King Cake

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 1 hr 45 mins Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 16 ounces sour cream
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 (1/4 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 large eggs
• 6 1/4-6 1/2 cups bread flour or 6 1/4-6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 2 drops green food coloring
• 2 drops yellow food coloring
• 1 drop red food coloring
• 1 drop blue food coloring

Recipe

• 1 in a saucepan heat butter, sour cream, sugar and salt over low heat just until butter melts, stirring often. check temperature to be between 100 and 110 degrees.
• 2 dissolve both packets of yeast into 1/2 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon sugar. let stand 5 minutes or until the yeast starts to bubble.
• 3 into a large mixing bowl, add the butter mixture, eggs and 2 cups of flour and beat for two minutes or until it becomes smooth. gradually add enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• 4 place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. this will take approximately 10 minutes. place dough in a greased bowl. turn the dough so that the grease covers all sides of it. cover with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place for approximately one hour or until it doubles in size.
• 5 in the meantime stir together 1/2 cup of sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
• 6 after the dough has risen, punch it down and divide it in half. place one portion on a slightly floured surface and roll it with a rolling pin into a rectangle approximately 10x22.
• 7 spread half of the softened butter over the surface of the dough with a spatula leaving a 1" border and sprinkle half of the cinnamon and sugar mixture over.
• 8 if you are adding a coin, fava bean or figurine as a token in the king cake, place it on the rolled out dough just before rolling it up so the token is contained in the rolled up dough.
• 9 start on the long side of the dough and roll it like a jelly roll. place roll seam side down on a lightly greased baking sheet and bring the ends together to form an oval ring. pinch ends together to seal.
• 10 repeat with remaining dough. cover and let rise for 20 minutes or until it doubles in size again.
• 11 bake at 375º for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
• 12 when cake has completely cooled, spread top with creamy frosting letting it drip along the sides and sprinkle with bands of colored sugars in purple, yellow and green.
• 13 frosting: stir together powdered sugar and melted butter. add milk to reach desired consistency for drizzling; stir in vanilla.
• 14 colored sugars: place 1/2 cup sugar and 2 drops of green food coloring in a jar with a tight fitting lid; seal. shake vigorously for about 1 minute to evenly mix color with sugar. (adjust color as needed.) repeat procedure with 1/2 cup sugar and yellow food coloring. for purple, combine 1 drop red and 1 drop blue food coloring before adding to remaining 1/2 cup sugar. (i prefer to make the sugar the day or days before and letting them dry in open air so as to prevent bleeding.).