TRADITIONAL NEW ORLEANS KING CAKE
This recipe makes one traditional king cake (3 Kings Cake, Mardis Gras Cake). Serves 12 people. It's a perfect addition to Mardis Gras food ideas for a carnival party. Why order a king cake online when you can bake your own?!
Equipment
- Digital Scale metric
- Bowls various sizes, as needed
- 1 Saucepan medium
- Electric Mixer paddle and dough hook attachments
- Plastic wrap or kitchen towel
- Rolling Pin
- Bench Scraper (or knife)
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Sheet half sized sheet pan
- Pastry Brush
Ingredients
Tahnzog
- 90 ml Full Fat Milk (1/3 Cup + 1 T)
- 85 g Butter, Unsalted (6 T)
- 60 g Bread Flour (1/2 cup)
Bread Dough
- Tahnzog from above cooled to 100°F/38°C
- 150 ml Water, 100°F/38°C (scant 2/3 cup)
- 2 tsp Yeast
- 30 g Sugar (2.5 T)
- 2 ea Eggs
- 40 g Potato Flakes (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 340 g Bread Flour (2 ¾ cup)
Filling
- 150 g Brown Sugar (⅔ cup)
- 2.5 tsp Cinnamon, ground
- 2 T Butter, Unsalted
- pinch Sea Salt
Sugar Syrup
- 50 g Granulated Sugar (¼ cup)
- 80 ml Water (⅓ cup)
- 1 tsp Orange Extract
Confectioners Sugar Glaze
- 200 g Confectioners Sugar (1¾ cups)
- 2 T Water
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Sanding Sugars
- Green Sanding Sugar
- Yellow Sanding Sugar
- Purple Sanding Sugar
Instructions
Mis En Place (weight ingredients and get equipment ready)
- Prepare a saucepan and an electric mixer with dough hook. Using a digital scale weigh ingredients for the Tahnzog and the Dough. Set aside.
Tahnzog
- Combine the milk and butter in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until melted. Add flour and continue to stir for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to 100°F/38°C.
Dough
- Mix water and yeast with a pinch of sugar. Set aside for 5-10 minutes to bloom.
- Pour yeast mixture, sugar, and potato flakes into the mixer bowl. Mix together with paddle attachment until all flakes are hydrated.
- Add eggs and tahnzog, mix until combined. Switch to dough hook.
- Add sea salt and flour, mix on low speed for 2 minutes.
- Switch speed two for 6-8 minutes until dough is thoroughly mixed (sticks to bottom of bowl and climbs the dough hook). Dough will be sticky to fingers when touched.
- Lightly coat a bowl with oil, scrape dough onto work surface, knead into a ball.
- Place the ball into the oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel.
- Set dough aside to bulk proof until doubled.
- Remove dough from bowl, punch dough down, and knead a few times into a ball. Place back into the bowl to proof a second time until doubled. Repeat one more time.
- While dough is proofing, scale ingredients for the filling and mix together the cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt. Allow butter to come to room temperature.
- Prepare half sheet pan with parchment paper sprayed with oil (or prepared with butter). Don't skip the oil as your king cake may stick.
- Prepare a work surface with a light coating of oil. Once dough has proofed twice, remove dough to the prepared work surface.
- Flatten dough with a rolling pin into a 12 x 24 in (30 x 60 cm) rectangle.
- Smear 75% of the dough with softened 2T of butter.
- Sprinkle butter with the filling and press down slightly.
- Roll the dough away from you to form a cylinder. Use a little water to pinch the cylinder tightly closed.
- Turn cylinder over so the seam is on the bottom and then turn it around so it is perpendicular to you.
- Starting 1" (2.5 cm) from the top of the cylinder, cut it in half long ways down the center.
- Starting at the top, twist the two halves together to the bottom.
- Move the twisted dough to the prepared sheet pan. Form the dough into a 10"(25 cm) circle. Pinch ends together.
- Cover the prepared dough with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel. Set aside to double in size.
- Prepare the simply syrup. Mix sugar and water and heat over medium-high heat stirring continuously until it thickens/reduces by half. Remove from the heat and mix in 1 tsp of orange extract. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Once dough has doubled, remove plastic wrap and place into the preheated oven. Bake for 15 minutes, turn tray 180° and bake for 15 more minutes (30 minutes total). Your king cake is done when a digital thermometer inserted into the center reaches 190°F (90°C).
- Using a pastry brush, coat the baked king cake with the simple syrup as soon as it is removed from the oven. Move to a cooling rack.
- Prepare the sugar glaze. Scale the powdered sugar into a bowl. Mix in the water and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Once king cake is cooled, decorate one section at a time by coating with the sugar glaze and sprinkling with the first of three colors.
- Repeat with the sugar glaze on another section, sprinkling with the second of three colors. Repeat again and sprinkle with the third color. Repeat and alternate colors until the entire cake is decorated.
- If using a plastic baby, insert it into the bottom of the cake once it is cooled.
- Slice, Share with Friends, and Enjoy!