I have been wanting to make a King Cake for ages but didn’t get to it when I was sharing Louisiana-inspired recipes for my American Eats series, where I visit some of the most iconic foods from each state, one state at a time. You don’t have to be in New Orleans to enjoy a colorful classic King Cake when you can make it at home from scratch as easily as making a batch of cinnamon rolls! We loved this delicious treat and will be making many more King Cakes in the future. The cinnamon sugar-filled version is traditional, but the cream cheese-filled option is our personal favorite. Luckily, the recipe is big enough that it actually makes TWO King Cakes, so you can have one of each! It might seem like a lot, but it’s the same amount as a batch of cinnamon rolls, which I used as the basis for my version of a Mardi Gras King Cake. The dough gets twisted or braided into a crown-shaped circle, then frosted with a delicious icing and topped with green, purple, and gold sugar. Celebrating Mardi Gras and wanting a taste of the Big Easy that you can make at home? Try our Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice, Cajun Pasta with Sausage and Peppers, or Beignets next!
What is King Cake?
If you have never had King Cake before, you can think of it as a cross between a Danish pastry and a giant cinnamon roll shaped like a wreath and covered with colored sugar sprinkles. Except that it can actually be unfilled, or filled with any number of other filling options, like cream cheese filling, fruit filling, almond paste, or chopped nuts. The cake is shaped like a crown to symbolize the three kings or wise men who visited Christ after his birth. The colors are symbolic too and represent faith (green), justice (purple), and power or prosperity (yellow or gold). One fun and quirky thing about king cake is the tradition of the tiny baby figurine hidden inside, which symbolizes prosperity and luck. Whoever ends up with the slice with the baby is said to be King or Queen for the day! Our kids were way into this idea and agonized over which slice of King Cake they were going to take in hopes of being the winner. The lucky one who finds the baby is also supposed to provide the King Cake the following year. Just be careful if you are the one slicing the king cake, because if you slice the baby it’s considered bad luck! I love making symbolic holiday breads not only because they are delicious and fun, but it’s a great way to talk to my kids about traditions and symbolism. Hot Cross Buns, Resurrection Rolls, and Christmas Star Bread are some of our other favorites! You can enjoy a King Cake anytime during Carnival season from January 6th up until Fat Tuesday, but really you can make it any time during the year and just switch up the colors for whatever event you are celebrating!
Why this Recipe Works
The dough can be made a day ahead and refrigerated overnight so you can bake it fresh on the day you want to serve it. You can easily customize the flavor of your cake by changing up the filling. This King Cake recipe always turns out super soft and tender. Nobody wants to eat dry King Cake!
Ingredient Notes
How to Make This Recipe
This recipe takes about 4 hours, start to finish, but most of that is rising time. Start out by heating milk and butter in the microwave and setting it aside to cool slightly so it doesn’t kill the yeast when you add it later. In a large mixing bowl, proof the yeast for the sweet brioche dough by combining it with warm water and a little sugar. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy. If your yeast doesn’t foam or get frothy and bubbly looking, it probably means the yeast is old and you should throw it out and start over with fresh yeast. Once the yeast is bubbly, add the warm milk and butter mixture along with the sugar, beaten eggs, vanilla, and salt. Add 2 cups of the flour and mix well. Continue adding flour, 1 cup at a time, until you have added 5 full cups total and a sticky soft dough has formed. I like to use the dough hook attachment and let my KitchenAid mixer do most of the work, but this can also be done by hand. Knead on medium speed for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and starting to clean the sides of the bowl, or by hand for 8-10 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add the remaining flour, but keep in mind that the dough should be very soft. I always like to scrape out the dough onto a lightly floured surface right at the end and do a few final kneads by hand to shape the dough into a smooth ball and get a feel for the dough and whether it needs more flour. Add a drizzle of oil to the bowl and return the ball of dough to the bowl, turning to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours. Because this is an enriched dough, it takes longer to rise than some other yeast doughs you might be familiar with. I gave mine a full 2 hours since my house was chilly. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Divide in half and set one half of the dough to the side for your second King Cake. Make the cinnamon sugar filling by combining sugar, cinnamon, and flour in a bowl with the melted butter. Stir until combined into a crumbly filling. If you are using the cream cheese filling, beat the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth. Both filling recipes are easy to cut in half so you can fill each of your King Cakes with a different filling flavor. Roll out into a large rectangle that is roughly 10″x16″ and cut in half lengthwise with a pizza cutter or sharp knife. Another popular approach is to cut the dough into thirds for a 3-strand braid, but after trying both approaches I liked the look and easy of the 2-strand twist best myself. Crumble and sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar filling evenly over each section of dough. Roll up each section of dough from the long edges, pinching the dough together to secure the filling inside as best you can. With the two lengths of dough side by side, twist one over the other, repeating the motion to form a rope. Transfer the twisted dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and shape it into an oval, pinching the ends together. Repeat with the other half of the dough and filling. Cover both trays loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 30-45 minutes until puffy. Bake for 25-28 minutes until golden brown on top. I like using a digital thermometer to probe the center of my loaf in a few places to make sure the internal temperature is between 190° and 195°F to know if the cake (bread?) is done. I also found that the cake made with the cream cheese filling took a minute or two longer to bake than the cinnamon one. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool completely before frosting. This is a good time to stick your plastic baby figurine into one of the folds of the cake to hide it. Once the cake has cooled, make the frosting by beating powdered sugar, milk, butter, lemon juice, and vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth and pourable, but still thick. Drizzle the frosting over the cooled cake, spreading it out with a spatula for even coverage, then immediately sprinkle with the colored sugars before the frosting has a chance to set. That’s it! Now slice the cakes and see who gets the baby! While we think of this as primarily a dessert, some people enjoy it as a sweet breakfast bread or coffee cake. The choice is yours!
Recipe Tips
Storage: King Cake is best served fresh the day it is made, but it will keep for 2-3 days on the counter at room temperature or up to 1 week in the fridge. Store it covered in an airtight container or with plastic wrap. Freezing: You can freeze a finished King Cake for up 2-3 months. Wrap it well with plastic wrap to protect it and keep it stored in an airtight container. Let it thaw on the counter for 2-3 hours before serving. Helpful tools: Use a pizza cutter to easily cut the dough in half. This can also be made without braiding by just rolling up one half of the dough as one thick log. You will also need a rolling pin (affiliate link) for rolling out the dough. Instant Yeast: If using instant yeast, the recipe stays the same, but the steps are slightly different. Add the instant yeast to your mixing bowl with 3 cups of the flour and the sugar first. Stir together, then add the warm milk, water, melted butter, beaten eggs, vanilla, and salt, mixing with the paddle attachment until smooth. Then switch to the dough hook and add the remaining flour, proceeding as normal with the kneading until you have a soft, smooth dough. Let the dough rise for 1 hour in the fridge instead of the 1-2 hours on the counter until doubled in size. Refrigerating the dough overnight: If you want to make your king cake in advance, but bake it fresh the day of, you can refrigerate the dough overnight instead of letting it rise on the counter. Then on the day you want to bake it, let it come to room temperature for an hour or two in the morning before rolling out and shaping like normal. Easy clean-up: It’s common for some of the filling to leak out while baking, so be sure to line your baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats.
As they say in New Orleans, laissez le bon temps rouler! Let the good times roll!
More Mardi Gras Recipes
Shrimp Po Boy Sandwich New Orleans-Style Cajun Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice One Pot Creole-Style Jambalaya
More Favorites from House of Nash Eats
More States I Have Visited in my American Eats Series
Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • New Jersey • New York • Oregon • Puerto Rico • South Carolina • South Dakota • Texas • Utah • Wisconsin
New Orleans Beignets
Blue Bayou Monte Cristo Sandwiches
Best Shrimp Etouffee Recipe
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
