A King cake in the United States is made from a braided, sweet, cinnamon-filled dough, baked in an oval shape ring, and topped with white glaze and purple, green, and gold sanding sugar. Some are even filled with a cream cheese filling. It is eaten to celebrate Mardi Gras during carnival season and is a favorite at Mardi Gras parties.  There is quite an interesting history! Here is everything you need to know about the history of the traditional New Orleans King Cake.

mardi gras king cake on white platter

How do you make a King Cake?

While I think my King Cake turned out well and tasted really good, I have never eaten the real thing! What does a King Cake taste like? Mine tasted like a soft cinnamon roll.  However, the taste will vary by where you are celebrating. In France, the cake is called Galette des Rois or Gâteau des Rois and in Spain and Latin America, it’s Roscón or Rosca de Reyes (King’s Ring). If you celebrate Mardi Gras with a King Cake—please give us some details!

King Cake Ingredients

Here is what you will need:

A BabY

Find the small plastic babies at a cake decorating store or party store. It does seem wrong to hide something in a cake that clearly says choking hazard on the package! If it worries you to bake the plastic, just shove it inside the cake after it is baked but before you frost the cake.

package of king cake babies

Dough

  • 1 pckg package active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm milk
  • 4 Tablespoons sugar
  • 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened, cut into pieces
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Filling

  • 2/3 cup packed light brown suga
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened

Glaze

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons milk add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the glaze reaches desired consistency. About 2 tablespoons.
  • sanding sugar green, purple, and yellow for decorations on top of the glaze

Watch Video: Learn How to Make this Recipe

Instructions for making the King Cake

  1. Combine yeast, warm milk, and sugar. Let stand five minutes.yeast, warm milk, and sugar combined for King Cake
  2. Combine yeast mixture, butter, egg, salt, and half the flour: beat with mixer or food processor just until mixed and smooth. Gradually add in flour to make a soft dough. I use a food processor and mix for 45 seconds until a soft ball is formed.ingredients combined for making King Cake dough
  3. Place dough in a well-oiled bowl, turn to grease the top of the dough. Cover in a warm area for about an hour until dough rises and almost doubles in size .TIP: You can also at this point put the dough in an oiled zip-loc bag and keep it in the refrigerator for at least an hour up to four days. I put the dough in the refrigerator because I like to roll the dough out while it is cold.King Cake dough in bowl
  4. While the dough is rising make the cinnamon-sugar filling Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small dish and stir well.
  5. If not refrigerating the dough and dough has doubled, punch dough down, turn it out onto the floured surface, and kneed a couple of times.rising dough for King Cake recipe
  6. Divide dough in half. Roll out each half into about 7 by 15-inch rectangles. Brush each rectangle with half of the melted butter and then sprinkle each rectangle with half of the cinnamon-sugar filling mixture. King Cake rolled into rectangles and sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar filling
  7. Starting with long side roll-up dough (link when rerolling for cinnamon rolls). King Cake dough rectangles rolled together with filling
  8. Press the roll together at the seam. Wind the two rolls together, forming one thick rope. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Form rope into a ring pinching ends together to seal. Cover the dough loosley with plastic wrap (sprayed with cooking spray so it doesn’t stick) and let it rise until doubled, about 1 hourrope of dough made for King Cake
  9. Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake the cake until it is golden brown, 20 – 35 minutes.
  10. Remove from oven and let cool about 15 minutes before icing.
  11. If hiding a plastic baby poke it inside the cooled cake before icing.
  12. Spoon icing over the top of the cake. Immediately sprinkle on colored sugar, alternating between the three colors.glaze and sanding sugar on finished cake
slice of King Cake
Slice of King Cake

King Cake Recipe

Iced King Cake

King Cake

Celebrate Mardi Gras with a delicious King Cake!
Prep Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients  

Dough

  • 1 pckg package active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm milk
  • 4 Tablespoons sugar
  • 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened, cut into pieces
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Filling

  • 2/3 cup packed light brown suga
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened

Glaze

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons milk add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the glaze reaches desired consistency. About 2 tablespoons.
  • sanding sugar green, purple, and yellow for decorations on top of the glaze

Instructions 

  • Combine yeast, warm milk, and sugar. Let stand five minutes.
  • Combine yeast mixture, butter, egg, salt, and half the flour: beat with mixer or food processor just until mixed and smooth. Gradually add in flour to make a soft dough. I use a food processor and mix for 45 seconds until a soft ball is formed.
  • Place dough in a well-oiled bowl, turn to grease the top of the dough. Cover in a warm area for about an hour until dough rises and almost doubles in size.
    TIP: You can also at this point put the dough in an oiled zip-loc bag and keep it in the refrigerator for at least an hour up to four days. I put the dough in the refrigerator because I like to roll the dough out while it is cold.
  • While the dough is rising make the cinnamon-sugar filling Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small dish and stir well.
  • If not refrigerating the dough and dough has doubled, punch dough down, turn it out onto the floured surface, and kneed a couple of times.
  • Divide dough in half. Roll out each half into about 7 by 15-inch rectangles
  • Brush each rectangle with half of the melted butter and then sprinkle each rectangle with half of the cinnamon-sugar filling mixture. Starting with long side roll-up dough (link when rolling for cinnamon rolls). Press the roll together at the seam.
  • Wind the two rolls together, forming one thick rope. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Form rope into a ring pinching ends together to seal.
  • Cover the dough loosley with plastic wrap (sprayed with cooking spray so it doesn't stick) and let it rise until doubled, about 1 hour
  • Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake the cake until it is golden brown, 20 – 35 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and let cool about 15 minutes before icing.
  • If hiding a plastic baby poke it inside the cooled cake before icing.
  • Spoon icing over the top of the cake. Immediately sprinkle on colored sugar, alternating between the three colors.

Nutrition

Calories: 383kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 55mg | Sodium: 220mg | Potassium: 102mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 37g | Vitamin A: 369IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 2mg
Servings: 12
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American, French
Author: Cindy Hopper

Recipe Tips:

  • Room temperature ingredients work best for baking. Especially the eggs.
  • A food processor works great for making the dough. Slowly add the flour to wet ingredients in the food processor.  Once the dough starts to come away from the sides of the food processor bowl count to 45 slowly while it mixes. Remove dough and continue on with the recipe.
  • If needed tent the cake with aluminum foil around the edges to keep from getting too brown before the dough is baked in the center.
  • Make a really simple King Cake that kids easy for kids to make why not try monkey bread with refrigerator biscuits and hide the baby as you layer the biscuits.
  • You can color your own sugar by adding two tablespoons of sugar along with some paste food coloring in a ziplock bag and mixing well with fingers.

So have a slice of cake and celebrate with this fun cake tradition!


King Cake Recipes From the Pro’s

Paula Dean

I have also used Paula Deen’s recipe from Paula Deen Celebrates! I did add in some nutmeg and made the dough in my food processor.

Paula’s Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2/3 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 envelopes active dry yeast, regular or rapid rise
3 eggs
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1 egg white, for glazing

Cinnamon-Sugar Filling:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

White Icing:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
Yellow Sugar, Purple Sugar, Green Sugar

Instructions:

Melt the butter in the microwave in a medium mixing bowl Add the evaporated milk, 3/4 cup of the sugar, and the salt. Stir so that the sugar dissolves. Allow it to cool.

Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup lukewarm water and stir in the remaining teaspoon of sugar. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, until foamy.

Add the yeast mixture to the butter and milk mixture. Add the eggs, nutmeg, and lemon zest and whisk together vigorously, until well blended. (I did this in the food processor and then added the flour and continued on with the next step.)

(I also did this whole step in my food processor. Once all the flour was added and dough started to come away from the sides I counted to 45 slowly and then stopped and removed the dough and continued on with the recipes.) Or you can whisk in the flour, 1 cup at a time until you have a thick paste–about 3 cups flour. Then switch to a wooden spoon and continue adding flour and mixing well. Do not add more than 6 cups of flour, or your cake will be too dense. When you have added all the flour, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured wooden board and knead it with your hands, which you have dusted with flour, until the dough is smooth and elastic, about a dozen turns.

Place the dough into a large bowl with cooking spray. Turn the dough to coat all sides with spray. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled for about 1 hour.

Make the cinnamon-sugar filling: Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small dish and stir well.
Punch the dough down and divide the dough in two. Roll out each half into a 10 by 15-inch rectangle. Brush each rectangle with half of the melted butter and then sprinkle each rectangle with half of the cinnamon-sugar filling mixture. Roll up along the long end like a jelly roll. Press the roll together at the seam, sealing with water if necessary. Wind the two rolls together, forming one thick piece. On a baking sheet sprayed with vegetable oil cooking spray, form the dough into a circle and seal the ends together.

unbaked king king showing how to braid bread


Cover with a tea towel and allow the cake to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until it almost doubles in size.

Don’t forget to hide your baby, Jesus!

hiding baby inside dough before baked
baked king cake without frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk the egg white with 1 tablespoon water. Brush the top of the cake with the egg white. Bake the cake for 35 minutes, until it is browned and sounds hollow when tapped. I had to tent the cake with aluminum foil around the edges to keep it from getting too brown before the dough was baked in the center.

Make the white icing: Combine the sugar and milk in a small dish and whisk until smooth. If the mixture seems too thin, add a little more sugar. If it won’t drizzle, add a little more milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time.

Allow the cake to cool for a few minutes on a wire rack. Drizzle with icing and sprinkle the colored sugar in random patterns over the white icing.

king cake on silver platter

HayDel’s Bakery

A reader sent me this traditional recipe from Haydel’s Bakery. For over 3 generations, Guinness record-holding Haydel’s Bakery has been treating New Orleanians to the finest fresh-baked cakes and pastries. Each year during Mardi Gras, Haydel’s ships overnight thousands of fresh, delicious Mardi Gras King Cakes directly from its ovens to anywhere in the U.S. and around the world.

Dough

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
½ cup all-purpose shortening
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 cup milk (room temperature)
2 sm. packs active dry yeast
¼ tsp lemon flavor
¼ tsp orange flavor
¼ tsp vanilla flavor
¼ tsp butter flavor
½ cup canola oil
½ cup cinnamon sugar

Colored Sugar

3 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp purple food color
1 tsp yellow food color
1 tsp green food color

Directions

I like to make bread and I always take the easy way out by using my food processor. If you wanted to make a really simple King Cake that kids can make why not make monkey bread (I would leave out the nuts and raisins) with refrigerator biscuits and hide the baby as you layer the biscuits.

Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add the flavors.

Once dissolved add to creamed mixture and continue to mix.

Add flour and mix until dough tightens.

Remove from mixer and kneed into a ball.

At this point sprinkle some flour on top and cover with a clean kitchen towel.

Allow the dough to rest for 1½ hours.

While the dough is resting mix your colored sugars.

Start by taking one cup of sugar and your yellow food coloring. Mix by hand with a wire whisk in a metal bowl until the sugar turns yellow.

Pour your yellow sugar into a separate bowl and put it off to the side. Repeat for purple and green.

In a mixer at first speed combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar, salt, and shortening until well creamed.

Add eggs and continue to cream.

Repeat this process mixing green than purple. (By doing them in that order you only dirty one mixing bowl)

When the dough has rested roll it out into an oblong piece.

Brush on canola oil covering the entire piece.

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar liberally over the whole piece.

Once the dough is covered with cinnamon sugar and oil, fold it in half lengthwise.

Cut into 3 strips and braid the dough.

Gently roll the dough by starting at one end and working all the way down to the other end.

This will make the dough a nice long piece that can then be shaped into a circle.

Once shaped place on a baking pan covered with a piece of parchment.

Allow the dough to rest again until it doubles in size.

At this point take a spoon and alternate sprinkling the three colored sugars on top of your circular piece of dough.

Bake at 370 degrees F for 12-15 minutes until dough is golden brown. Then laissez les bon temps rouler!

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About Cindy Hopper

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Comments

  1. I tried the Paula Deen recipe you posted, but found that it was too dense. My dough would never rise. King Cake should be light, kind of like a cinnamon roll.

    We experimented with the recipe, and found that by adding more liquid (at least 1 cup of water), and then adding the yeast at the end, we got a light, fluffy dough. The final baked result was 3 times the original size, and was like a brioche in texture. Delicious!

    Oh, and we made three pieces and braided them. I think that’s traditionally how it’s made to represent the 3 kings.

  2. We’re from the New Orleans area and when we lived in Nebraska for a year, my husband decided he wanted King Cake and made his own. Yes it should taste kind of like a cinnamon roll. We just found the Haydel’s recipe this season and I think that is the next recipe we’ll try. We don’t like confectioner’s sugar icing so we mix cream cheese icing in with it. Just enough to get rid of the nasty taste, but no so much so it tastes too cream cheesey. By the way, if you ever order a king cake, Randazzo’s is the best! Haydel’s is right up there too. So try that recipe next time you make it. Isn’t Paula Dean from Georgia? She doesn’t know what she’s talking about! 😉

    Someone from france said they celebrate Epiphany. I had no idea what that was so I looked it up. It’s January 6th, which is also the offical start of Mardi Gras season (although there aren’t very many parades until about two weeks before). I think it’s called King’s Day and along with Ephiphany is also celebrates the day the three wise men found Jesus.

    Jan. 6th is also my birthday. I had only ever had one official birthday party my entire childhood and I had King Cake for my birthday cake. (And last year for my birthday, my husband made me a king cake)

  3. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, I want to try and make one of these, guess I need to get busy If its going to be made by friday…. thanks again…

  4. I ordered one of the cakes from Haydel’s last year for my son’s class. It was so good that every child ate his/her piece. However it was a little expensive to order again so the next party I used Rhode’s cinammon rolls and put the baby in foil (so as to avoid accidental swallowing/choking) the guest who found the baby thought I had left foil in the cake LOL Anyway, the Rhodes dough is an inexpensive easy alternative.
    Valerie
    PS the kids in my son’s class kept the tradition going for over a month with the child finding the baby Jesus bringing treats the following Friday.

  5. looks good – my favorites have cream cheese filling 🙂
    as for the above comments, it’s true that the icing is normally thicker, but the icing is my least favorite part, so I think I’ll take thin icing.

  6. It looks good but it’s too round, and the icing looks thin. still looks great though 🙂 hope your family enjoyed it. (from southwest louisiana – and yes, it’s true- I was in 6th grade before I found out Mardi Gras is not a national holiday)

  7. Aren’t cha’ glad your whole bread didn’t come out tasting like melted plastic ? Your braver than I am…or it may just be most of my luck is of the not “good” kind! Enjoy.

    I make an Easter bread ring in the same sort of layout only with coloured eggs, snuggled into the braids. I sprinkle on flower shaped sprinkles on the icing and it comes out lovely each time. I was worried the eggs would pop. It has a super flavour with the addition of a bit of orange and lemon zest.

    Happy Mardi Gras.

  8. That is so cool. I never knew the history behind this cake. In our family at Christmas we send cards with the Three Wise Men on them and when you receive these type of cards (Three Wise Men) you are to put them up over your door way and that is supposed to bring you health, wealth and happiness through the year. Unfortunately, I must not have gotten enough of them the past few years. But I think I am going to try the cake. Thank you for the suggestion.

  9. When you buy king cakes at the store now the baby is on top, since it is a choking hazard. You aren’t supposed to put it in until the cake is already baked – you slip it in through the bottom before you ice it so no one will be able to see where it is at.

    Blueberry cream cheese filled is my favorite- I don’t like the plain ones because they do taste just like a lighter version of a cinnamon roll.

  10. I hear you Libby, that’s my question. I don’t even microwave in plastic, I can’t say I’d want to bake with it either!

  11. Or you can do what I do, get one from Haydel’s Bakery. There are quite a few variations on king cakes in New Orleans these days including the cinnamon roll white icing variety. They are all delicious but I find that Haydel’s has the most authentic traditional king cake.

    http://www.haydelbakery.com/

  12. I decided I wanted to make a King’s Cake this year. I’ve never had one nor eaten one, but I did read A LOT of recipes and they all seem to be cinnamon roll type recipes. So it’s good to know I’m on the right track!

    Most recipes I’ve seen tuck the baby in after baking.

  13. You have the right idea in that it should taste like a cinnamon roll, but the inside should not be as dense as a roll. It should be light with just the hint of cinnamon throughout. Your cake looks yummy, but we usually just use a slight twist to make a big ring of cake and feed lots of people. Also, really thick gooey icing, with the whole part of icing covered in the sparkling colored sugar. I love having King Cakes this time of year, and can’t wait for the parades.

    Kat from Southern Louisiana!

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