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Festive King's Cake Recipe

Festive King's Cake Recipe photo by Taste of Home

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In New Orleans, after the cake is baked a tiny toy baby is often inserted into it. Whoever gets the piece with the baby is supposed to have a year of good luck. The catch is they must also throw a Mardi Gras party next year. — Stacey West-Feather, Jay, Oklahoma

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Festive King's Cake Recipe

Prep: 40 min. + rising Bake: 30 min. + cooling

Yield: 16 Servings

40 30 70

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
2 teaspoons salt
4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup 2% milk
3/4 cup butter, cubed
5 egg yolks
FILLING:
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
TOPPING:
1-1/3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoons 2% milk
Purple, yellow and green colored sugars

Directions

In a large bowl, mix the sugar, yeast, salt and 2 cups flour. In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add egg yolks; beat 2 minutes longer. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours.
For filling, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Punch down dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; roll into a 24-in. x 6-in. rectangle. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar lengthwise down one half of the dough. Fold dough lengthwise over filling; pinch seam to seal. Transfer to a greased baking sheet, seam side down. Shape into a ring, pinching ends together to seal. Cover with a kitchen towel; let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. For topping, mix the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and enough milk to reach desired consistency. Spread over cake; sprinkle with colored sugars. Yield: 1 cake (16 slices).

Nutritional Facts 1 slice equals 332 calories, 11 g fat (6 g saturated fat), 88 mg cholesterol, 368 mg sodium, 54 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 5 g protein.

Originally published as Festive King's Cake in Taste of Home February/March 2013

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Reviewed on Feb. 06, 2013 by stephsma

I made this cake the cake part was very good, but the filling was hard as a rock. What went wrong?

Reviewed on Feb. 02, 2013 by stephsma

Easy & Delicious

Reviewed on Jan. 24, 2013 by kredhead

Never mind...I checked the other king cake recipes on this site & finally found the answer. Place a small slit in the bottom of the cake after it is baked and insert the plastic baby.

Reviewed on Jan. 24, 2013 by kredhead

Where does the plastic baby come in? Add after it is baked?