If your from the South you know this dish! If not let me introduce you to a fun tradition. During Mardi Gras everyone makes or buys a king cake. Inside each cake is hidden a plastic baby, the one that gets the piece with the baby inside becomes the king or queen for the day, and also gets to bring the cake to the next gathering.
There are many ways of making a king cake, this is a basic.
Cake:
2 tbs sugar
2 envelopes yeast
1/3 c warm water
1 stick margarine or butter
2/3 c evaporated milk
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp salt
4 eggs
6 c flour
Combine sugar, yeast and water in bowl and let stand until foaming, about 5 min.
Place margarine, milk, sugar, and salt in small pot and melt slowly. Beat eggs into yeast, add milk mixture when lukewarm. Add flour 1 c at a time, Knead on lightly floured surface 5 min. Place in greased bowl and cover, let rise 2 hours.
Divide dough in half and roll out to 6 by 18 inches. Fill with any filling (see below) place small plastic baby inside. Be sure to let your guests know about the baby! Roll up and pinch seem, form into ring and seal ends. Bake at 350 for 18-20 min.
Icing:
1/2 stick margarine or butter
1 pound confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c simple syrup-
simple syrup- heat 1/4 c sugar and 1/4 c water until sugar is dissolved
Pour over cake and sprinkle generously with colored sugars, Mardi Gras colors are green, purple and gold. These colors may be found in stores that sell cake decorating supplies, like Michaels or made by food coloring and regular sugar.
Filling:
-you may use canned pie filling
-butter dotted with 1/2 c brown sugar sprinkled and chopped pecans
-cream cheese filling, one box of vanilla pudding and one 8oz block of cream cheese, mixed together.
you can roll your dough into longer pieces and twist both together. You can even fill each with a different filling,.... how about cream cheese and strawberry. Mmmmm.
1 comment:
Yum! I love King Cake - I think I'll introduce my daughter to it this weekend and we'll have some fun baking!
Post a Comment