King's Cake

Today being Fat Tuesday I am giving you a second recipe to help you celebrate Mardi Gras.

This recipe starts with a loaf of Rhodes frozen bread.  You can probably use another frozen bread but I always use Rhodes for my rolls so I was familiar with them.  The only problem is it is hard to find.  Walmart seems to be the only place around here that I have found it.

You will want to thaw one loaf per the instructions on the package.

Spray the plastic wrap before you cover so it won't stick to the bread.

After a couple of hours the bread is thawed and you can begin.

You will want to make the filling.  Start with a softened 8 oz cream cheese.

The original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of lemon extract but I didn't have any and forgot to pick it up at the store so mine will have vanilla.

Add 1 cup powdered sugar.

Mix well.  Since I used vanilla it is a little dark.

Flour your countertop and rolling pin to get ready to roll out the bread.

Work with it and keep rolling until you have a nice long piece of dough.  It will try to keep going back so work with it.

Still rolling and turning.

I think I have it like I want it.  I probably could have rolled a little bit more.

Place the filling in the middle of the dough.  Leave aobut an inch all around the edges.

It's spread out.

I wanted to add a little cinnamon for flavor.

Now start rolling it up.

The rolled log.  I need to do a better job next time to seal the edges a little bit better.  Use water to sel the edge.

Now roll it around and make a circle.  Seal the ends.

Using a little water seal the ends so they stay. Cover it and let it rise again for about an hour. Then place in a preheated 350 oven for about 30 minutes.

While the bread is baking make the icing for the top.  Start with about a 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar.

Add 3 Tablespoons of milk.

Add 1 teaspoon of a flavoring.  I used the vanilla and it will make the icing not so bright white.

The icing.

This is the bread after it has baked.  Let cool completely before icing.

Just drizzle the icing all the way around.

Now start puting the colored sprinkles on the bread.  The yellow do not show up very well.

The finished product.  The custom is to put a baby Jesus or a bean inside the bread.  Depending on who you are serving it to you might not want to put anything inside.  The ones you buy in the store will not put one inside they might include one in the box.  The custom is whoever finds the baby Jesus has to buy the next one.  I did not include one in this cake.
Happy Fat Tuesday  Enjoy your Mardi Gras

King's Cake Recipe

1 roll frozen bread dough thawed
8 oz cream cheese softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon extract (lemon, vanilla, or almond)

Icing recipe
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon extract (see above)