“Laissez les bon temps roulez”-let the good times roll!

  Here in the bayou land of historic Louisiana, great plans are in the air for the arrival of the Mardi Gras celebration.  Actually, parties and parades have started in January this year, while the real dates for festivities are not quite ready for the green light.  That’s okay, we’re so used to shiny green, gold and purple things that we might as well see them all year.  Mardi Gras, which is French for ”Fat Tuesday” (means you party hearty through Fat Tuesday)  and is quite a festive and colorful time indeed.  Mardi Gras celebrations go according to when Lent begins, starting on Ash Wednesday, after that you have to quit your “excessive self” and straighten your butt out until Easter!  At this time of celebration, the King Cake is a most popular pastry that boasts the colors of green, gold and purple frosting, put on top a base of white frosting, or fondant.  The cakes are baked in a circular braided style and when homemade, are most delicious.  Every deli, bakery and grocery store in this state are full of King Cakes and sales are incredible.  I can only imagine what a homemade King Cake could bring in!

  The King Cake is believed to have originated in France sometime around the 12th century.  The early Europeans celebrated the coming of the Three Wise Men who came bearing gifts for the Christ child, twelve days after Christmas, the feast of the Epiphany, Twelfth Night or King’s Day.

  The baking of the King’s Cake was the central focus of this celebration in honor of the Three Kings.  The cakes  are made in circular fashion to portray the circular route taken by the Three Kings, in order to confuse King Herod who was trying to follow the Wise Men so that the Christ child could be slaughtered.  In early King Cakes, a coin or a dry bean was hidden inside a section of the cake.  The one who got the piece of cake with this token tucked inside of it, was crowned King for the day, or was said to have luck for the following year.  The lucky person also had to bring the next cake to the following year’s celebration.  Now, they have a figure of a baby Jesus that is used, replacing the coin or dried bean from earlier times, but you can use whatever suits you.

  Recipe for the King Cake and frosting:

  4 cups all purpose flour

  2 packages active dry yeast

  1/3 cup sugar

  1 cup warm milk

  1/2 cup melted butter  (yes, butter is better!)

  1 teaspoon salt

  1 large egg

  ground cinnamon for sprinkling over the dough.

  1 egg yolk whisked in 1 tablespoon milk, to brush over the cake (egg wash)

  1 dried kidney bean, coin or baby Jesus figure

  Sift 3 cups of flour in mixing bowl and make a well in the center.  Place yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar into the well.  Add warm milk and stir to dissolve yeast.  Sprinkle a little flour over the yeast mixture, cover bowl with kitchen towel and let stand in a warm, draft-free place until mixture becomes foamy.  About 10 minutes. 

  In a small bowl, beat butter, remaining sugar, salt and whole egg until blended.  Stir butter mixture into flour-yeast mixture.  Add remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time to make a soft dough.

  Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead until it becomes smooth and elastic-about 5 minutes, incorporating more flour as needed.  Shape dough into a ball.  Lightly grease a large bowl with butter and place dough into the bowl.  Turn the ball so that the surface is coated with butter.  Cover with a towel and let rise at room temperature until double in size-about 1-1/2 hours.

  Grease a large baking sheet.  Divide dough into 3 equal parts and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Working with one portion at a time and using your hands, roll the dough into a 40 inch strand.  Repeat with the remaining portions.  Braid these 3 strands together.  Once the braid is formed, gently shape it into a circle or oval, pinching the ends together tightly to close them.

  Place braided dough onto the greased baking sheet.  Combine the egg yolk and milk in a small bowl to make an egg wash.  Brush the cake, cover with towel and again let rise at room temperature for a second time until double in bulk, about 1 hour.

  Preheat oven to 325 degrees and when dough is risen, brush cake with egg wash again and bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown.  While cake is baking make the icing.

  When cake is removed from the oven, insert your figure, dried bean or coin.

  Cake before being iced

  Fondant or icing:

  1-1/2 cups sugar

  1/4 cup water

  3/4 cup light corn syrup

  yellow, purple, green food coloring

  Place sugar and water into heavy saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Add corn syrup and stir well, bring to gentle boil.  Brush inside wall of saucepan with water as syrup cooks to prevent sugar crystals from forming.  Cook syrup until it reaches soft ball stage or about 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.

  Remove pan from heat and pour icing onto a cool platter.  Work fondant with a spoon or spatula until it comes together with no lumps and is firm and white-about 2-3 minutes.  (At this point the fondant can be placed in an airtight container and stored indefinitely in the refrigerator.)

  To ice the cake before adding colors, heat fondant in top of double boiler over gentle heat being careful not to heat above 95 degrees as it will lose its shine and crystallizes it dries.  If desired flavor fondant using liqueurs or extracts while warming it up.  The fondant is ready when it runs off a spoon in a thick stream.

  Divide fondant in 3 small bowls and add 2-3 drops of food coloring to each bowl to make purple, green and gold colors.  Add drops to icing if it becomes too thick for spreading.  Decorate cake with alternating bands of colors and colored sugars in the same colors can also be added to top it off.  *If you want to make the frosting easier than having to cook it, just buy canned frosting-vanilla or cream cheese and use them instead!

  This is a labor intensive recipe but is far more delicious then the ready made ones.  To make it from scratch is a true labor of love.  Happy Mardi Gras!

  *photos and images by bing.com