I married a man from Louisiana, and I lived there for 2 years in grad school. By far, my fave Louisiana treats are shrimp po'boys (fully dressed with only a little mayo), pecan pralines, and king cake.
My husband makes amazing pralines, the best shrimp po'boys come from a little gas station in my husband's home town, and I make King Cake usually just once a year here in NYC (though when in Louisiana I will happily inhale King Cake from the end of Epiphany through Fat Tuesday, usually from the local Rouses grocery store bakery in my husband's home town), so when I make it I want it to be great!
It's taken me three years, but this is the perfect king cake recipe with no eggs! Sometimes eggless yeast doughs can be dry and tough and I have never made a confectioners sugar glaze that didn't have a weird after taste. I always preferred the Rouses King Cakes to mine, which NEVER happens, I am not a grocery store bakery over homemade kind of girl. But this year...score one for mama!
Mama's King Cake
Dough
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
2 pkg active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Filling
3/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c white sugar
1 1/2 TBSP cinnamon
3/4 all purpose flour
1/2 cup very soft or melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
purple, gold, and green sanding sugar
For Dough
My husband makes amazing pralines, the best shrimp po'boys come from a little gas station in my husband's home town, and I make King Cake usually just once a year here in NYC (though when in Louisiana I will happily inhale King Cake from the end of Epiphany through Fat Tuesday, usually from the local Rouses grocery store bakery in my husband's home town), so when I make it I want it to be great!
It's taken me three years, but this is the perfect king cake recipe with no eggs! Sometimes eggless yeast doughs can be dry and tough and I have never made a confectioners sugar glaze that didn't have a weird after taste. I always preferred the Rouses King Cakes to mine, which NEVER happens, I am not a grocery store bakery over homemade kind of girl. But this year...score one for mama!
Mama's King Cake
Dough
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
2 pkg active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Filling
3/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c white sugar
1 1/2 TBSP cinnamon
3/4 all purpose flour
1/2 cup very soft or melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
purple, gold, and green sanding sugar
For Dough
- Scald milk, remove from heat, add butter, salt, and nutmeg
- Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 Tbsp sugar, wait approx. 10 minutes for it to get foamy
- When milk/butter mixture has cooled to warm but not hot, add to yeast mixture
- stir in remaining sugar and flour, knead 8-10 minutes. Dough should be a little sticky but easy to work with. If too dry, add warm water or milk 1 Tbsp at a time.
- Coat in butter or neutral oil, let rise covered in a warm place for 2 hours (until double)
- Cut dough ball in half
- Roll each half out into 10x17 rectangle
For Filling
- Mix all filling ingredients into a paste
- Spread on each dough rectangle
For Cake
- Roll up each dough rectangle to form long roll and join the ends to shape into an oval
- Bake at 330 for 20-25 min, until top is just starting to be golden on the edges
- Mix powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream to desired consistency and spread or pour on top of cooled cake
- Top with sanding sugars
