The King's Cake

(via Instagram, King's Cake)

In honor of Mardi Gras I decided to bake my own King Cake. Originally I was on the hunt for one today after being reminded at work about King's Cake. Also, when I was in Philadelphia at Reading Terminal a Creole Stand had a small King Cake version only for $1. At the time I kept telling myself I'd go back to try it, sadly I forgot. So after failing to find one here in stores I thought my-swell make one! So after about an hour 30 mins later I have the bright beauty of King Cake! 

During my baking process I found interesting facts about the King Cake, apparently it has a very religious background like Mardi Gras. --- "As part of the celebration of Mardi Gras, it is traditional to bake an oval cake in honor of the three kings - the King Cake. The shape of a King Cake symbolizes the unity of faiths. Each cake is decorated in the traditional Mardi Gras colors: purple represents justice, green represents faith and gold represents power. A small baby, symbolizing the baby Jesus, is baked into each cake." -- I skipped the small baby part because lack of small baby to bake into the cake. 

(Ground Cinnamon, Cresent Rolls [canned], Dark Brown Sugar, Pecan Pieces, Cream Cheese, Rasins, Cream cheese frosting, food coloring, green & yellow sprinkles)

I adapted a reciepe I found online called "Easy Mardi Gras King Cake", It was actually very easy! I skipped the powered sugar turned icing part and replaced it with yummy cream cheese frosting. 

Directions:

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

Filling:

8 ounces (half of a large block) cream cheese

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup raisins, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes, drained, and patted dry on paper towels

1/2 cup pecan halves

Cake:

2 rolls (total of 16 individual crescent rolls) refrigerated crescent rolls in the can.

Frosting: 

Cream Cheese Frosting, 3 bowls, 3 Colors using food coloring, Purple, Yellow, Green. Add a bit of Vanilla flavoring if desired.  

(Mix filling ingredients and spread on outer rings, fold outer edges over filling  and fold center to close up cake)

This part of the process since I adapted the reciepe to have a heaping of inside goodness I used 8 oz instead of the 4, only because I love filling and I wanted to make layers in the cake. 

(folded cake, not baked) 

I buttered the bottom of my pan because I refuse to use PAM. I've got an issue with it changing the taste of the food, so naturally I try to never use PAM at home. 

While the cake was in the oven I went ahead and mixed the frosting. Boyyy it was alot more difficult to get a nice purple color than I originally anticipated for. I ended up ading atleast 12 drops of blue and 8 drops of red. I wish it was easier just to go in to the store and pick out a color purple, the even sadder part is they didn't have any purple sprinkles! So I was stuck with just green and yellow. 

(fresh and golden brown out the oven) 

At this point I had to resist the urge to dig in because the smell alone was heavenly. I ended up choosing a flaky buttery crescent, so it smelled extra yummy coming out of the oven. 

The finish product turned out pretty good for my first time making it ever. It helped that the recipe itself was super easy. I'll have to make this again without the frosting on top and make it a very yummy coffee cake. mmm the possibilities. 

Bon Appetite, Happy Mardi Gras!

P.s. Philadelphia Post coming soon :)