COOKnQT
02-22-2003, 10:24 AM
I was thinking of posting this last night, but was reminded of it when someone requested this on another board ...
First some history ...
An observer once said that New Orleanians are either having a party, recuperating from a party, or planning a party. The biggest and best party of all and the city's most famous celebration is Mardi Gras, "the greatest free show on earth." Mardi Gras dates back to 1837 when the first street parade took place.The carnival season begins January 6th (12 days after Christmas) on Twelfth Night with the first of nearly 100 private masked balls. The dazzling Mardi Gras parades feature marching bands and elaborate paper mache floats with maskers tossing trinkets, beads and doubloons to the crowds.On Mardi Gras Day, the day before Ash Wednesday, the largest and longest parades are held. Rex, King of Carnival, is a prominent businessman, chosen by secret committee. His Queen is always a debutante of the current season. On Mardi Gras day, everyone joins in the costuming, young and old alike, resident and tourist.In European countries, the coming of the wise men bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. The celebration, called Epiphany, Little Christmas on the Twelfth Night, is a time of exchanging gifts and feasting. All over the world people gather for festive Twelfth Night celebrations. One of the most popular customs is still the baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings..."A King's Cake."Tradition has now evolved through time to obligate the person who receives the baby (inside every King Cake!) to continue the festivities by hosting another king cake party.King Cakes were originally a simple ring of dough with little decoration. Now they can be quite elaborate, and fun to make.The King Cake is usually made with a rich Danish dough, baked and covered with a poured sugar topping and decorated with the traditional Mardi Gras-colored sugars. The end result is a delicious and festive cake in traditional Rex colors: Purple, representing Justice; Green, representing Faith; Gold, representing Power. Hundreds of thousands of King Cakes are consumed at parties every year, making the King Cake another fine Louisiana tradition. A Mardi Gras party just wouldn't be a Mardi Gras party without a King Cake!
Ingredients:
For The Cake Dough:
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 16-oz. carton sour cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 packages dry yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup warm water (105-115°)
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
6 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (add with first two cups of flour)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
For The Cream Cheese Filling*:
2 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
For The Frosting: ***
3 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons butter
5 to 8 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Yellow, green, blue and red food coloring
For The Colored Sugar:
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
Yellow, green, blue and red food coloring
3 zip lock sandwich bags (plastic food storage bags)
Instructions:
For The Cake Dough:
Combine first four ingredients in sauce pan. Heat on low burner until butter melts, stir occasionally, set aside and let cool. Dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar with warm water in large mixing bowl. Let stand 5 minutes. Add butter and sour cream mixture. Add eggs and blend well. Combine melted butter and 1/2 cup sugar and add, mix well. Add 2 cups flour and cinnamon, gradually stir in the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Kneed dough on floured surface. Place in well greased bowl and turn over to coat all of dough with oil. Cover with damp towel to rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour). You may want to use your warm oven for this process.
Now make your cream filling and set it aside.
The Cream Cheese Filling*:
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.
After dough has risen to twice its size, divide dough in half. Place one half on generously floured surface and roll into 10-inch by 28-inch rectangle. Spread half of cream cheese filling on dough and roll into jelly roll. Traditionally, a ceramic or plastic "Baby" is added before rolling the cake, but consider safety factors for small children and be sure to inform anyone before eating the cake they may find the 'Baby'.Be sure to put the seam side down on a lightly greased baking sheet. Shape into a circle and pinch ends together. Allow the cake to rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes.
Bake at 375° for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 15 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely before decorating.
Now you can make your icing and colored sugar for decorating! The really fun part!
For The Frosting:***
Combine all ingredients except food coloring, mixing well until it is of drizzling consistency. Separate into 3 equal parts. Add food coloring, by drops, until you reach your desired shade of yellow and green. To create purple, start with equal drops of blue and red food coloring then add blue or red depending on your desired shade of purple. (Most often you will use more blue than red.) Drizzle each color of frosting over 3 sections of the cake. Allow the frosting to "set" well before adding colored sugar. (About 30 minutes to an hour depending on the consistency of the frosting.)
*** Honestly, most times I just leave the frosting white!
For The Colored Sugar:
Separate sugar into 3 equal parts (1/2 cup each) into the three sandwich bags. Add food coloring (about 3 drops for yellow and about 3 drops for green). Be sure the bags are sealed and roll the bag between your hands to mix food coloring into sugar. To mix purple sugar start with 3 drops of blue food coloring and 2 drops of red food coloring. Add more of either color to create the shade of purple you prefer. Sprinkle on top of same color icing.
Add any decoration you might have -- gold, green, purple beads, or any type of party favors fitting the color theme. Have fun and be creative! It's MARDI GRAS!!!!
**Chocolate chips, coconut, fruit jams or flavorings can be added after you have spread the cream cheese filling to create your favorite King Cake.
Source:
The Estorge House Bed & Breakfast - Opelousas, Louisiana
First some history ...
An observer once said that New Orleanians are either having a party, recuperating from a party, or planning a party. The biggest and best party of all and the city's most famous celebration is Mardi Gras, "the greatest free show on earth." Mardi Gras dates back to 1837 when the first street parade took place.The carnival season begins January 6th (12 days after Christmas) on Twelfth Night with the first of nearly 100 private masked balls. The dazzling Mardi Gras parades feature marching bands and elaborate paper mache floats with maskers tossing trinkets, beads and doubloons to the crowds.On Mardi Gras Day, the day before Ash Wednesday, the largest and longest parades are held. Rex, King of Carnival, is a prominent businessman, chosen by secret committee. His Queen is always a debutante of the current season. On Mardi Gras day, everyone joins in the costuming, young and old alike, resident and tourist.In European countries, the coming of the wise men bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. The celebration, called Epiphany, Little Christmas on the Twelfth Night, is a time of exchanging gifts and feasting. All over the world people gather for festive Twelfth Night celebrations. One of the most popular customs is still the baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings..."A King's Cake."Tradition has now evolved through time to obligate the person who receives the baby (inside every King Cake!) to continue the festivities by hosting another king cake party.King Cakes were originally a simple ring of dough with little decoration. Now they can be quite elaborate, and fun to make.The King Cake is usually made with a rich Danish dough, baked and covered with a poured sugar topping and decorated with the traditional Mardi Gras-colored sugars. The end result is a delicious and festive cake in traditional Rex colors: Purple, representing Justice; Green, representing Faith; Gold, representing Power. Hundreds of thousands of King Cakes are consumed at parties every year, making the King Cake another fine Louisiana tradition. A Mardi Gras party just wouldn't be a Mardi Gras party without a King Cake!
Ingredients:
For The Cake Dough:
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 16-oz. carton sour cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 packages dry yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup warm water (105-115°)
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
6 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (add with first two cups of flour)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
For The Cream Cheese Filling*:
2 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
For The Frosting: ***
3 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons butter
5 to 8 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Yellow, green, blue and red food coloring
For The Colored Sugar:
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
Yellow, green, blue and red food coloring
3 zip lock sandwich bags (plastic food storage bags)
Instructions:
For The Cake Dough:
Combine first four ingredients in sauce pan. Heat on low burner until butter melts, stir occasionally, set aside and let cool. Dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar with warm water in large mixing bowl. Let stand 5 minutes. Add butter and sour cream mixture. Add eggs and blend well. Combine melted butter and 1/2 cup sugar and add, mix well. Add 2 cups flour and cinnamon, gradually stir in the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Kneed dough on floured surface. Place in well greased bowl and turn over to coat all of dough with oil. Cover with damp towel to rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour). You may want to use your warm oven for this process.
Now make your cream filling and set it aside.
The Cream Cheese Filling*:
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.
After dough has risen to twice its size, divide dough in half. Place one half on generously floured surface and roll into 10-inch by 28-inch rectangle. Spread half of cream cheese filling on dough and roll into jelly roll. Traditionally, a ceramic or plastic "Baby" is added before rolling the cake, but consider safety factors for small children and be sure to inform anyone before eating the cake they may find the 'Baby'.Be sure to put the seam side down on a lightly greased baking sheet. Shape into a circle and pinch ends together. Allow the cake to rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes.
Bake at 375° for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 15 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely before decorating.
Now you can make your icing and colored sugar for decorating! The really fun part!
For The Frosting:***
Combine all ingredients except food coloring, mixing well until it is of drizzling consistency. Separate into 3 equal parts. Add food coloring, by drops, until you reach your desired shade of yellow and green. To create purple, start with equal drops of blue and red food coloring then add blue or red depending on your desired shade of purple. (Most often you will use more blue than red.) Drizzle each color of frosting over 3 sections of the cake. Allow the frosting to "set" well before adding colored sugar. (About 30 minutes to an hour depending on the consistency of the frosting.)
*** Honestly, most times I just leave the frosting white!
For The Colored Sugar:
Separate sugar into 3 equal parts (1/2 cup each) into the three sandwich bags. Add food coloring (about 3 drops for yellow and about 3 drops for green). Be sure the bags are sealed and roll the bag between your hands to mix food coloring into sugar. To mix purple sugar start with 3 drops of blue food coloring and 2 drops of red food coloring. Add more of either color to create the shade of purple you prefer. Sprinkle on top of same color icing.
Add any decoration you might have -- gold, green, purple beads, or any type of party favors fitting the color theme. Have fun and be creative! It's MARDI GRAS!!!!
**Chocolate chips, coconut, fruit jams or flavorings can be added after you have spread the cream cheese filling to create your favorite King Cake.
Source:
The Estorge House Bed & Breakfast - Opelousas, Louisiana