In Louisiana, once the Christmas festivities have ended, everyone gears up for yet another celebration known as Mardi Gras. This pre-Lenten celebration is celebrated all over the world under different names, but the celebration in Louisiana was brought to the area by colonists from Spain and France and dated back to the 18th century.
This tradition actually predates Christianity and was actually adapted from the Roman celebration called Lupercalia. This tradition celebrated the period between the end of the Christmas Season and the beginning of Lent (Ash Wednesday) as a period of merriment and excess. Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday, is the final day of this period of festivities since Lent will begin a time of fasting.
In order to use up ingredients that would not be consumed during the Lenten period, people baked sweet, rich cakes and pastries with lots of eggs and butter…enter the King Cake.
This rich, sweet, yeasted bread is very similar to a brioche dough and traditionally eaten during Mardi Gras. The tri-color sugar represents the three kings and each color has its own meaning. Purple stands for justice, green stands for faith, and yellow stands for power. Hidden in the cake is a small toy baby, and whoever gets the slice containing the toy is crowned King or Queen for the day.
King Cakes come in a variety of different flavors, with the most traditional being a cinnamon praline butter filling. The bread is then braided and formed into a round shape to symbolize the unity of the Christian community. Once baked, the King Cakes are then slathered with a blanket of white icing and decorated with crunchy yellow, purple, and green sugar crystals. Other King Cake flavors include sweetened cream cheese filling, blueberry, apple or lemon filling, pecans, or dried fruits, such as raisins, cherries.
So on this day of celebration I say to you, “Laissez les bons temps rouler!!”
King Cake
500g flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom **sub nutmeg if you prefer
1 teaspoon salt
50g sugar
20g fresh yeast
200ml warm whole milk
¼ teaspoon lemon zest
4 yolks, room temperature
100g butter, room temp
1½ tablespoons canola oil
Jam of your choice
Powdered sugar
1 egg plus 2 tablespoons water (egg wash)
2 Tablespoons melted butter (for filling)
1/2 cup granulated sugar plus 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon (for filling)
ICING
1 cup powdered sugar
purple sugar, green sugar and yellow sugar
porcelain or plastic token
This recipe is the same one that I use for the jam filled sweet rolls we recently made. It is perfect for this King Cake but I made a few changes to make the dough a little richer. Instead of adding whole eggs, I added only yolks. This not only lends itself to the richness of the dough, but also adds a natural golden color without having to add food coloring, as some companies do. I also added some ground cardamom, but you can add nutmeg instead if you prefer or just omit the spice altogether.
First, begin by putting the canola oil into the bowl that will hold the dough for the rising process, and with your hands or with a paper towel, coat the entire inside of the bowl well with the oil. Crumble the yeast in a small bowl, pour in the warm milk and dissolve with a whisk. Separate the yolks and set them aside. Put all of the dry ingredients together in the bowl of your stand mixer and use either a paddle or a dough hook to begin mixing your ingredients. With your paddle in motion add your milk and yeast mixture all at once then slowly begin to add your eggs until all are incorporated. Next add in your zest and mix again. At this point, take a look at your dough. Does it look too wet? If so, add a small teaspoon of flour and help the dough pull away from the sides into a ball. Does it look too dry? Add a few drops more of milk. Let this beat for a few minutes, and then add the butter a little at a time until it is all mixed in. Turn this out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it is no longer sticky. Put this dough into the previously greased bowl and turn the dough around the bowl to make sure it is all coated with a little oil. Cover with plastic and 2 towels and allow it to double in size, about 90 minutes.
After the first proof, gently deflate and re-knead the dough to redistribute the yeast. At this point, press the dough out into a long flat sheet. Brush on the melted butter and add the cinnamone sugar, then roll it up.
If you are using a porcelain token, you can put this in the dough and bake it inside, but if you are using a plastic one, it will have to be added once the cake has cooled. Transfer the dough to a half sheetpan lined with a piece of parchment paper or a silpat, and form the long roll into a circle.
Allow this to proof for 1 hour, brush on the egg wash and then bake at 350°F until golden brown.
Allow to cool completley before coating with icing and decorating with colored sugar.
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