I made this cake on a whim in 2009 and thought it was pretty easy for a recipe using yeast. There are two things that intimidate me; pie crusts and any recipe calling for yeast. I haven’t mastered either one and when I attempt them or even make a recipe quite frequently (like panettone) I still don’t feel confident that success is going to be there when the product comes out of the oven. Now that I have fully exposed myself………… However, my notes on this recipe for King Cake said “easy and tasted good”, so I thought I would make it again this year for Fat Tuesday.
I am clueless about the history of King Cake, so if you want to know about that I am going to send you here; http://www.nola.com/mardigras/index.ssf/2012/02/history.html . I’m not even Catholic and I haven’t ever been to New Orleans, but I like the tradition of a King Cake. – I would love to see New Orleans sometime! Especially for the food -like Beignets!! I hear they are fabulous!
I feel like I really rushed this process, so much so that I forgot to insert a King Cake Baby, pecan half or a quarter- I feel lame. When I delivered a cake to my son he wanted to know all about King Cake because he said he knew nothing about them, BUT he knew enough to ask if there was a plastic baby baked inside! Oh Geesh! I hope he likes it anyway – I think it will be good for breakfast tomorrow, with or without a baby baked inside!
I used an Emeril Lagasse recipe as I figured he knew what he was doing when it came to a King Cake and the recipe is pretty easy! King Cake on the Food Network.
The wet and dry ingredients ready to say hello to each other!
the foamy yeast has been added, and then mixed in and the house starts to smell like fresh yeasty bread!
the dough after having the last cup of flour incorporated into it- actually I used only about 2/3 of the last 1 cup of flour
The dough that has doubled in bulk- ready to punched down and placed in the pans to rise again
The final product! From this same recipe I made a smaller cake that I baked in a 8″ cake pan- I neglected to get a picture of it!! Lame, I know!
Don’t be lame like me…set aside a few hours and make this easy cake and bake a quarter inside too !
How do you celebrate Mardis Gras? Coffee with chicory? Beignets? Jambalaya? Maybe just a PB& J with a beer??
Happy Fat Tuesday!
Sweet-Me's 