Homemade King Cake (Pics and Recipe Inside)

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I forgot to take a picture of adding all the ingredients, but I use my bread making for the mixing, kneading, and initial rise in order to make it a little easier. I added a 1/2 c of warm water and 1/2 c of warm milk, 1 stick of butter at room temp (cut up), 5 egg yolks, 1/2 c of sugar, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp lemon zest, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 4 3/4 c of bread flour, 3 tsp instant yeast. This is a picture of after the ingredients are mixed and kneaded.


After the initial rise, I took the dough out and kneaded some more flour into it.


I then shaped it into a ball and placed it into a buttered bowl.


I covered it with a damp towel and place it in a warm, draft free place to rise.


After rising for about 1.5 hrs


I punched that bad boy down.


I rolled out the dough to roughly a 12"X18" rectangle.


I then brushed it with some melted butter.


Following the butter, I sprinkled it with a cinnamon and sugar mixture (1/2 c of sugar to 1 tbsp of cinnamon).
(No one said that this was a healthy desert.)


I made two cuts to make 3 strips of about equal length and folded them in half. (I attempted to seal the edges but wasn't super successful. I learned afterwards that I could have used water or an egg wash to help the dough stick together.)


I made the strips into roughly shaped ropes and lined them up.








I took the braided dough and shaped it into a circle. It was then placed on an oiled cookie sheet, covered with a damp towel, and placed in a warm, draft free place to rise.


While the dough is rising, let's make the icing and sugar. The icing was simply a mixture of a pound of confectioners'/powdered sugar with 3 ounces of water and 1.5 tsp of almond extract.


I slowly added the water and almond extract while I blended on the lowest setting. You have to blend that puppy until it is as smooth as Justin Timberlake.


Next, I worked on coloring granulated sugar. I used food coloring gel. I put some sugar in a Ziploc bag and added the food coloring gel. I mixed it by rubbing it, squishing it, shaking it, dancing with it. After it was well mixed, I would add another drop of color until I achieved the shade that I desired.


Ok, let's check on our dough. This is after it rose for about 1 hr. The spot where the two ends met weren't as aesthetically pleasing as I had hoped. They didn't stick together well initially (another thing I could have fixed with some water or egg wash). I plan on improving this part of it next time. If anyone as any tips on how to do this, I would love to hear them.


I brushed it with some egg wash before the baking (1 egg white whisked with a tbsp of milk).


I monitored the internal temperature with this nifty cooking thermometer that I got for $15. It has a small cable which lets you keep the probe inside the oven while you monitor the temperature outside.


You can also set your desired temperature (on the right), and it will alert you when that temperature is reached. I was aiming for anywhere between 200 and 210 degrees Fahrenheit.


After baking for about 35 minutes


I used the Ziploc bag method to ice this beautiful specimen.


Some of my family members don't care for the sugar and like it with just icing. I decided to put sugar on half of it.


The money shot