Celebrate Mardi Gras with this easy homemade King Cake recipe made with puff pastry for a satisfying bite!
Its not Mardi Gras without a King Cake!
King Cake is the ultimate Mardi Gras tradition you want to make sure you have at your celebration. Mardi Gras aka “Fat Tuesday” is whole day focused on eating rich, fatty foods before the Lenten fasting begins. This King Cake recipe is loaded with brown sugar, cinnamon and heavenly bavarian cream your taste buds will not know what to do.
Tradition
Tradition has it the Three Wise Men saw the Star of Bethlehem as the sign Jesus has arrived and made the journey to see him. They arrived on the Twelfth Night of his birth, making this the Epiphany. This marks the beginning of the festival season of Mardi Gras and ends on Fat Tuesday the day before Lent.
What is a King Cake?
The King’s Cake is the ultimate Mardi Gras tradition. It is round to look like a crown, made of sweet dough and filled with different flavor fillings(traditionally cinnamon) rolled inside the dough. Topped with royal icing and coated in Mardi Gras colors of purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power, the King’s Cake is the most important Mardi Gras tradition.
A small plastic baby is hidden inside the cake (yes to symbolize baby Jesus). Whoever gets the baby in their slice of king cake must provide the next King Cake for the next gathering! (Be sure to let anyone you share your King Cake with to proceed with caution as this is a potential choking hazard)
Ingredients you’ll need for a King Cake
- Puff Pastry
- Brown Sugar
- Ground Cinnamon
- Butter
- Instant Vanilla pudding
- Heavy Whipping Cream
- Milk
- Vanilla Extract
- Almond Extract
- Egg
- Purple, Green and Gold Sugar Sprinkles
How to Make a King Cake
- Preheat Oven to 350
- First, let the puff pastry thaw while you start on the bavarian cream
- Combine bavarian cream ingredients and mix until thickened
- Once puff pastry is thawed, unfold and lay them out connecting with a little bit of water
- In a medium bowl, combine together filling ingredients until well mixed
- Next, evenly coat puff pastry with filling mixture
- Fold puff pastry in twice and roll out
- Cut puff pastry into 3 sections long ways, roll out and spread thin layer of cream
- Close each section up and braid them together
- Once completely braided connect the ends creating an oval shape and pinching the ends together
- Brush entire top with egg wash
- Bake for 35 min or until golden brown
- Mix together powdered sugar and water until smooth
- Allow King Cake to cool but not completely before icing
- Ice King Cake & add sprinkles
- Enjoy!
IF YOU MADE THIS RECIPE I’D LOVE TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS SO PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW AND DON’T FORGET TO TAG ME ON INSTAGRAM @DAY_LILLY_
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King Cake
Ingredients
King Cake
- 4 sheets Frozen Puff Pastry 2 packages
- 1 Egg for eggwash
- Purple, Green & Yellow sugar sprinkles for topping
Filling
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 2 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 cup Melted Butter (1 stick)
Bavarian Cream
- 1 packet Instant Vanilla Pudding
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1/4 cup Milk
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 tsp Almond Extract
Icing
- 2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1/4 cup Milk
- 1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Let puff pastry sheets thaw until you can unfold without breaking
- While thawing you can begin making bavarian cream
- Mix together vanilla pudding packet, heavy whipping cream, milk, vanilla extract and almond extract until thick consistency. Set aside
- Open puff pastry sheets and connect all four using a little bit of water
- In a medium bowl mix together brown sugar, ground cinnamon and melted butter until well combined
- Spread filling mixture evenly on to the puff pastry
- Fold pastry in twice & roll with rolling pin
- Cut pastry long ways into 3 sections then roll out each section with rolling pin
- Spread thin layer of bavarian cream on top each section
- Roll each section closed and begin to braid each section together
- Once completely braided connect the ends creating an oval shape and pinching the ends together
- Brush entire top with egg wash
- Bake for 35 min or until golden brown
- While the cake is cooling make the icing
- Mix together powdered sugar and water until smooth
- Allow king cake to cool but not completely before icing
- Ice cake & add sprinkles for decoration
- Enjoy!
Notes
The best king cake I’ve ever had, let alone made. I always enjoyed cream cheese king cakes before this recipe and now this will be my go to! Lily’s bavarian cream, offers a far more richer and smoother taste than the cream cheese filling I was used to. The puff pastry makes all the difference in a king cake! Keeping it light and crisp but still holds all of those rich decadent flavors of a king cake! I recently moved away from Louisiana and was in desperate search of a king cake recipe, but couldn’t find one I was confident would meet the incredible texture, and taste I was looking for until I found this one! Lily’s recipe gave me the perfect taste of home, especially with her easy to follow recipe that was the perfect balance of simple yet decadent! I also loved how she included pictures of the ingredients she used specifically the brand, as well as a true step by step, to make sure you complete the recipe exactly as directed. Hats off to this gal!
Yayy!! Soooo glad you enjoyed it!! 🙂
I made for the first time for my sister’s birthday. It went over so well my niece requested it for her birthday. Thank you we couldn’t find Bavarian cream king cake in the stores.
Aww yay that makes me so happy! I am so glad you enjoyed it 🙂