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Thanks, Shana, for reminding me about Mardi Gras.

I love King Cake so decided to include a little history along with recipe.

Enjoy,
Vicki


King Cake Traditional New Orleans Recipe Recipe #20237





In European countries, the coming of the wisemen 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 the 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. The King Cake is made with a rich Danish dough, baked and covered wth a poured sugar topping and decorated with the traditional Mardi Gras-colored sugars. The result is a delicious and festive cake in traditional Rex colors: Purple, representing justice; Green representing faith; Gold representing Power.

by Steven Loeffler
3¾ hours | 3 hours prep

SERVES 10 -12

1/2 cup water (110 to 115 degrees)
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon sugar
3 1/2-4 1/2 cups flour, unsifted
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon lemon, zest of
1/2 cup warm milk
5 egg yolks
1/2-1 cup butter, cut into slices and softened
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 tablespoon milk
1 egg, slightly beaten with the milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Colored sugars
green food coloring paste
purple food coloring paste
yellow food coloring paste
12 tablespoons sugar
Icing
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
3-6 tablespoons water

Pour the warm water into a small shallow bowl, and sprinkle yeast and 2 teaspoons sugar into it. Allow the yeast and sugar to rest for three minutes then mix thoroughly. Set bowl in a warm place, for ten minutes or until yeast bubbles up and mixture almost doubles up in volume.

Combine 3 1/2 cups of flour, remaining sugar, nutmeg and salt, and sift into a large mixing bowl. Stir in lemon zest.

Separate center of mixture to form a hole and pour in yeast mixture and milk. Add egg yolks and using a wooden spoon slowly combine dry ingredients into the yeast/milk mixture. When mixture is smooth, beat in 8 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon at a time and continue to beat 2 minutes or until dough can be formed into a medium soft ball.

Place ball of dough on a lightly floured surface and knead like bread.
During this kneading, add up to 1 cup more of flour (1 tablespoon at a time) sprinkled over the dough. When dough is no longer sticky, knead 10 minutes more until shiny and elastic.

Using a pastry brush, coat the inside of a large bowl evenly with one tablespoon softened butter. Place dough ball in the bowl and rotate until the entire surface is buttered. Cover bowl with a moderately thick kitchen towel and place in a draft free spot for about 1-½ hours, or until the dough doubles in volume.

Using a pastry brush, coat a large baking sheet with one tablespoon of butter and set aside. Remove dough from bowl and place on lightly floured surface. Using you fist, punch dough down with a heavy blow.

Sprinkle cinnamon over the top, pat and shake dough into a cylinder.
Twist dough to form a curled cylinder and loop cylinder onto the buttered baking sheet. Pinch the ends together to complete the circle.

Cover dough with towel and set it in draft free spot for 45 minutes until the circle of dough doubles in volume.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush top and sides of cake with egg wash and bake on middle rack of oven for 25 to 35 minutes until golden brown.
Place cake on wire rack to cool.

If desired, at this time, you can"hide" the plastic baby in the cake.

Colored sugars
Squeeze a dot of green paste in palm of hand.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over the paste and rub together quickly.
Place this mixture on wax paper and wash hands to remove color.
Repeat process for other two colors.
Place aside.

Icing
Combine sugar, lemon juice and 3 tablespoons water until smooth.
If icing is too stiff, add more water until spreadable.
Spread icing over top of cake.

Immediately sprinkle the colored sugars in individual rows consisting of about two rows of green, purple and yellow. Cake is served in 2"- 3" pieces.

_________________
"Cry in the dojo, laugh in the battlefield"

do you have the recipe for the cherry filled one?

_________________
Live True, Laugh often
Shana

Shana, I found another recipe that calls has the filling but you may want to do the dough preparation for the other recipe and then follow the fruit filling from the second. The first recipe is supposed to be close to Gambino's version, which if my favorite bakery there.

It's a lot of work so if you want to order one, I have listed the Top 5 bakeries to buy from.

Enjoy,
Vicki

Bake a Mardi Gras King Cake!

Mardi Gras is the last chance to party before the 40 days of Lent, which requires fasting and abstinence. King Cakes (see recipe below) are served at midnight with a glass of champagne punch at the beginning of the celebration. Hidden in each cake is a coffee bean, a penny or a tiny baby. Whoever gets the prize is declared the king or queen of Mardi Gras.

Under the tutelage of Chef Don Averso and Chef Emi Ostrander, the class turned out a kingdom of cakes.

The following recipe is from Bill Hamilton’s baking class at Pensacola Junior College in Florida. A former Navy man, Bill was once stationed locally.

Bill Hamilton’s King Cake with Cream Cheese and Fruit Filling

Makes 2 cakes

Basic King Cake dough
½ cup milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
¼ cup warm water
1 envelope dry yeast
½ cup sugar
2 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
4 cups, approximately, unbleached flour

Heat milk and stir in butter and sugar. Pour into a large bowl. Mixture should be lukewarm. Beat in the egg yolks and whole eggs.

Mix yeast with warm water. Stir 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon flour into the yeast. Set aside. By the time you have measured the other ingredients, the yeast should be beginning to bubble and show signs of life. Add it to the milk mixture.

Beat in approximately 2 cups flour until the dough is fairly smooth. Then, gradually add enough additional flour to make a soft dough that you can form into a ball. Knead it, by hand or machine, until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a bowl, put the dough in it and turn it once or twice to grease it lightly all over. Cover with a cloth and leave to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.Pat the dough down and cover the bowl with a damp towel, plastic film over that and refrigerate until the next day.

(This recipe makes enough dough for two cakes. Extra dough may be frozen, or make two cakes and freeze one, but do not ice the cake before freezing. Thaw the cooked cake and reheat for 10 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Cool, then ice.)

Filling (for one cake)
16-ounce can cherry, apple or apricot pie filling
8 ounces cream cheese
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 plastic baby

Remove dough from refrigerator and with well-floured hands, while it is firm and cold, shape it into a long sausage shape. Using a floured roller on a floured surface, roll out the dough into a 30-by-9 inch rectangle as thin as a pie crust. Let dough rest.

If necessary, drain extra juice from pie filling. Mix the cream cheese with the sugar, flour, egg yolks and vanilla. Spoon a 1-inch wide strip of fruit filling the length of the dough, about 3 inches from one edge. Spoon the cream cheese mixture alongside the fruit, about 3 inches from the other edge. Brush both sides of dough with egg wash.

Fold one edge of dough over the cream cheese and fruit, then fold the other edge over. Gently place one end of the filled roll onto a greased pizza pan or large cookie sheet. Ease the rest of the roll onto the pan, joining the ends to form a circle or oval. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until cake is well-risen and golden. Cool before inserting a plastic baby into the bottom of the cake and before icing.

Icing (enough for one cake)
½ teaspoon almond flavoring
Confectioner’s sugar
Granulated sugar tinted green, yellow and purple

Mix confectioner’s sugar with almond flavoring and enough water to make a spreadable paste. Spread on top of the cooled cake. Sprinkle with tinted sugar.


Buying a King Cake
Top 5 King Cakes

1. Haydel’s Bakery
4037 Jefferson Highway, Jefferson LA 70121
+1.800.442.1342
www.haydelbakery.com

Trying to pick a number one king cake is like trying to decide if I like the gumbo better at Commander's or Antoine's. My standard response to such questions is along the lines of either "I don't get into religious discussions," or "Why not eat both?" Haydel's is one of the first king cakes I'll pick up every year. If I have to buy king cakes for clients, or to send out of town, I call Haydel's. Haydel's was one of the first bakeries to FedEx king cakes to other parts of the world, and they've really got the process down pat. In addition to making a positively excellent iced king cake, each Haydel's cake comes with a little porcelain figurine, reminiscent of earlier days when the baby baked in the cake was like a little china doll. The baby inside is still plastic, and the figurine is now a collector's item. The figure is something different each year, like a Mardi Gras Indian, or a float, or a grand marshal from a brass band. Neat little reminders of Carnival you can keep on your desk all year 'round.

2. Randazzo’s Bakery
601 W. Judge Perez Dr., Chalmette
+1.800.684.2253

Once upon a time, there was only one Randazzo's Bakery, down in Chalmette. It was a real treat when you had someone in your office who lived down in Da Parish, and it was their turn to bring in a king cake, because Randazzo's was and is one of the best. There has been a great deal of turmoil in the Randazzo family. When the founding Randazzo passed on, he left the bakery to his sons, but their children have since split off into other businesses. This one is the original, however, and if you're ordering from out of town, you don't have to fret over going all the way down into Da Parish.

2. Manny Randazzo’s King Cakes
3784 Veterans Blvd., Metairie, LA 70001
+1.504.456.1576

Manny Randazzo is one of the third generation of the family, and he's brought the Randazzo king cake to Metairie. This is great for those who live and/or work in Metairie, since it's so difficult to get down to Da Parish. Manny Randazzo's is the king cake I pick up most often, mainly because their Veterans location is so easy for me to get to when I'm running around from client to client.

3. Goodchildren Bakery Shoppe
5001 E. Judge Perez Drive, Mereaux
+1.800.975.KING

Operated by another branch of the Randazzo family, Goodchildren is still down in Da Parish, on Judge Perez. If you really want to keep the tradition alive, you gotta get someone in your office who lives in Chalmette or points south to bring a cake from Goodchildren in. Sure, Manny Randazzo's is good, and if I was buying only one king cake this season, I'd pick theirs. Point is, I don't get only one, so one of each is a must.

5. McKenzie's Pastry Shoppes
3847 Desire Parkway, New Orleans, LA 70126
+1.504.944.8771
www.neworleans.net/mallpages/mckenzies.html

_________________
"Cry in the dojo, laugh in the battlefield"

Oh you so know I'm going to make that- think I'll drizzle it with chocolate and icing sugar glaze.

Thanks Vicki (and good luck - even though you don't need it - on your testing)

wow...I might have to order several next year..yoikes! definately have to invite lots of folks to share as I SO don't need to have all that pastry in my home...calling my name....tempting me....

Second the wishes and confidence in you, Vicki!

_________________
Live True, Laugh often
Shana