Hands-Down Best-Ever King Cake

UPDATE: Thanks Adrienne! I've deleted the cinnamon from the glaze section.

And you don't even have to wait for it to arrive in the mail.Funny story about king cakes arriving in the mail. Three years ago, my sister sent me a king cake from New Orleans. Only problem was that she sent it both UPS ground and next-day air (how is that possible I do not know).Weeks go by and the cake never arrives. When I was in New York City visiting friends, Brent calls me to say the cake finally showed up. Too bad we didn't have iphones back then; I would have liked to see what the moldy cake looked like. Never again.

The Saints (football team) are in the playoffs.  Playing against Arizona today, and currently winning 21 to 14. Woohoo!  I'm watching this on Tivo. So if any of you more avid NFL fans are questioning the timing of this post with the actual air play, your question is answered.

If you're thinking of decorating the cake with your prized Mardi Gras bead collection, DON'T. Those beads have a lovely residue of germs, vomit, urine, aka Bourbon St. "flavor." No one wants that on his/her cake.

HANDS-DOWN BEST-EVER KING CAKE
My own personal recipe
Prep Time: 2½ - 3 Hours
Yields: 10 Servings


Ingredients for Cake Dough:

½ cup warm water
8 oz. sour cream (fat free)
2 packages active dry yeast
½ cup + 2 teaspoons sugar
5 to 7 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon rind
½ cup butter (1 stick), unsalted
2 eggs
(Next time I might add some vanilla extract to the mix)

Cake Dough Method:

Combine the warm water, yeast and 2 teaspoons sugar in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside to a warm place for about 10 minutes. Cook butter, sour cream, ½ cup sugar and salt over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts. Cool mixture to 100 to 110 degrees. Combine nutmeg, eggs, lemon rind, butter mixture and yeast mixture. Beat until smooth. Gradually stir in flour to make a soft-but-sticky dough. Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place the dough in a well-greased bowl. Turn once so greased surface is on top. Cover the dough and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 1/2 hours).

Ingredients for Glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tbsp almond extract
¾ cup water
3 tbsps freshly ground cinnamon  (NO CINNAMON)

Glaze Method:

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and salt. Place in an electric mixer. Slowly pour in almond extract and water while mixing on low speed. Blend until glaze is smooth. Set aside.

Ingredients for colored sugars:

Green: ½ cup sugar + 5 drops green food coloring
Yellow: ½ cup sugar + 5 drops yellow food coloring
Purple: ½ cup sugar + (5 blue + 5 red food coloring mixture)

Place ½ cup sugar and 5 drops of green food coloring in a jar or zip-top plastic bag seal. Shake vigorously to evenly mix color with sugar. Repeat procedure with ½ cup sugar and yellow food coloring. For purple, combine by shaking 5 red and 5 blue drops food coloring into the plastic bag or jar BEFORE adding to remaining ½ cup sugar.

Ingredients for Assembly:

¼ cup melted butter (unsalted)
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp freshly ground cinnamon
Eggwash (½ cup milk, 2 eggs, beaten)

Assembly Method:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. After dough has proofed, roll out on a well-floured surface into an 18" x 12" rectangle. Brush top of dough with melted butter then sprinkle with mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Cut dough vertically into two even strips. Fold each strip vertically in half and pinch seam (make sure you pinch the seam well to seal in the cinnamon mixture). Twist into a "braid" then shape into a circle and pinch ends. Brush the entire cake with eggwash. Bake 30 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. **Time depends on how thick your cake is. Plus, I took the cake out too early so had to continue the cooking after the slices were cut.  If I were you I would just keep an eye on the cake.** Drizzle glaze over the entire cake and sprinkle with purple, green, and gold sugars.