A huge thanks to everyone who sent recipe suggestions for a Mardi Gras king cake! While I’ve been wanting to make one for years, my knowledge of these cakes was limited to knowing that whoever gets the plastic baby in their slice becomes king/queen for the day (and likely has to host next year’s party). I had no idea that it’s essentially a giant cinnamon roll – YUM!
I decided to try Pam Lolly’s Praline-Cream Cheese King Cake from Southern Living, which combines two New Orleans staples by creating a praline cream cheese filling. The yeasted sour cream dough is spread with the cinnamon pecan cream cheese, then rolled up and formed into a ring before the final proof and bake.
Once cooled, the cake is covered with a sugary glaze (while I’m not typically a fan of powdered sugar icing, the simple addition of unsalted butter won me over). The finishing touch is a dusting of traditional Mardi Gras-colored sprinkles: green for faith, purple for justice, and gold for power.
I didn’t realize until I was making the dough that the recipe made two cakes. Since I had already bought all the ingredients, I went ahead and made both – thankfully, as we couldn’t get enough of this! It was the perfect foray into my first king cake experience. Next time I’ll remember to include the plastic baby. Whoops!
Rating: 5/5
How Easy Is That: Intermediate
Store-Bought Is Fine: cream cheese
Pricey Ingredients: —
Hard-to-find: —
Recipe on SouthernLiving.com
