King Cake 1
Ingredients
- Dough:
- 28 g butter (unsalted)
- 8 oz sour cream
- 37 g Sugar (Granulated)
- 1/2 t Salt (Table)
- 7 g yeast (active dry, 2.25t, 1/4 oz)
- 1/2 T Sugar (Granulated)
- 1/4 c warm water (100F to 110F)
- 1 egg
- 125 g Flour (Plain) (1 cup)
- 281 g Flour (Plain) (2.25 cups)
- Cream cheese filling:
- 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
- 1/2 egg
- 83 g Sugar (Granulated)
- 1/16 t Salt (Table)
- 1 t vanilla extract
- Colored Frosting:
- 180 g Sugar (Icing)
- 21 g butter (unsalted) (melted)
- 1.5 T milk
- 1/8 t vanilla extract
- green food coloring (preferably paste)
- yellow food coloring (preferably paste)
- purple food coloring (or blue plus red; preferably paste)
- Colored Sugars:
- 1.5 c Sugar (Granulated)
- green food coloring (preferably paste)
- yellow food coloring (preferably paste)
- purple food coloring (or blue plus red; preferably paste)
Method
Cook first 4 ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts; cool mixture to between 100F and 110F.
Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a medium bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add butter mixture, eggs, and first lot of flour; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until smooth. Gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85F), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
Using an electric mixer, mix cream cheese until smooth. Add egg and blend well; add sugar, salt, and vanilla, and mix until smooth and creamy; set aside.
Punch down dough; divide in half. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface; roll out to a 28"x10" rectangle. Spread cream cheese mixture on dough. Roll dough, jellyroll fashion, starting at long side.
Place dough roll, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring ends together to form an oval ring, moistening and pinching edges together to seal. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 20 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
Bake at 375F for 15 minutes or until golden.
Decorate with bands of colored frostings, and sprinkle with colored sugars.
Colored Frostings:
Stir together powdered sugar and melted butter. Add milk to reach desired drizzling consistency; stir in vanilla. Divide frosting into 3 batches; tint one green, one yellow, and one purple.
Colored Sugars:
Place 1/2 cup sugar in a zip-top plastic bag; add a small amount of green food color; seal. Shake and squeeze vigorously to evenly mix color with sugar. Repeat procedure with 1/2 cup sugar and yellow food coloring. Repeat again with 1/2 cup sugar and purple food coloring.
Notes
SJ Note 17 Jan 2011: I needed to add LOTS more flour to be able to knead this. For my food colors, the liquid took 1/2 t per 1/2 cup sugar for the colored sugars. This is half the original recipe; if you want to make the original recipe volume, you need a bowl of at least 8 quarts/liters for letting the dough do its first rise in. This is tasty, but the filling could be creamier. The colored frostings and sugars worked out really well - far superior with the paste color for both, than with the liquid color.