Mardi Gras King Cake (Printable View)

A colorful king cake filled with sweet cream cheese and topped with vibrant sugar, perfect for celebrations.

# What You’ll Need:

→ Dough

01 - 4 cups all-purpose flour
02 - 1 packet (2¼ tsp) active dry yeast
03 - ½ cup granulated sugar
04 - ¾ cup warm milk (110°F)
05 - ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
06 - 2 large eggs, room temperature
07 - 1 tsp salt
08 - 1 tsp ground cinnamon
09 - ¼ tsp ground nutmeg

→ Cream Cheese Filling

10 - 8 oz cream cheese, softened
11 - ½ cup powdered sugar
12 - 1 tsp vanilla extract

→ Icing & Decoration

13 - 2 cups powdered sugar
14 - 3–4 tbsp milk
15 - ½ tsp vanilla extract
16 - Purple, green, and gold sanding sugar

# Cooking Steps:

01 - Mix warm milk and yeast in a small bowl. Let stand until foamy, approximately 5 minutes.
02 - In a large bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg until well blended.
03 - Pour the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients. Add eggs and softened butter. Mix until a shaggy dough forms.
04 - Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky.
05 - Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 1–1½ hours.
06 - Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until completely smooth and creamy.
07 - Punch down risen dough and roll into a 10x24-inch rectangle. Spread cream cheese filling evenly, leaving a 1-inch border around edges.
08 - Roll dough tightly from the long side into a log. Pinch seam firmly to seal. Form log into a ring, pinching ends together to close. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
09 - Cover loosely and let rise for 45 minutes until puffy. Preheat oven to 350°F during the last 15 minutes of rising.
10 - Bake for 25–30 minutes until deep golden brown and cooked through. Cool completely on a wire rack.
11 - Whisk powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth and drizzling consistency.
12 - Drizzle icing over cooled cake. Immediately sprinkle purple, green, and gold sanding sugar in alternating bands while icing remains wet.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • The brioche dough is impossibly tender and worth every minute of rising time
  • That cream cheese filling oozes out in the most perfect way when you slice into it warm
  • Nothing beats the moment you pour the icing and watch those colorful sugars catch the light
02 -
  • Do not rush the rising time, because this dough needs that slow fermentation to develop flavor and texture
  • Sealing the seams when you roll the dough and form the ring is crucial, or the filling will leak out in the oven
  • Let the cake cool completely before icing, or the icing will melt right off instead of setting up nicely
03 -
  • If your dough is not rising, check that your milk was not too hot and that your yeast is not expired
  • A kitchen timer is your friend during the rising steps, because it is easy to let dough over rise and collapse

Go Back