Bake-A-Liciousness: The King Cake

And another new feature! Am I boring you yet?

For some reason, I have been obsessed with Mardi Gras this year. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I'm not being forced to spend 30 days in New Orleans for work this year. The King Cake is a Mardi Gras tradition. It's a filled pastry ring topped with icing and colored sugar/icing…yum! Inside a small plastic baby is hidden. They say that the person who finds the baby in the cake is either King/Queen for the day or guaranteed good luck all year long. It depends on who you ask. Neither is a bad option as far as I'm concerned.

My original plan was to order these cakes from a bakery in New Orleans so they would be authentic. Well, my research (thank you Google) led me to many bakeries, but the prices were outrageous. I'm not paying $75 for a cake, no matter how authentic it is. I decided to make the King Cakes myself. I am, by no means, a spectacular baker. The whole process is a little too rigid for me. If you're a teaspoon off on an ingredient it can ruin everything. The recipes I found online for King Cakes didn't make me feel any better about it. There was all this kneading and raising and more kneading. I am NOT a kneady person.

So I then searched Google for EASY King Cake recipes. I found one. It even has step-by-step photos. I can't go wrong! Well, I could, but not as horribly wrong as I could have gone with the more complicated recipes.

I'm not going to post my process here, the links are above should you decide to try it. I will note that instead of trying to find little plastic babies, I have gone the traditional route and am hiding a dried kidney bean inside my cakes. That is what they did back in the days before tiny plastic babies were invented.

I will admit that I made 3 of these suckers. I highly recommend that when you are trying a dish or baked good you have never made before. My first attempt looks a little mutated, but the icing will cover that up. The other 2 came out quite nice, so nice in fact I can't tell which was second or third at this point. The mutated one is staying here and the other 2 are heading off to work with The Hubby and I. I wonder if his coworkers find it odd that I bake for them???

Anyway, here is my final product.

I wish the yellow icing had been yellower and the purple more purpler. That's what I get
for having such a vivid green…oh well, next time

Now all I have to do is get really drunk, trade beads for the opportunity to see someone's naked body parts and puke in the street. It'll be just like I'm there in New Orleans for Mardi Gras!