Enjoy this delicious homemade Mardi Gras King Cake this year and let the good times roll! Made with a sweet brioche dough and a cinnamon or cream cheese filling, this is the best king cake recipe and 1,000x better than anything you’ll find in a grocery store or bakery!
Table of Contents
I have been wanting to make a King Cake for ages but didn’t get to it when I was sharing Louisiana-inspired recipes for my American Eats series, where I visit some of the most iconic foods from each state, one state at a time. You don’t have to be in New Orleans to enjoy a colorful classic King Cake when you can make it at home from scratch as easily as making a batch of cinnamon rolls!
We loved this delicious treat and will be making many more King Cakes in the future. The cinnamon sugar-filled version is traditional, but the cream cheese-filled option is our personal favorite. Luckily, the recipe is big enough that it actually makes TWO King Cakes, so you can have one of each!
It might seem like a lot, but it’s the same amount as a batch of cinnamon rolls, which I used as the basis for my version of a Mardi Gras King Cake. The dough gets twisted or braided into a crown-shaped circle, then frosted with a delicious icing and topped with green, purple, and gold sugar.
Celebrating Mardi Gras and wanting a taste of the Big Easy that you can make at home? Try our Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice, Cajun Pasta with Sausage and Peppers, or Beignets next!
What is King Cake?
If you have never had King Cake before, you can think of it as a cross between a Danish pastry and a giant cinnamon roll shaped like a wreath and covered with colored sugar sprinkles. Except that it can actually be unfilled, or filled with any number of other filling options, like cream cheese filling, fruit filling, almond paste, or chopped nuts.
The cake is shaped like a crown to symbolize the three kings or wise men who visited Christ after his birth. The colors are symbolic too and represent faith (green), justice (purple), and power or prosperity (yellow or gold).
One fun and quirky thing about king cake is the tradition of the tiny baby figurine hidden inside, which symbolizes prosperity and luck. Whoever ends up with the slice with the baby is said to be King or Queen for the day! Our kids were way into this idea and agonized over which slice of King Cake they were going to take in hopes of being the winner.
The lucky one who finds the baby is also supposed to provide the King Cake the following year. Just be careful if you are the one slicing the king cake, because if you slice the baby it’s considered bad luck!
I love making symbolic holiday breads not only because they are delicious and fun, but it’s a great way to talk to my kids about traditions and symbolism. Hot Cross Buns, Resurrection Rolls, and Christmas Star Bread are some of our other favorites!
You can enjoy a King Cake anytime during Carnival season from January 6th up until Fat Tuesday, but really you can make it any time during the year and just switch up the colors for whatever event you are celebrating!
Why this Recipe Works
- The dough can be made a day ahead and refrigerated overnight so you can bake it fresh on the day you want to serve it.
- You can easily customize the flavor of your cake by changing up the filling.
- This King Cake recipe always turns out super soft and tender. Nobody wants to eat dry King Cake!
Ingredient Notes
- Colored sugar or sprinkles: For the traditional King Cake look, you need to have green, purple, and yellow or gold sanding sugar or sprinkles to cover the cake.
- Flour: I tested this recipe using regular all-purpose flour which resulted in a chewy and soft bake.
- Butter: This is an enriched dough that is made with butter for a rich flavor and texture. I use salted butter in all of my baking, but you can use unsalted and just increase the salt by ¼ teaspoon.
- Sugar: Because this is a sweet brioche bread dough, there is granulated sugar in the bread itself. You will also need powdered sugar for the icing that goes on top, and brown sugar if you choose to do the cinnamon filling.
- Plastic baby: Technically this isn’t really an ingredient since you don’t eat it, but if you want to order one they are available on Amazon (<–affiliate link), although you will end up with way more babies than you need. But they are fun for baby showers, and you might need more babies for next year’s cakes, so I just keep mine in our drawer with the birthday candles.
How to Make This Recipe
This recipe takes about 4 hours, start to finish, but most of that is rising time.
Start out by heating milk and butter in the microwave and setting it aside to cool slightly so it doesn’t kill the yeast when you add it later.
In a large mixing bowl, proof the yeast for the sweet brioche dough by combining it with warm water and a little sugar. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy. If your yeast doesn’t foam or get frothy and bubbly looking, it probably means the yeast is old and you should throw it out and start over with fresh yeast.
Once the yeast is bubbly, add the warm milk and butter mixture along with the sugar, beaten eggs, vanilla, and salt. Add 2 cups of the flour and mix well.
Continue adding flour, 1 cup at a time, until you have added 5 full cups total and a sticky soft dough has formed. I like to use the dough hook attachment and let my KitchenAid mixer do most of the work, but this can also be done by hand.
Knead on medium speed for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and starting to clean the sides of the bowl, or by hand for 8-10 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add the remaining flour, but keep in mind that the dough should be very soft.
I always like to scrape out the dough onto a lightly floured surface right at the end and do a few final kneads by hand to shape the dough into a smooth ball and get a feel for the dough and whether it needs more flour.
Add a drizzle of oil to the bowl and return the ball of dough to the bowl, turning to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours. Because this is an enriched dough, it takes longer to rise than some other yeast doughs you might be familiar with. I gave mine a full 2 hours since my house was chilly.
Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Divide in half and set one half of the dough to the side for your second King Cake.
Make the cinnamon sugar filling by combining sugar, cinnamon, and flour in a bowl with the melted butter. Stir until combined into a crumbly filling.
If you are using the cream cheese filling, beat the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.
Both filling recipes are easy to cut in half so you can fill each of your King Cakes with a different filling flavor.
Roll out into a large rectangle that is roughly 10″x16″ and cut in half lengthwise with a pizza cutter or sharp knife. Another popular approach is to cut the dough into thirds for a 3-strand braid, but after trying both approaches I liked the look and easy of the 2-strand twist best myself.
Crumble and sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar filling evenly over each section of dough.
Roll up each section of dough from the long edges, pinching the dough together to secure the filling inside as best you can.
With the two lengths of dough side by side, twist one over the other, repeating the motion to form a rope. Transfer the twisted dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and shape it into an oval, pinching the ends together.
Repeat with the other half of the dough and filling. Cover both trays loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 30-45 minutes until puffy.
Bake for 25-28 minutes until golden brown on top. I like using a digital thermometer to probe the center of my loaf in a few places to make sure the internal temperature is between 190° and 195°F to know if the cake (bread?) is done.
I also found that the cake made with the cream cheese filling took a minute or two longer to bake than the cinnamon one.
Remove from the oven and let the cake cool completely before frosting. This is a good time to stick your plastic baby figurine into one of the folds of the cake to hide it.
Once the cake has cooled, make the frosting by beating powdered sugar, milk, butter, lemon juice, and vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth and pourable, but still thick.
Drizzle the frosting over the cooled cake, spreading it out with a spatula for even coverage, then immediately sprinkle with the colored sugars before the frosting has a chance to set.
That’s it! Now slice the cakes and see who gets the baby!
While we think of this as primarily a dessert, some people enjoy it as a sweet breakfast bread or coffee cake. The choice is yours!
Recipe FAQ’s
The Carnival season begins on January 6th every year, which is Twelfth Night or the Feast of the Epiphany, marking the end of the 12 days of Christmas. Mardi Gras is the culminating event on Fat Tuesday, and it marks the end of the season of Carnival. It’s always 47 days before Easter and the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the start of Lent, a 6-week period of fasting leading up to the Easter holiday. During Mardi Gras in New Orleans, there are parades, masked balls, parties, and just general merry-making by pretty much the entire city.
This tradition was part of the Catholic celebration of the Epiphany and was brought over from France in the 1800’s to Louisiana, where it became part of their Mardi Gras festivities.
Theoretically yes, most of these toy babies are made to be baked into the King Cake, but I worry about that and find it’s not hard to just push it down into the folds of one of the braids before covering the cake with the icing. And to be honest, I forgot on my second one and decorated the whole cake before remembering so I stuck it down in through the frosting, then covered it up with more sprinkles and nobody could tell.
If you have a hard time finding the colored sugar, you can always order it online or make your own! All it takes is a few drops of food coloring and ½ cup of granulated sugar in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Just combine them in the jar and shake well until the sugar is evenly dyed. But I usually have no trouble finding my colored sugar at craft stores though like Joann’s, Michael’s, or Hobby Lobby.
The biggest problem people seem to have when working with a brioche dough like this is the dough being sticky. The dough should be very soft and yes, it is slightly more on the sticky side than other doughs, but after kneading and rising, the dough should still be workable. Just dust your hands and surface with a little flour as needed to prevent it from sticking and use your judgment adding additional flour only as necessary.
Recipe Tips
- Storage: King Cake is best served fresh the day it is made, but it will keep for 2-3 days on the counter at room temperature or up to 1 week in the fridge. Store it covered in an airtight container or with plastic wrap.
- Freezing: You can freeze a finished King Cake for up 2-3 months. Wrap it well with plastic wrap to protect it and keep it stored in an airtight container. Let it thaw on the counter for 2-3 hours before serving.
- Helpful tools: Use a pizza cutter to easily cut the dough in half. This can also be made without braiding by just rolling up one half of the dough as one thick log. You will also need a rolling pin (affiliate link) for rolling out the dough.
- Instant Yeast: If using instant yeast, the recipe stays the same, but the steps are slightly different. Add the instant yeast to your mixing bowl with 3 cups of the flour and the sugar first. Stir together, then add the warm milk, water, melted butter, beaten eggs, vanilla, and salt, mixing with the paddle attachment until smooth. Then switch to the dough hook and add the remaining flour, proceeding as normal with the kneading until you have a soft, smooth dough. Let the dough rise for 1 hour in the fridge instead of the 1-2 hours on the counter until doubled in size.
- Refrigerating the dough overnight: If you want to make your king cake in advance, but bake it fresh the day of, you can refrigerate the dough overnight instead of letting it rise on the counter. Then on the day you want to bake it, let it come to room temperature for an hour or two in the morning before rolling out and shaping like normal.
- Easy clean-up: It’s common for some of the filling to leak out while baking, so be sure to line your baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats.
As they say in New Orleans, laissez le bon temps rouler! Let the good times roll!
More Mardi Gras Recipes
- Shrimp Po Boy Sandwich
- New Orleans-Style Cajun Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
- Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice
- One Pot Creole-Style Jambalaya
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
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Mardi Gras King Cake
Equipment
- baking sheets
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup salted butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar divided
- 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 5 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour spooned & leveled (705g to 776g)
Full Batch Cinnamon Filling Option
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (68g)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons salted butter melted
Full Batch Cream Cheese Filling Option
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons salted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 1 Tablespoon salted butter melted
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Dough
- Heat milk and butter for 60-90 seconds in a microwave safe bowl. Add the salt, then set aside to cool until just warm (about 120° to 130°F).1 cup milk, ¼ cup salted butter, 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- In a separate bowl, combine the warm water, about 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and the yeast. Stir, then let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast is foamy.2/3 cup warm water, ½ cup granulated sugar, 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
- Once the yeast is foamy, add the milk and butter, the remaining sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and 1 cup of the flour. Mix well, then continue adding flour while kneading with the dough hook attachment, 1 cup at a time. Only add the additional ½ cup of flour if the dough is really sticky.* Knead for 5 minutes on medium speed or 8-10 minutes by hand to create a very soft dough that starts coming away from the sides of the bowl.2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 5 to 5 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead a few times by hand until a smooth, round ball forms. Clean and lightly oil the bowl, then return the dough to the bowl, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.
Filling
- For the cinnamon filling, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter, mixing to combine. Set aside. Only use half of the amounts if you are only filling one king cake with this filling.2/3 cup brown sugar, ⅓ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 4 tablespoons salted butter
- For the cream cheese filling, combine the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, softened butter, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat well until smooth. Set aside. Only use half of the amounts if you are only filling one king cake with this filling.8 ounces cream cheese, 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons salted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Assembly
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and divide in half. (Remember, this recipe makes TWO king cakes). Roll out one half of the dough into a large rectangle on a lightly floured surface, roughly 10×16-inches. Use a pizza cutter to divide the dough in half lengthwise to create two long rectangles.
- Crumble the cinnamon filling or spread cream cheese filling evenly over the dough and roll up into two long cylinders, just like when making cinnamon rolls. Twist the two logs together into a rope braid, then transfer to the prepared baking sheet, shaping into an oval and pinching the ends together. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise for 30-45 minutes until puffy.
- Preheat oven to 350°F while the king cake is rising. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and baked through. The cake should be done when it reaches 190° to 195°F on a digital thermometer inserted into the center of each loaf. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- Beat the powdered sugar, milk, butter, lemon juice, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. The frosting should be pourable but thick.2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, 1 Tablespoon salted butter, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Stick a plastic baby figurine into each cake, pushing it down in to hide it. Drizzle the frosting over both king cakes, spreading it with a spatula if needed for good coverage. Sprinkle with the purple, green, and gold sugar while the frosting is still wet before it has a chance to set.
- Slice and serve. Whoever gets the slice with the baby gets to be king or queen for the day!
Notes
- *If the dough is too sticky: Some readers have indicated that they needed up to 1 full cup of additional flour to get a workable dough because their dough was too sticky. You want it to be as soft as possible for a light, soft dough, but obviously make a judgment call if you feel like you need to add extra flour.
- Storage: King Cake is best served fresh the day it is made, but it will keep for 2-3 days on the counter at room temperature or up to 1 week in the fridge. Store it covered in an airtight container or with plastic wrap.
- Freezing: You can freeze a finished King Cake for up 2-3 months. Wrap it well with plastic wrap to protect it and keep it stored in an airtight container. Let it thaw on the counter for 2-3 hours before serving.
- Helpful tools: Use a pizza cutter to easily cut the dough in half. This can also be made without braiding by just rolling up one half of the dough as one thick log. You will also need a rolling pin for rolling out the dough and parchment paper for lining the baking sheets.
- Instant Yeast: If using instant yeast, the recipe stays the same, but the steps are slightly different. Add the instant yeast to your mixing bowl with 3 cups of the flour and the sugar first. Stir together, then add the warm milk, water, melted butter, beaten eggs, vanilla, and salt, mixing with the paddle attachment until smooth. Then switch to the dough hook and add the remaining flour, proceeding as normal with the kneading until you have a soft, smooth dough. Let the dough rise for 1 hour in the fridge instead of the 1-2 hours on the counter until doubled in size.
- Refrigerating the dough overnight: If you want to make your king cake in advance, but bake it fresh the day of, you can refrigerate the dough overnight instead of letting it rise on the counter. Then on the day you want to bake it, let it come to room temperature for an hour or two in the morning before rolling out and shaping like normal.
- More filling ideas: Use the cream cheese filling with a can of strawberry, cherry, or blueberry pie filling. Or try filling with apple pie filling, german chocolate cake frosting, or whatever else you can think of!
- Colored sugar: If you have a hard time finding the colored sugar, you can always order it online or make your own! All it takes is a few drops of food coloring and ½ cup of granulated sugar in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Just combine them in the jar and shake well until the sugar is evenly dyed. But I usually have no trouble finding my colored sugar at craft stores though like Joann’s, Michael’s, or Hobby Lobby.
Nutrition
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Hi! I’ve attempted making the dough with instant yeast and both times my dough turned out soft but super stiff and I’m thinking it’s definitely meant to be softer but I can’t seem to achieve that. I followed to a t. Only difference would be that I made mine plant based. Any tips? Also the first time I made my dough I didn’t follow the correct steps n that’s why I remade it. I followed the rapid rise instructions but the texture and stiffness of the raw dough seems the same
My best guess is that it’s something to do with the plant based ingredients? I can’t wrap my head around how the dough is soft but stiff. Maybe a little less flour or a little more liquid if it is too stiff?
This recipe was very easy to follow! My first time making this cake and its currently in the oven. Though I have one question for the second cake the recipe makes.. how many times should the two logs braid together? I only got three braids and wondering if I didnt roll each log thin enough to braid them more.
This is a good question but I haven’t counted how many times I braided them. But yes, it does sound like rolling them a little thinner would help.
I followed the recipe as outlines, but had a sticky mess of dough. I added more flour but still had very sticky dough. It was extremely difficult to work with. It also seems very dry.
Amazing recipe! I’m not much of baker at all and both cakes came out PERFECT! Husband even said they were better than our normal bakery ones we would buy!
I did add some ground cloves and cinnamon into the dough since I noticed some comments about it being bland. The dough was the perfect flavor to compliment the cream cheese and cinnamon sugar flavor!
I don’t like king cake, but I wanted to make one for my parents with my new kitchen aid mixer they bought me! They LOVED the flavor of the actual bread and the filling, there just wasn’t enough filling and the texture of the bread was quite dry and hard. So my questions are 1- how could I make the bread more moist or softer? I weighed the flour, so I’m almost certain that isn’t the issue.
2- could I combine both cakes and make one big one? My dad wants me to make one for him to bring to work
3- could I triple the filling and it be okay?
If you want to double or triple the filling, by all means go for it! Yes, you can make just one large king cake instead of two smaller ones. And finally, if the texture of the bread was dry and/or hard, that sounds to me like it was baked a bit too long or that something was off with oven temperature. Some ovens bake colder or hotter than others and it’s always a good idea to have an inexpensive oven thermometer that just lives in your oven to make sure it is accurate. I hope this helps! Have fun with that new kitchen aid mixer! So exciting! What color did you get?
Thank you so much!! I got white to match my kitchen theme along with the kitchen aid knife’s and mixing/prep bowls!!
So fun! I bet it’s gorgeous!
Thank you for the recipe. I used to live in New Orleans back in the early to mid 80’s and had my share of King Cakes and Carnival experiences. I’m going to try this recipe thanks again!
I would love to hear what you think and how it compares to your memories!
J – I also lived in NOLA during the early-mid 80’s and have fond memories of King Cakes and carnivals. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Made a raspberry cream cheese one and a traditional cinnamon swirl and they were better than anything we have ever purchased while in Louisiana. I have tried them all. You nailed this recipe. Funny part is, I forgot to add the vanilla extract to the dough…oof…however, added a little extra vanilla in the cream cheese and frosting, but also the cinnamon crumble. I also added a little lemon zest to the frosting. You cannot even tell vanilla was missing aside from it being a little lighter in color. I will be making this again and again. The family is SO impressed!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
I’m so happy to hear that, Mary!
Thanks for posting but didn’t care for this recipe. This turned out as a very dry and bland bread.
Good recipe, needed more flour to make the dough workable and more milk in the icing to make it spreadable. My only real complaint is that I used my instant read thermometer and both cakes were slightly overcooked with their temps in the 170s – good thing I didn’t let them go to 190!
Great recipe! Works just as advertised and with no exotic ingredients. I added amaretto to the cream cheese filling and whisky to the brown sugar filling, and the results were divine.
Oh I love the idea of an amaretto cream cheese filling. That sounds incredible.
Two great things that all recipes should have: tastes great and easy to make!
Have a question on the flour – the recipe calls for 5-5 1/2 cups or 705-776 g of all purpose flour. I think 1 cup of all purpose flour is 120g, so 5 cups would be 600g. Should we go by the volume or weight?
When weight is given, you should go with weight for the most accurate results, whether that is a weight you typically use or not as it relates to cups. Some sources say 1 cup of all-purpose flour weighs 120g, others say 125g, and others say 141g. It can also depend on the humidity which can cause the same amount of flour to weigh more at a difference time of year or based on the brand of flour you are using and the method used to measure by volume (whether you scoop, whether you fluff, spoon, and level, etc.). I did a whole post on how to measure ingredients for baking and it’s definitely a frustrating topic when there is no set standard! Ultimately, after a lot of testing, I came to the conclusion that when you scoop, you usually get closer to 141 grams per cup and if you spoon and level you get closer to 125 grams. I never got 120 grams, even when I carefully aerated by whisking the flour, then spooning and leveling so I don’t really know what King Arthur Flour is talking about since I think they are the one the pushes that particular measurement. And since I believe the vast majority of American bakers (who happen to be my primary audience) doesn’t bother to weigh or spoon and level, I think that 141g is the most accurate number to go with for most recipes going by the assumption that most people scoop. Phew. Sorry for the novel! I didn’t know all this when I started blogging so I have been going through posts and testing them again and updating as much as I can. I also feel like people who bake cakes are much more likely to spoon and level or weigh their flour so for those recipes I usually use 125g. But for recipes where I think the majority of bakers will be scooping, I tend to go with the 141g standard. But I will always include the total weight which is what I end up with when developing the recipes to help as much as I can.
Thank you, this is so helpful! I made this a few days ago and used the lowest weight you provided – it turned out amazing! I made one cream cheese and one cinnamon and they were both great! I’m going to make more and try adding strawberry jam to the cream cheese filling. Thanks so much for the recipe!
You are very welcome! I’m so glad it helped. A strawberry cream cheese one sounds divine!
This recipe is way off in the flour amounts. I had to add more than 1 C. to get it to not be like cake batter. I have a feeling that’s going to dry out the cake…
Omg….New Orleans born. I am either sent a king cake or order one every year. My wife likes them ok..but one piece is usually enough.
I made this today (finally) -added the pastry cream we talked about after-and no joke, this IS LEGIT! My wife and daughter had a second piece immediately and we could not stop talking about how good this was. We froze the second one for a football party next week-but we are already contemplating taking it out of the freezer. They’ve already cut and claimed pieces for breakfast tomorrow. THANK YOU! it is incredible!
Hooray! I’m so glad this worked out so well for you! Thanks for the vote of confidence!
Louisiana loves your king cake!💚💜💛
King Cake recipe looks good.
This is a delicious kingcake. The brioche is just so perfect! And I actually enjoy pulling out my stand mixer and making it. Highly recommend!
I had instant yeast so I followed your side note. I made two minis and a normal sized, so I checked the minis at 15 minutes not 25. All of the “cakes” had burnt bottoms at 15 minutes 🙁 even the big one. They were on the top rack with the oven at 350* so now I’m sad
I’ve made this twice now. The first time, my husband said it was better than the ones we bought in the past, and I agree. And the kitchen smells amazing!
Just made it the second time. It has been pouring rain all day, and I needed to add the extra half cup of flour. Came out gorgeous!
Thanks so much!
I’m an experienced baker and made this. The overall flavor was good and the icing on top delicious. I followed the directions exactly and found the bread a little dry (i need to reduce the baking time) and the cream cheese filling seemed to have lost. I think it absorbed into the dough while baking. Any suggestions for next time I try it? Also the recipe only calls for 1/4 cup of butter. Seems a small amount for 5 cups of flour?
I had this same issue! I’m hoping for some advice on this.
If your cream cheese filling is melting into the dough too much, try not mixing it as much. The longer you beat it, the thinner it gets and the more like it is to get absorbed by the bread. You could also add 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch to the cream cheese mixture to help stabilize it a bit to try to prevent it baking in as much. If you find your king cake is a little dry, you just need to reduce the baking time a bit. I hope this helps!
Followed the recipe exactly, except for the lemon in the icing. Tastes authentic! I think I’ll use bread flour next time for a lighter texture 🙂
Everything went according to recipe. It’s easy to follow and has a nice texture. Biggest complaint is with the dough. It’s not very rich or decadent, and it’s kind of bland even though I added nutmeg. I’m curious what would happen if I mixed the yeast with the milk, removed the water and substituted more butter…and instead of 2 eggs did 4 yolks? Maybe I’ll try again sometime. Overall tastes like a regular cinnamon roll.
OMG!! This is the BEST King Cake recipe. The dough is wonderful to handle rolling out. The instructions to follow are great! The cakes bake wonderfully and both, cream cheese and cinnamon flavors are yummy. I am making 6 cream cheese and 6 cinnamon Kings for our Church Mardi Gras Party on Feb 10th. Thank You, Amy for sharing this recipe that is a keeper. I made 3 copies so I never loose it. I recommend making this!
If you are going to make he dough and hold it overnight beofre baking, at what point do you refrgerate? Do you do this after the first proofing? or once that’s done?
Hi! If you want to make your king cake in advance, but bake it fresh the day of, you can refrigerate the dough overnight instead of letting it rise on the counter. So refrigerate before proofing. Then on the day you want to bake it, let it come to room temperature for an hour or two in the morning before rolling out and shaping like normal. Let me know if you have any more questions!
refrigertae after step 4 of before?
I’ve made this recipe for the last two years and it is absolute perfection. The dough takes patience because it is tempting to add too much flour, but you have to trust the process. I can’t imagine what went wrong for the folks who said the cake was dry or not flavorful. Overproofing, maybe? It helps to use whole milk. My husband prefers the cake without icing/sugar and would rather have this recipe than cinnamon rolls. At any rate, this recipe really is 1000x better than store-bought or boxed mix.
I tried following recipe pretty much to the letter, but bread was much drier than I expected. Any suggestions? I am at altitude (about 4,500 feet.)
It’s difficult to say without being there but likely there was either too much flour added, it baked too long, or it possibly was overproofed? I don’t really think altitude would affect this bake but possibly?
Thank you.
New Orleans born and raised, been searching for a foolproof King Cake recipe since I got married and moved away. I’ve made several recipes over the years and this one is the best for texture. I struggle with not having them be too dry, and this one stayed nice and moist.
My only quibble is….the dough needs nutmeg. On its own, it’s a little lacking in flavor. And the fillings both disappeared into the cakes. I’ve made filled cakes before and it seems to happen more with the cream cheese than the cinnamon, but this time they both were absorbed.
I’m going to try again with a few tweaks and maybe add in the amaretto I saw someone else mention!
All in all, a great taste of home. Very very good base recipe.
Loved this recipe, I took it to the office and it was a hit. I can see playing with the fillings, and icing with different colors for other events also, like favorite sports team colors for football parties, red & white for valentines, etc.
Love that idea of using different colors! We need more king cake year round for sure!
I made this last night for my Cajun husband. I did double the cinnamon filling, omitted the cream cheese, and doubled the icing per preference. It was a hit. I adjusting cooking time and temperature for my oven and baked it about 20-25 minutes. It was baked through, brown on top & not dry. I made my own colored sugar using the recipe’s suggestion but added more drops of color till I reached color intensity. I also doubled the yeast for a faster rise since I didn’t have all that time to linger around. I did a couple drops of almond extract with the vanilla for more flavor. Thanks for sharing!
Super easy to make and got compliments all around! I made one cream cheese and one cinnamon sugar. We’ve only tried the cream cheese so far but it was great with coffee!
Is it possible to .are a king cake Into cupcake “form”? If so how? Thank you
Hmm I don’t know the best way to go about doing that. Making a yeast bread into cupcake form might be tricky. Are you wanting like individual servings of king cake? You could just make smaller king cakes. Or are you wanting an actual cupcake shape?
I lived in Louisiana for 15 years and we always bought King Cakes. I moved away and now can’t get them easily. This recipe is awesome! I took some ideas from other recipes and added lemon zest and the juice of an orange to the dough. Also, I only added 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to the cream cheese filling (2 cups seems like it would be incredibly sweet). I also added more lemon juice to the frosting to thin it out. My cakes were finished after only 20 minutes in the oven I and was worried it would be too firm a texture but it softened as it cooled and the texture was perfect.
You forgot to add in the directions of the recipe when to add the salt. I just ended up adding it while mixing in the flour.
The King is representative of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the baby is representative of baby Jesus if made during the Epiphany.
This was my first go at making a King Cake and I’ll be honest, I’ve never even tasted one before now. I found it a tad dry but of course that could very well be due to it being my first time making it.
Thank you for the recipe.
I add the salt in the first step. With the milk and butter.
“Heat milk and butter for 60-90 seconds in a microwave safe bowl. Add the salt, then set aside to cool until just warm (about 120° to 130°F).”
Thank you for making it!
Made my first King Cake with your recipe. My cakes weren’t shaped perfectly but they were delicious! My aunt, who despises King Cake because they’re always dry, really enjoyed it. Great recipe. Thank you!
Great recipe. I used this to make a batch of 30 for our church and everyone loved it!
This recipe was fine but seemed to lack some important elements. Ideally it should include weighted measures for more accuracy. I felt it would benefit from more butter for richness in the dough, as well as the filling. I needed to double the filling in order to cover both cakes. The icing on the other handed did not benefit from the butter. After the bake, I wished I had brushed the cake with simple syrup in order to retain freshness (similar to a swedish bun).
Can the dough be filled and shaped and the refrigerated overnight?
Yes.
Salt is listed in the infredientd, but I couldn’t find where it goes in the recipe steps. So I put it in as I was adding the flour. I hope it doesn’t affect the taste.
I add it in Step 1 (with the butter and milk). You must have just missed it. But it’s not a big deal – adding it with the flour will be just fine too!
I’ve made this king cake recipe for the last 3 years. The dough is absolutely amazing. My suggestion to anyone making it, use all the filling in each cake. I make one of each and realize that all the filling is needed for each cake. The taste is amazing it just needs more filling.
Not sure if I’m missing something— but the recipe ingredients for the dough ask for salt but the directions for the dough doesn’t mention when to add the salt?
It’s in step 1 with the butter and milk. 🙂
Turned out perfect! The only suggestion I have is to place the dough in an oven that has been heated at low temperature for 5 minutes then turn off so you have your some place warm taking care off. I just put a hand towel over it and put back in the oven.
Also, I would lower the temperature as I only baked it for 20 minutes and it browned a little more than my liking. But flavors are great and being from Louisiana I have had a lot. This will be my go to recipe now.
Loved this recipe. I made the cinnamon sugar filling but added diced strawberries. It was wonderful and really brightened up the cake. The dough was originally very sticky, but I just stuck with it and floured my hands liberally and it was fine. Thanks so much!
This dough was a dream to work with…. I’m not sure exactly how much flour I used. My toxic baking trait is getting distracted while measuring. I just go by the consistency of the dough.
I did add cinnamon to the cream cheese bc I couldn’t quite decide. Definitely an easy treat worth making. Thanks for sharing!
I was interested in making my own king cake this year without all the artificial food dye and found this recipe. Dough came out great using the flour weight listed in the recipe. Several reviews said the filling was too scant so I made both at full size as listed (instead of one or the other) and then I twisted a cream cheese with a cinnamon for each cake to make a combo. It was delicious! The cream cheese is quite sweetened like a frosting so I could reduce the sugar in it or omit the top frosting (although that’s rather iconic) next time.
Amazing! I’m a Louisianan living in the Midwest and this recipe gave me all the nostalgia of growing up and eating king cake all Mardi Gras season! I made both the cinnamon sugar and cream cheese and they turned out perfectly. I followed the instructions to a T except I used unsalted butter (and added an additional 1/4 tsp salt) and made the dough in a bread machine which saved me some arm work out. Saved forever!
These king cakes turned out great! One of the nicest enriched doughs I’ve worked with, and it baked so nicely with the filling and bread balancing perfectly. I used the cream cheese filling and my family loved it. Thank you!
I made this for Mardi Gras and really liked the recipe. One suggestion not related to the bake: your mobile site is very clunky to the point of being borderline unusable, especially for referencing while baking live. Looking now, there are two video ads playing at once, a static ad banner at the bottom of the screen, a large in-line display ad that takes up ~25% of screen real estate, and a top navigation bar suggesting other recipes, all of which make the site slow while scrolling becomes a game of trying to click on the minority of pixels that are safe.
I’m glad you loved the recipe but I’m so sorry about the clunkiness! I actually was just talking with my ad network about this today because I’ve noticed something has changed. We are working on it!
This is the recipe you need!! I made this recipe yesterday. It came out perfect. We do an annual Mardi Gras party with friends every year. They said this King Cake was the best one yet! I followed the recipe exactly. I only needed the 5 cups of flower. Highlights were, I loved the icing and I loved the consistency of the cake. Yum! It smelled so good while it was baking. I will make this again!
This recipe turned out wonderful!! I had absolutely no problems with my dough. I am familiar with brioche style so I know how to gauge more or less flour, I might have needed an extra 1/2 cup. I did weigh my flour. My king cake turned out very tender and soft. Not dry or stiff or dense. I did also make my own colored sugar with plant based colors. I gave one to my son and his family and we ate one ourselves! Nothing but high compliments! Second recipe of yours I have had great success with! Thank you 😊
I’m so happy to hear that! 🙂
I made this for our family’s celebration of Fat Tuesday yesterday. Oh, my goodness… It was delicious! And, unlike previous years when I’ve tried other recipes, there weren’t any left-overs to be found. Haha.
I made the cream cheese version. The only thing that I changed was adding 1 tsp of cinnamon and ~1 tsp of brown sugar to the full batch cream cheese filling option. OH! And I substituted maple syrup for vanilla extract in the filling mix and frosting. (I’m pregnant and a little weird about adding too much vanilla to recipes because I’m an overly cautious nut job. Haha. Plus, I just really like maple syrup.)
A truly wonderful recipe. This was my first King Cake and it turned out so great. I’m very happy. As others have stated, I recommend double the amount of filling. It was easy to make and very delicious. I’ll definitely make it again.