Super Easy Mardi Gras King Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet.
• Open the cans of sweet roll dough and unroll the dough from each can into 3 strands. Working on a clean surface, place 3 dough strands side by side and gather them together to make one large strand. Fold this in half, and roll slightly to make a fat log. Repeat steps with the remaining dough. Place each log 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, 50 to 60 minutes. Check often for doneness so the ring doesn't overbake. 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.
• Divide the frosting evenly between 4 bowls. Stir 1 tablespoon of milk into each bowl to thin the frosting. Use the frosting in one bowl to drizzle over the cooled cake. To the remaining three bowls of frosting, stir yellow food coloring into one and green into another. Stir the red and blue food colorings together with the frosting in a third bowl to make purple frosting. Drizzle the cake with yellow, green, and purple frostings in any desired pattern. Dust the cake with multi-colored sprinkles and decorate with beads, additional plastic babies, curly ribbon, and other festive trinkets.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
• Open bread sticks. Press together the ends of 2 of the sticks to make 1 long stick. Repeat with the remaining bread sticks giving you 6 long sticks. Taking 3 at a time, loosely braid together. Repeat with remaining dough. Pinch the braids together end to end.
• Leaving a 3-inch hole in the middle, loosely coil braids around one another on prepared baking sheet. Press ends together.
• Bake in preheated oven for 16 to 20 minutes or until completely golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely. Carefully insert the baby into the cake in between the seams of the braid.
• In a medium pot combine the cream cheese frosting and heavy cream. Heat over low heat until warm and smooth, stirring constantly. Pour glaze over cake and sprinkle with sanding sugars.

Steps:

• Scald milk, remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup of butter. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of the white sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
• When yeast mixture is bubbling, add the cooled milk mixture. Whisk in the eggs. Stir in the remaining white sugar, salt and nutmeg. Beat the flour into the milk/egg mixture 1 cup at a time. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. When risen, punch down and divide dough in half.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
• To Make Filling: Combine the brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix until crumbly.
• Roll dough halves out into large rectangles (approximately 10x16 inches or so). Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough and roll up each half tightly like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of each roll together to form 2 oval shaped rings. Place each ring on a prepared cookie sheet. With scissors make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Push the doll into the bottom of the cake. Frost while warm with the confectioners' sugar blended with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.

Steps:

• Using a bread maker, add all liquid ingredients first: water, milk, and egg. Next add the butter, salt, sugar, and flour. Make a well in the flour and add the yeast. Mix on the dough cycle.
• Mix the filling ingredients together and set aside.
• Once the dough cycle is complete, on a floured surface using a floured roller, roll to a rectangle of about 10 x 18 inches (give or take).
• Place the filling in the middle into a log shape. Roll up long ways (to make a long log) and brush the final edge with water before pressing it into the log to seal. This method ensures that the filling is in the middle when sliced into it.
• Take log and form into a circle, pressing the ends into each other and brushing with water if needed to seal together. I used a medium saucepan and wrapped the dough around it to make a nice large circle. Cover and place in warm place for the dough to rise for about 45 minutes.
• Cook in oven at 350 degrees for about 20 - 30 minutes, the roll should be a nice golden brown color. Lift the cake from below and insert the toy baby where you want it. Allow to cool before applying the icing.
• Prepare the icing by mixing all ingredients together. You can add more milk or powdered sugar to your liking. You want it to be a pourable consistency.
• Drizzle over top of cake with a spoon. I used a clean squeezable condiment bottle. Then add the green, yellow, and purple sprinkles. Allow the icing to harden before serving.