cheese and sugar and stir until incorporated. Place the jam in a small microwave-safe bowl and warm in the microwave until it's a spreadable consistency, 10 to 15 seconds. Set aside.
• Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, then tip it onto a floured work surface. Lightly roll it to a 24-by-6 inch rectangle. Use a rubber spatula to smear the cream cheese mixture on the dough, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. Spoon the jam on top and smear in an even layer. Roll the dough lengthwise to create a tight cylinder.
• Transfer to a large parchment-lined baking sheet. Form the dough into a ring, seam-side down, and pinch together. Cover with plastic or a clean dish towel and let rise until puffy and springy to the touch (the dough will bounce back from a finger indention), 30 minutes.
• While the dough is rising, place an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining egg.
• When ready to bake, brush the egg wash lightly all over the dough. Bake until golden brown all over, about 35 minutes. Let cool completely.
• Prepare the glaze: Sift the confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl. Add the milk and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
• Once the cake has cooled, it's the perfect time to insert the small plastic baby from the bottom of the cake (to conceal its whereabouts!). Pour the glaze on top of the cake, then, while the glaze is still wet, sprinkle with green, yellow and purple sanding sugar in sections. Serve at room temperature.

Steps:

• Scald milk remove from heat and stir in butter. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• In a large mixing bowl dissolve yeast in water and 1tbsp of sugar for ten minutes.
• Add cooled milk to yeast mixture along with remaining sugar, salt and nutmeg. Whisk in eggs.
• Add flour 1 cup at a time until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
• Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead 8-10 minutes.
• Place dough in a well oiled bowl, turn to coat dough. Set in a warm area to rise for two hours.
• Punch down dough and divide in half. Roll each half into a square 10 inches by 16 inches.
• Combine filling ingriedients and put half on each piece of dough. Roll up jelly roll style bring ends together to form 2 oval shaped rings.
• Place rings on cookie sheets covered by parchment paper.
• With scissors cut 1/3 of the way threw dough at one inch intervals.
• Place pans in warm area to rise again for 45 minutes.
• Pre-heat oven to 350, bake for 30 minutes rotating pans half way threw.
• Cool on cookie racks for ten minutes. Prepare frosting and drizzle over cakes. sprinkle green, yellow and purple sugar in stripes over the top.