Bring the Mardi Gras celebration to wherever you live! Bake a King Cake and start the tradition! The King Cake Story The King Cake is believed to have been brought to New Orleans, Louisiana, from France in the 1870's. It evolved from the Twelfth Night or Epiphany pastry made by those early settlers. They added their own touches with the Spanish custom of choosing Twelfth Night royalty. A King Cake is shaped like a crown to represent the kings. A dried bean or pea was hidden inside the cake and whoever found it received a year of good luck and was treated as royalty for that day. Starting around the 1930s, a tiny naked baby was used instead of the bean or pea. The baby can be pink, brown, or golden. Some people believe that the baby represents the baby Jesus because Twelfth Night was when the three kings found the baby in Bethlehem. The payback for being king or queen for the day is that person has to buy the king cake for the next day. That can cost from $4.00 - $6.00 for a small, plain grocery store cake to $25.00 for an elaborately filled and decorated cake. King Cake season lasts throughout Mardi Gras from Epiphany until Mardi Gras Day. The royal colors of purple, green and gold on the cake honors the three kings who visited the Christ child on Epiphany. Purple respresnts Justice. Green stands for Faith. Gold signifies Power. The three colors appeared in 1872 on a Krewe of Rex carnival flag especially designed for the visiting Grand Duke of Russia. He came to New Orleans just for the carnival, and the universal colors remain his legacy. (The Sun Herald) Bring the Mardi Gras celebration to wherever you live! Bake a King Cake and start the tradition! Once you have tasted a homemade King Cake, those you buy from the grocery store can't hold a candle to it. This recipe may look long and complicated, but it really isn't, and you will have fun making it. King Cake Recipe # 1 (From Southern Living 1990 Annual Recipes) 1/4 cup butter or margarine 1 (16-oz.) carton sour cream 1/3 c. sugar 1 t. salt 1 pkgs. dry yeast 1 T. sugar 1/2 c. warm water (105 º to 115 º) 2 eggs 6 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1/2 cup sugar 1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon 1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened Colored frostings Colored Sugars Combine the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan; heat until butter melts, stirring occasionally. Let mixture cool to 105 º to 115 º. Dissolve yeast and 1 T. sugar in warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add butter mixture, eggs, and 2 cups of flour; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes or by hand until smooth. Gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly-floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place free from drafts, for 1 hour or until dough is doubled in bulk. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon; set aside. Pinch dough down and it divide in half. Turn one portion of dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll to a 28" X 10" rectangle. Spread half of the butter and half of the cinnamon mixture on the rolled out dough. Roll dough, jelly roll fashion, starting at the long side. Gently place dough roll, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring ends of dough together and form an oval ring. If you have access to a tiny plastic baby, tuck it into the seam before you seal it. If not, use a large, dried bean. Moisten and pinch the edges together to seal. Repeat this procedure with the second half of the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 20 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 375 º for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Decorate each cake with bands of colored frostings, and sprinkle with colored sugars. Makes 2 cakes. If you prefer to do it the easy way, make it in a bread machine... I did, and it works great. I just dissolve the yeast in warm water first, and dissolve the sugar, butter and salt in the scalded milk, let cool, and put in the machine. Eliminates all of that kneading. Some bread machines can't hold this large recipe, so you may want to use one of the recipes below. Just take it out as soon as it is mixed to rise. NOTE: If you prefer, you can replace the cinnamon and sugar inside the roll of dough with a cream cheese filling or a pie filling in the flavor of your choice... just spread it thinly on the center of the rectangle before you roll it up. Popular flavors are blueberry, cherry, and lemon. Recipe # 2 A Smaller Version - King Cake Based on e-mail I've received, there is a need for a recipe using less flour so that the dough can be mixed in a small bread machine. I haven't adapted the directions for a bread machine -- I'll leave that up to you. 1/4 cup milk 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 t. salt 3 T. butter or margarine 1/4 c. warm water (105 - 115 degrees) 1 pkg. active dry yeast 1 egg 2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it steams; remove from heat. Add sugar, salt and butter, stiffing until butter is melted. Let cool to lukewarm. In a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Stir to dissolve. Add egg and 1 1/2 cups flower; beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the rest of the flour. Beat until the dough is smooth and leaves the side of the bowl. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured pastry cloth. Knead until dough is satiny and elastic and blisters appear on the surface. Go to the directions in the other recipe (the ***'s) to finish. If you want to use the cimmamon and sugar, just follow the ingredients & directions from the other recipe. Cream Cheese Filling 1 8-oz. package cream cheese 1 c. confectioners sugar 2 T. flour 1 t. vanilla drop or two of milk Cream all ingredients together with an electric mixer. Spread on the rolled-out rectangle before rolling it into a ring. You can use cream cheese and a fruit filling if you so desire. Colored Sugars 1 -1/2 cups sugar, divided 1 to 2 drops each of green, yellow, red and blue food coloring Combine 1/2 cup sugar and a drop of green coloring in a jar. Place lid on jar, and shake vigorously to evenly mix the color with sugar. Repeat with each color, combining red and blue for purple. Colored Frostings (Personally, I don't care for the colored sugars - they make the taste too grainy; however, it is traditional to put them on the King Cake. I leave it off since I prefer just the frosting...) 3 cups sifted powdered sugar 3 T. butter of margarine, melted 3 to 5 T. milk 1/4 t. vanilla extract 1 to 2 drops each green, yellow, red, and blue food coloring Combine powdered sugar and melted butter. Add milk (room temperature) to reach desired consistency for drizzling; stir in vanilla. Divide frosting into 3 batches, tinting one with green, one with yellow, and combining blue and red for purple frosting. Makes about 1 - 1/2 cups. Note: I've tried to provide you with recipes for King Cakes. Due to the volume of e-mail I receive, I really can't answer indivitual questions about how to make them. Also, I can't be responsible for how your cakes turn out. I do wish you good luck and lots of fun making them! \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Official Mardi Gras King Cake Recipe Contributed by Dena Connor The King Cake is a traditional Mardi Gras treat, baked and covered with a poured sugar topping in Mardi Gras colors; Purple, representing Justice, Green representing Faith and Gold representing Power. Traditionally, the person who finds the hidden "baby" in his or her slice of cake must provide the cake the next year. Hundreds of thousands of King Cakes are consumed at parties worldwide every year and in fact, a Mardi Gras party wouldn't be complete without a King Cake. This recipe has a lot of steps but none of them are difficult. Now that you know how time-consuming it is to make a King Cake, you can appreciate why many people just order one up from their favorite bakery! Ingredients 1/2 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees) 2 packages active dry yeast 1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar 31/2 41/2 cups unsifted flour 1 teaspoon nutmeg 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon lemon zest 1/2 cup warm milk 5 egg yolks 1 stick butter cut in slices and softened, plus 2 tablespoons more 1 egg slightly beaten with a tablespoon of milk 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 tiny plastic doll (not more than 1") Directions Pour the warm water into a small shallow bowl and sprinkle yeast and 2 teaspoons sugar into it. Allow the yeast and sugar to rest for three minutes, then mix thoroughly. Set bowl in a warm place for 10 minutes until yeast bubbles up. Combine 31/2 cups of flour, remaining sugar, nutmeg and salt and sift into a large mixing bowl. Stir in lemon zest. Separate center of mixture to form a hole and pour in yeast mixture and milk. Add egg yolks and using a wooden spoon, combine dry ingredients into the yeast/milk mixture. When mixture is smooth, beat in 8 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon at a time and continue to beat 2 minutes or until dough can be formed into a medium soft ball. Place ball of dough on floured surface and knead, gradually adding up to 1 cup more of flour. When dough is no longer sticky, knead 10 minutes more until shiny and elastic. Using a pastry brush, coat the inside of a large bowl evenly with one tablespoon softened butter. Place dough ball in the bowl and rotate until the entire surface is buttered. Cover bowl with a heavier kitchen towel and allow dough to rise in a warm place for about 11/2 hours or until it doubles in volume. Coat a large baking sheet with one tablespoon of butter and set aside. After the first rising, place the dough on a floured surface and punch it down with a heavy blow. Sprinkle cinnamon, then pat and shape the dough into a long 'snake' or 'cylinder'. Form a twist by folding the long cylinder in half, end to end, and pinching the ends together. Then twist the dough. Form a ring with the completed twist pinch the ends together. Place the completed ring on the buttered baking sheet, cover it with a towel and allow it to rise for 45 minutes or until it doubles in volume. After the second rising, brush the top and sides of the cake with the egg and milk wash. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and hide the plastic baby in the cake. Icing (2 parts) Colored sugar Green, purple and yellow coloring paste (sold with cake decorating supplies) 12 tablespoons sugar Divide sugar into three portions (for green, yellow and purple). Add a tiny amount of the coloring paste to each sugar portion. Try mixing the sugar and colored pasted between your palms for best results. Set aside. Poured icing 3/4 cups confectioners sugar 1/4 cup lemon juice 36 tablespoons of water Combine ingredients until smooth, adding more water if it's too thick. Spoon icing over top of cake. Immediately sprinkle on colored sugars, alternating between the three colors. Serve in 2"3" pieces. //////////////////////// Twelfth Night, or King's Cake Gateau du Roi The Picayune Creole Cookbook (1901) 8 cups of the best white flour 6 eggs 1 cup sugar 1 pound of the best butter or shortening 1 pint of whole milk (2 cups) 1/2 ounce yeast (2 1/4-ounce packages, or about 4 1/2 tsp) 1/2 ounce salt (2 tsp) Candies to decorate To make the cake take 6 cups sifted flour, and put it in a wooden bread trough. Make a hole in the center of the flour, and put in a half-ounce of yeast, dissolved in a little warm water. Add about a pint of milk or tepid water to make the dough, using milk if you want it to be very rich and delicate, and water if you have not the milk. Remember that if you use milk to make the dough it must be scalded, that is, must be heated to the boiling point, and then allowed to grow tepid. Knead and mix the flour with one hand, while adding the milk or water with the other. Add six eggs, beaten very light with the sugar and butter, or shortening, and mix all well together, kneading lightly with your hands, and adding more eggs if the dough is a little stiff. Let the dough rise for five or six hours [or until doubled in bulk], and, when increased to twice its bulk, take it and add the reserved half-pound of flour, into which you will have sifted the salt. Then knead the dough by turning it over on itself three times and set to rise again for an hour or three-quarters of an hour. Cover with a cloth. At the end of this time take it up and work again lightly, and then form into a great ring, leaving, of course, a hole in the center. This amount of dough may be divided and baked in two or more King's Cakes. Pat gently and flatten a little. Have ready a baking pan with a buttered sheet of paper in it, and set the central roll in the middle. Cover the pan with a clean, stiff cloth, and set the cake to rise for an hour longer. When well risen, set in an oven a few degrees cooler than that used for baking bread; let bake for an hour and a half; if medium, one hour, and if very small, a half hour. Glace the Brioche lightly with a beaten egg, spread lightly over the top before placing in the oven. Decorate with dragees, caramels, or any small colored cake-decorating candies. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\