Mardi Gras King Cake

Mardi Gras season is just around the corner, and when we saw our friends begin posting Facebook statuses about king cake last week, we knew it was time to make one ourselves!

King cake is an addictive, multi-colored confection that takes a number of forms: cinnamon roll-style, donut-like, cream cheese-filled. This particular version is more of a bread dough accented with cinnamon and other spices, and it comes from a personal favorite, Chef John Besh. You can find it in his book, My New Orleans, but the Louisiana State Tourism Board has helpfully posted it for us on its website.

Those taking on this king cake should be aware that the dough requires a lot of resting time. You'd be best to save this for a lazier day or evening so that you can take your time and enjoy the process!

We begin by making the dough, which employs not one, but two sticks of melted butter. (We're kickin' it Paula Deen style, y'all!) The milk is warmed, then the sugar, yeast, and a tablespoon of flour are whisked in until the yeast is dissolved and the mixture begins to bubble. Then, the butter, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest are mixed in, and, finally, the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg) are combined and folded in as well.

Once the dough is combined, find yourself someone who's experiencing some pent up aggression, because it's time for the dirty work. You'll need to knead the dough on a floured surface for 15 minutes, which doesn't sound like a long time until you actually start doing it. We looked at the clock after what seemed like an eternity to find that only 2 minutes had passed.

After kneading, form the dough back into a large ball, place it back into your mixing bowl, cover it, and walk away, because the dough will require one and a half hours for this first rising.

When the dough has doubled in size, dust off your old friendship bracelet skills, because it's time to braid! You'll shape the dough into three ropes of equal length and width, then braid them together into a large circular "loaf".

The dough will have some elasticity to it, so don't get frustrated when, just as you have the perfect dough-braid, it begins to shrink up on you. Just keep pulling at it and eventually you'll have a beautiful looking wreath of dough. (And if you don't, no worries - the icing will hide it well!)

It's probably for the best, after that frustrating experience, that you once again have to take a hiatus and allow the dough to rise. This time, it's only thirty minutes, so go take a bubble bath or do some tai chi to calm yourself down, because you've made it through the labor-intensive part!

When you return, your king cake will be about twice as thick as before, and ready for the oven. In case you're skeptical and wondering where you went wrong when you see your initial, paltry braid, the image at left shows our cake about to serve time in the oven. It's astonishing how much the dough fluffs up!

The cake is baked at 375 degrees for just 30 minutes, then cooled on a wire rack for another 30 minutes, which should provide you with ample time to assemble the icing.

One of the hallmarks of king cake is that it sports the carnival colors: purple, green, and gold. If you don't want to invest in pricey decorative sugars, you could always try your hand at tinting the icing with food coloring in those shades.

The icing is comprised of just three ingredients: powdered sugar, condensed milk, and a bit of lemon juice. Now, we've used this recipe twice before, and every time we have some trouble with the consistency of the icing. It just seems like the powdered sugar-to-condensed milk ratio is a little off, resulting in an icing that's just too thick to mix, let alone spread. We usually (slowly!) incorporate a few tablespoons of 1% milk as we go, which seems to help things along.

If you end up with icing that's too runny, you can always add more powdered sugar. We also recommend pouring the icing over the cake while it's still in the jelly roll pan, then, after it's firmed up some, transferring the completed cake to a serving platter.

While the icing is wet, it's time to dust it with your (beautiful!) decorative sugars. (Or tinted icing, if that's the way you roll.) You'll want to work somewhat fast for maximum icing-to-sugar adherence.

Pick a color to start - we always seem to go for green for some reason, which probably says something about us. Imagine your cake is a clock, and spread the first color sugar at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 positions; the second at the 1, 4, 7, and 10; and the third at positions 2, 5, 8, and 11.

If you want to get really authentic, make sure you tuck a plastic baby (or an uncooked fava bean) up underneath the cake and into the dough before icing it. Tradition dictates that he who finds the baby (or bean) is king (or queen!) for the day, so make sure you aim that section of the cake at someone you like! (We kid!!)

Now that's some beautiful baking, huh?! We love this recipe for a winter weekend because even though the total time is a little long, there are plenty of opportunities to sneak off and do household chores. Or just be lazy and watch TV - you've totally earned it!