Yield: About 8 to 10 servings
Prep Time: About 3 hours (includes two inactive rise times)
| Bake Time: 25 minutes
For the Dough:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces sour cream
5 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided into 4 tablespoons
& 1 tablespoon
Pinch of salt
1 package (2¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
¼ cup warm water (between 100 and 110 degrees)
1 egg
3 to 3½ cups all-purpose flour
Oil for your hands and the bowl
For the Filling:
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons of melted butter
For the Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
4 tablespoons whole milk
Pinch of salt
For the Colored Sugars:
1½ cups superfine sugar (not powdered sugar), separated into
½ cups
Food coloring – Yellow, Green, Blue & Red
1. To Make the Dough: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In
a small or medium saucepan over medium heat, add the butter, 4 tablespoons of
the sugar and the salt; stir. Once the butter has melted, add the sour cream
and heat to luke warm, about 105 degrees. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, add ¼
cup warm water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar; stir. Allow the yeast to
sit for about five minutes until it bubbles and becomes active.
2. Once the yeast is active, whisk in the warm butter and
sour cream mixture, the egg, and 1 cup of the flour. Whisk until smooth. Using
an oiled wooden spoon, being mixing in small amounts of the remaining flour
until you form a soft dough. This will take about another 2 cups of flour. You
want the dough to be tacky, but not sticky.
3. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface lightly dusted
with flour. With oiled hands, knead the dough until and elastic, about 5 to 10
minutes, adding more flour by the teaspoon if needed.
4. Place the ball of dough into a large, well-oiled bowl,
then flip the dough so all of the surface area of the dough is oiled. Cover the
bowl with oiled plastic wrap and a hand towel, then set the bowl in a warm,
draft-free area and allow the dough to rise until it has doubled in size, about
1 hour.
5. While the dough is rising make the filling. Combine the
melted butter, cinnamon and sugar in a medium bowl and stir to fully combine.
6. Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a
lightly floured surface. Lightly flour the dough and a rolling pin. Roll the
dough into a rectangle about 18 inches long by 14 inches wide.
Spread the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the dough,
leaving a 1-inch border around the outside of the dough.
7. Roll the cake up jellyroll-style and pinch the seams
shut.
Carefully move the roll to a parchment-line baking sheet,
seam-side down. Bring the ends together to form an oval and press the edges
together to completely seal the cake into an oval.
8. Once again, cover the cake with oiled plastic wrap and a
hand towel and allow it to rise for another 30 minutes.
9. During the second rise, make the colored sugars. Place ½
cup of superfine sugar into three separate bowls. Using the food coloring, make
one bowl of green sugar, one bowl of yellow sugar, and one bowl of purple sugar
(by mixing the blue and red). Use the back of a spoon or a pestle, work the
food coloring into the sugar by grinding it against the side of the bowl and
working the coloring throughout all of the sugar. Continue this until the sugar
is uniform in color and there are no clumps. I used 12 drops of food coloring
total for each of the colors.
10. Once 30 minutes have passed, remove the plastic wrap and
hand towel from the cake and bake in the upper third of the oven for about 25
minutes, or until the cake is golden brown. Immediately transfer the cake to a
cooling rack after removing it from the oven. Allow the cake to cool for at
least 20 minutes before icing the cake.
11. Once the cake has cooled for 15 minutes, make the icing.
Whisk together the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, melted butter and milk until
smooth. You want the icing to be able to drizzle easily but not just run right
off the cake, so if the icing is to thin, just whisk in more powdered sugar and
if the icing is too thick whisk in a touch more milk. After the cake has had a
chance to cool, move the cake to whatever platter you wish to serve it on. (At
this point, stick a dried bean or little plastic baby into the cake through the
bottom. It’s tradition in Louisiana that whoever gets the baby has to spring
for the next cake! Elsewhere, it’s a sign of good luck.) Slide pieces of wax
paper under the cake so that it can catch any icing or sugar drips.
12. Drizzle the icing evenly over the cake and allow it ooze
down the sides. Before the icing has a chance to set, sprinkle on rotating
strips of colored sugar. Slide the wax paper pieces out from under the cake and
discard. King cake can be served warm or at room temperature.
