When you are from Louisiana, but don’t currently live in Louisiana, and King Cake Season rolls around you need a King Cake. You have two options available for your King Cake need: 1) Spend $50 to have one ship to you. Oh, they are so good, it may be worth it. Or, 2) Make your own King Cake. I decided to make my own.

Below is my recipe for a King Cake:

Ingredients:

• A large cookie sheet
• A heavy stand mixer with a dough hook. (A hand mixture will work but will take a lot more work.)
• A serving platter large enough to hold the King Cake. (I buy the 14″ round cake boards made from cardboard)
• Candy Thermometer
• All Purpose Flour
• 1 cup of Butter – room temperature; 1/4 cup of butter melted
• Egg – room temperature
• Hot Water (that is why you need the Candy Thermometer)
• Powder Sugar (just in case)
• Mam Papaul’s King Cake Mix – Yes, I just buy the mix directly from the company. It comes with everything you need; cake mix, filing, icing, colored sugar, and plastic baby.

Instructions:

Follow the directions on the back of the box. You could try just using the bag method, but I had the bag break during the kneading process and had to switch to the hand mixer. That was a lot of work. I now use my stand mixer.

The extra flour is for light dusting during the rolling and shaping stage. If you add too much water to the icing, you can thicken it up by adding some extra powder sugar and stirring well.

Let cool and decorate.