King Cake

Making your own king cake takes time and patience, but the rewards outweigh the challenges of this Carnival season cake recipe. Kim Dejan of KD’s NOLA Treats shared this recipe and says, “When you start a king cake, you have to finish it.” Baking your own king cake takes six hours from start to finish. First, you make the dough and then it has to rise. Then you add the filling. After that it has to rise again. Next, you bake and cool. Finally, you glaze and sugar.

Still, making your own king cake from scratch is exciting because you can do it your way. Want a tiny Pikachu inside your cake instead of a baby? Have at it! Pink and green sugars instead of the classic Mardi Gras purple, green, and gold? Sounds good! Lavender-thyme glaze? It’s your cake! As long as you follow the dough instructions closely, you can let the good times roll a bit with the rest.

Three tips from Dejan:

Keep your yeast in the fridge and make sure you don’t use boiling water. If you use boiling water, your yeast will die and your cake won’t rise.

Use a stand mixer if you can instead of a hand mixer because you’ll find that things go much easier when you have access to the paddle and hook attachments.

If you’re adding a fruit or cream cheese filling instead of the brown sugar filling below, be sure to cook it down so it’s very thick. Add a cornstarch-and-water slurry while cooking it down, and make sure it’s cool before adding. Add the filling sparingly; if you don’t it will ooze out and make your dough wet, ruining your cake.