King's Cake

I have always wanted to make a King's Cake but never had until 2 years ago. The kiddos loved it and so did I. It is not that hard to make but finding all of the colored sugar around Beaty's Creek was not an easy thing to do. I colored plain granulated sugar for the yellow with gel food coloring and it worked just fine though. You can eat King's cake from January 6th until Fat Tuesday, not a day before or after. You must place a baby somewhere in your King's Cake. Raine was more than a little skeptical about the baby part but was okay with it once we explained it to her. If you are lucky enough to find the baby in your slice of King's Cake, you must throw a party next year. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek this Fat Tuesday!


Needed:


2 T active dry yeast
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 cup warm milk
5 large egg yolks
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 t salt
1 t canola oil
2 T cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 plastic king cake baby or a pecan half
4 cups powdered sugar
5 T milk
2 vanilla beans-scraped
Purple-, green-, and gold-tinted sugar sprinkles

Combine the yeast and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the melted butter and warm milk. Beat for 1 minute. With the mixer running, add the egg yolks one at a time, then beat for 1 minute. Add the flour, salt, vanilla and beat until everything is mixed well. Increase the speed to high and beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball.
Remove the dough from the bowl. Using your hands, form the dough into a smooth ball. Lightly oil a bowl with the canola oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn it to oil all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the filling. In a large mixing bowl, combine the 2 cups of sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Using your rolling pin roll
into a rectangle about 24x6.


Filling:
2 cups sugar
2 T cinnamon

Sprinkle the filling lengthwise over the bottom half of the dough, then flip the top half of the dough over the filling. Seal the edges, pinching the dough together. Shape the dough into a circle and place it on the prepared baking sheet with seam side down. Shape the dough into a ring and pinch the ends together so there isn't a seam. Insert the king cake baby or pecan half into the ring from the bottom so that it is completely hidden by the dough.

Cover the ring with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and place in a warm, draft-free place. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour in my kitchen.


Brush the top of the risen cake with 2 tablespoons of the milk. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes at 350'. Cool completely on a cooling rack.

Icing:
Take the 4 cups of powdered sugar, vanilla bean scrapings, and milk and stir until thick and creamy. Ice cake evenly and then sprinkle with purple, gold, and green sugar.