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King Cake

This cake looks hard to make, but as long as your yeast works properly it's really not too difficult to make. Most of the 4 1/2 hours is spent waiting for the dough to rise. If it happens to be really cold in the house when you're making this, (because it's the middle of winter) turn the oven on low while you make the dough. When it comes time to let the dough rise the first time, turn off the oven and place the baking sheets in the warm oven. And if you don't want to add a plastic baby, you can use a small walnut or a piece of orange or even a quarter that's been well washed. Serve it with coffee and you'll never eat stale bagels again!

Course Bread, Breakfast
Servings 12
Calories 380 kcal

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1/4 cup butter room temperature
  • 2 .25 ounce packages active dry yeast
  • 2/3 cup warm water 110 degrees F
  • 1/2 cup white sugar separate out 1 Tablespoon to proof yeast
  • 2 eggs lightly beaten
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling

  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 2/3 cup pecans chopped
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup melted butter

Frosting

  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 1-2 Tablespoons cold water
  • green sprinkles
  • purple sprinkles
  • yellow sprinkles
  • 2 plastic babies for good luck!

Instructions

  1. On low heat in a small saucepan, scald the milk.
  2. Remove from heat and stir in the butter.
  3. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature.
  4. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water. Add 1 Tablespoon of the white sugar. Let stand until creamy, 8-10 minutes. If yeast mixture doesn't bubble and look creamy, toss it and start again.
  5. When yeast mixture is bubbling, gently whisk in the cooled milk mixture. Whisk in the eggs. Stir in the remaining white sugar, salt and nutmeg.
  6. With an electric mixer, slowly beat the flour into the milk/egg mixture 1 cup at a time.
  7. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.
  8. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
  9. Lightly oil a large, room temperature bowl. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil.
  10. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
  11. After 2 hours, punch the dough down and divide in half.
  12. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

FILLING

  1. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, and flour.
  2. Pour the melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix with a fork until crumbly.
  3. On a lightly-floured surface, roll dough halves out into large rectangles (approximately 10x16 inches).
  4. Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough rectangles. Beginning with the wide side, roll up each half tightly.
  5. Transfer the dough rolls to the two baking sheets.
  6. Bring the ends of each roll together to form oval shaped rings.
  7. With a sharp knife, make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals.
  8. Let the dough ovals rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
  9. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  10. Push the plastic babies into the cakes and back for 30 minutes.

FROSTING

  1. While baking, blend confectioners' sugar and the water in a small bowl.
  2. Once the cakes come out of the oven, and while they're still warm, drizzle the frosting over top of the cakes. Decorate with the green, purple, and yellow sprinkles.