King Cake with Cinnamon and Cream Cheese Fillings

Mardi Gras season is in full swing, and, as a result, people are clamoring for all things labeled “King Cake.” As always, I’m here to serve. I’ve updated this post with prettier pictures and more concise instructions. Not that they weren’t perfect before, but I’m just saying. 

I have met my fair share of Gulf States’ natives. In fact, I count a few of them as very dear friends. Because I know how much the Louisianans and Gulf Coast Mississippians miss home during the Mardi Gras season, I do my best to create and share recipes that will alleviate some of their homesickness. Enter this King Cake. Right about now, most bakeries in LA and MS are cranking out King Cake orders at a fever pitch. Some have even stopped accepting orders because they’re backed up and will never get the orders they already have out on time. We couldn’t care less because we have this recipe. 

I clearly don’t have friends from Louisiana or Mississippi who love me as much as I love them because I’ve never tasted an authentic King Cake. That said, I have (unknowingly) made it before…I just didn’t make it for Mardi Gras. I typically don’t do anything for Mardi Gras, to be honest. One year, I decided to change all of that and try my hand at spinning my brioche recipe to create my version of King Cake. I had some natives taste it, and they declared it better than their favorite local bakeries’, and there you have it. Now I do all the Mardi Gras recipes I can.

What is a King Cake?

The answer is: it’s bread. Seriously. King Cake is more bread than a cake, so it really should be called “King Bread.” But, who am I to mess with tradition?

The interesting thing about King Cake is that it isn’t just served for Mardi Gras. It also isn’t just a Louisiana/Mississippi creation. Latinos serve their version of King Cake for Dia de Los Reyes (or Three King’s Day). The French (and other Europeans) have a version of it called Galette des Rois. However, the French version is more pastry than bread, and it’s typically filled with an almond paste filling.

These countries and cultures have one thing in common when it comes to their King’s Cakes: the time of year when it is served. From Epiphany (January 6th) to the start of the Lenten season, this cake is served to determine the “king” of the festivities. 

But why bread/cake? My best guess is that it represents the Bread of Life, AKA Jesus; the reason for the season of Epiphany, Lent (which Mardi Gras, or Shrove Tuesday, ushers in), and Easter. That’s my theory, at least. The baby (or bean) hidden in the King Cake is also symbolic of the Christ child. Whoever finds the trinket is  the “King” of the celebration and is accorded all honors as such. Hence, the reason I don’t include it. One, it’s a choking hazard. Two, I’m the only royalty in this house, so we don’t need to jockey for anything. They’re just happy they get the doggone cake.

What do I need to Make King Cake?

For the “cake,” which, remember, is actually an enriched yeast bread, gather sugar, bread flour, butter (save the wrappers), whole milk, active dry yeast, eggs, salt, and cardamom (which is optional).

My version is a twisted loaf filled with a cinnamon-sugar and a cream cheese filling! You can make both fillings and have a two-fer King Cake or just go with one filling. We’ll get to those, as well as the vanilla glaze, later. 

No, there’s no baby in here. What’s the point? I mean, at worst, we risk someone choking on it. At best, we’re just going to throw it away. I’m not about to go driving around town for no plastic baby Jesus. No, thank you.

How do I make a flavorful King Cake?

This recipe is very similar to my brioche with just a few variations. Like my brioche, which you can find here, you’ll need to start with a sponge (or starter). Sponges, or starters, give your bread more depth of flavor. Even just a few minutes of pre-fermentation will give your bread a more complex flavor. 

To make the sponge, heat the whole milk to 110°F (43°C). You can heat the milk in the microwave or on the stove; it doesn’t matter. After you heat the milk, combine it, the active dry yeast, a portion of the bread flour, and some of the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Don’t add the milk to the yeast as soon as you remove it from its heat source unless it’s between 105°F-110°F! Milk that’s too hot will kill the yeast. If the milk is hotter than 110°F, just let it cool for 5 minutes, or until a few drops on the inside of your wrist feels slightly warm.

The small amount of sugar in the starter feeds the yeast, which the warm milk wakes up. Bread flour is softened without being kneaded, which, later, behaves as a softener in the dough. The whole situation is fascinating. 

A Note About Yeast

When making yeast bread, you have to use the yeast called for in the original recipe. The author of the recipe- in this case, me- tested and developed it using that type of yeast. Any variations could change the result.

There are a couple of reasons for that, but the main reason is: not all yeasts work the same way. Instant yeast shouldn’t be bloomed in warm water before using it. Instead, you add it to the flour later on in the recipe. Instant yeast doesn’t have the longevity that active dry yeast does, either, so, with this recipe’s longer rising time, the dough may or may not deflate.

All of this is to say, use active dry yeast here, please.

Back to the Sponge

Mix the sponge to create a thick paste, then cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel or a piece of plastic wrap. Put the bowl in a warm, draft-free area in the kitchen and let it do its thing for 30 minutes. The sponge will begin fermenting and rising, which will give our king cake a fluffier texture and a more flavorful taste.

After a half-hour, you can continue making the bread or transfer the starter to a jar and refrigerate it for 24 hours. Just be sure to allow it to come to room temperature before using it in the king cake dough, if you do refrigerate it. 

How do I make the dough for King Cake?

To proceed with the king cake dough, add the remaining sugar and room temperature butter to the bowl of your stand mixer or- if you’re using an electric hand mixer– to a large mixing bowl. Use the paddle attachment to cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. This usually takes 6-7 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and the paddle twice during the creaming process to ensure everything is copacetic in there.

Next, add the room temperature eggs to the mixture. Usually, I want you to add the eggs one at a time to develop a balanced batter. But, since I know that the number of eggs in this recipe will “break” that balance, there’s no point in drawing out the process. So, dump all of the eggs into the bowl and blend them in for 4 minutes at low speed.

Take note of what the egg-butter mixture looks like at this point. It resembles curdled cream. That’s okay. Add all of the room temperature sponge that you made earlier to the bowl. 

How long do I mix the dough for the King Cake?

Blend the sponge into the egg-butter mixture until it smoothes out. Properly mixed, it should resemble pancake batter. 

Switch to a dough hook- or get ready to get your hands dirty- and add the ground cardamom and 3 cups of the bread flour to the bowl.

Knead the dough on second speed (or with your hands) for 2 minutes. Gradually add the remaining cup of bread flour as needed. Humidity will determine if you use all, some, or more than the remaining quantity of flour. If the dough is super-sticky, you need to add more flour. Your hands will tell you that, especially if you’re kneading the dough by hand. If you are kneading the dough in the mixer, pay attention to how it is behaving at the bottom of the bowl. A dough that is too wet will cling to the bottom of the bowl instead of wrapping itself around the dough hook. If yours is doing that, add more flour. On the other hand, if the dough looks dry or really stiff, sprinkle a tablespoon of water in there to moisten it. 

It’s better to add too little flour than to overdo it and try to bring it back, so be conservative. Knead the dough for a total of 10 minutes.

When finished, the dough will feel supple, soft, and feel like it wants to stick to your hands but won’t when you release it.

How long do I let the dough rise?

Once the dough is mixed, remove it from the bowl. Take those butter wrappers I told you to hang on to and use them to grease the bowl. Return the dough to the bowl and flip it over. This step oils the surface of the dough and helps prevent skin from forming on its surface.

Cover the bowl with a clean towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm area for one hour. I often put my bowl of rising dough in a microwave or the oven since both are controlled environments, free of drafts.

How do I make the enriched dough more manageable? 

When it comes to working with enriched dough, it’s best practice to retard the dough. 

Enriched dough, with its high amounts of butter, wants to melt. That’s fantastic when it happens in the baked product because that translates to soft, delicious bread. Unfortunately, between our body heat and the heat in our kitchen, it makes working with the dough more difficult. So, that’s where retarding comes in. 

Retarding dough is a baking term that means slowing down the fermentation process. It’s fancy talk for, “I started this recipe too late and can’t finish it right now.” HA! Not really, but, yeah, sometimes. Retarding allows the bread to develop a great flavor without its continuing to proof (or rise), which could cause it to collapse and bake poorly. It also firms up the butter in the dough and makes handling it in the next step easier.

Retarding the dough is simple: just cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Chill it anywhere from three hours to overnight.

While you don’t have to retard the dough, it does make the going easier.

What do I need to make the King Cake fillings?

I love that this king cake is filled with both cream cheese and cinnamon because, once I twist them together, it’s like eating a cream cheese-frosted cinnamon roll. If you’re a tad greedy like me, I strongly recommend you make both fillings, too. If you’re more reserved, you can stick to just one. Should you decide to do only one filling, double either the cinnamon-sugar filling or the cream cheese. 

I usually make the fillings while the dough is going through its first rise. Since I have an hour to spare, it just makes sense to get it out of the way. If you wait until the last minute, your dough is bound to overproof, which means it’ll likely fall during baking. 

To make the cinnamon-sugar filling, you need brown sugar, cinnamon, and room temperature unsalted butter. 

Beat the brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter using your hand mixer for 3-4 minutes on med-high speed until light and fluffy. If you’re making the king cake right after proofing, just leave the cinnamon-sugar filling on the countertop. You can also cover the bowl and store the cinnamon-sugar mixture in the fridge for up to a week. You will need to allow it to come to room temperature before using it so that it’s soft enough to spread when you need to, though.

Make the cream cheese filling: add the room temperature cream cheese to a mixing bowl along with the zest of half a lemon, sugar, and vanilla extract.

Blend the ingredients together on med-low speed until smooth.

Again, keep the cream cheese filling on the countertop if you’re assembling the king cake right away. If not, cover and refrigerate for a week. Remember to allow it time to soften before spreading. 

How do I assemble a King Cake?

After your dough has retarded, bring it to just a smidge colder than room temperature by setting it on the countertop a half-hour before you want to roll it out. Taking the chill off of it will help it roll out easier. Alternatively, roll out the dough after the dough has risen for an hour, which means no chilling, and you’ve punched down the dough.

Use a knife or bench scraper to divide the dough into two equal pieces. Even if you’re only making one of the fillings, you still want to divide the dough so you can twist it later.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Aim for a rectangle that measures 26-inches by 16-inches.

How to fill and roll the dough

Spread a thin layer of the cinnamon-sugar mixture onto the dough’s surface, leaving a one-inch margin on one of the long sides.

Begin rolling the dough on the covered side and roll towards the side that has the uncovered margin. This is one of the times you don’t want to roll too tightly. I’ve made that mistake more times than I’m proud to admit. In this case, you want the dough to have some lax, so it doesn’t tear and rip as it gets twisted and goes through its second rise. Will it kill the king cake if you forget? No. But, if you’re anything like me, it’ll be a letdown.

Once the log is rolled, pinch the dough’s edge to the body of it to seal it closed. Roll it between your hands and the counter to stretch it out to about thirty inches. This will give you enough dough to twist later on. Now, roll the log so the seam is on the bottom and set it out of the way so you can roll the cream cheese log.

Roll out the second piece of dough to the same specs as the first. Spread the cream cheese filling evenly on top, but this time, leave a 1-inch margin on one long end and 1 1/2-inch margins on both of the short ends.

The cream cheese oozes more than the cinnamon-sugar because of its consistency, so the margins will help keep things neat.

Roll, pinch, and stretch the same way you did with the first roll. This one will be looser. Try not to puncture the dough, or the filling will ooze out.

How to a form the King Cake?

Place the two dough logs perpendicular to one another on a silicone baking mat or a sheet of parchment paper. You’re going to form the king cake on the mat or paper before moving it to the pan. It just makes life easier.

Pinch together the ends of the two rolls to join them. Carefully twist the two rolls of dough together until you get to the opposite ends. Form the twisted rope into a wreath and transfer the mat or paper it’s on to a sheet pan. Don’t worry about sealing the ends of the circle right now; just overlap them.

Cover the wreath with a kitchen towel and allow it to rise for thirty minutes in a warm area of your kitchen. In the meantime, begin heating your oven to 350°F (177°C).

Once the dough has risen, brush egg wash where the ends meet and pinch them together to seal the ring. Brush the rest of the dough with the egg wash. Egg washes give baked bread a beautiful color.

Bake the loaf for 30 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Because it’s a pretty sizable loaf of bread, you may have to rotate your pan halfway through baking to ensure it browns evenly.

Prepare the Glaze

While you can flavor this glaze anyway you want, I prefer vanilla. To switch up the flavors, just use a different flavor of extract. All you need is powdered sugar, vanilla, light corn syrup (or honey), and enough hot water to reach your desired consistency.

Combine the light corn syrup, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Add enough hot water to thin the glaze slightly.

If you want a thin glaze, heat the mixture over low heat until it is runny. I prefer my glaze to be thick, so I’m going to leave it un-heated so that it has the consistency of molasses. You can make the glaze a few days in advance and store it, covered, at room temperature.

How do I decorate my King Cake?

Once your King Cake has finished baking, remove the pan from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely.

Spoon the glaze onto the surface of the King Cake. If your glaze has thickened too much for it to pour, nuke it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Give it a stir, and it should be fluid. If not, just stir in a few drops of hot water.

Decorate with a generous amount of colored sanding sugar or sprinkles.

The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are purple (justice), green (faith), and gold (power). You can also skip the sugar or sprinkles and just leave it glazed. Or, you can tint the glaze the Mardi Gras colors and decorate it that way!

Serve and Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler!

That’s Cajun French for, “Let’s eat a lot of Marta’s Mardi Gras King Cake because she’s such an amazing person!” Not really, but it’s my blog, so I do what I want.

The King Cake is ready to serve, ready to gift or store until you’re ready to do any of the aforementioned.

How do I serve King Cake?

If you absolutely must include a little baby, do so after you’ve baked and cooled the cake. Pop it into the cake after cooling and before glazing and decorating. You can just put it under the loaf somewhere, too.

This Mardi Gras King Cake is great for dessert, coffee, or breakfast. I’ve eaten for all three; that’s how I know. 

Simply slice and serve. I eat mine alongside a mug of chicory coffee. I prefer Community Coffee since they’re a Louisiana brand. They even have a King Cake Flavor Blend!

How do I store leftovers?

Once you have your fill, wrap the leftover king cake tightly in plastic wrap or transfer it to a sealed food storage container. Avoid storing the king cake in the fridge because the cold air will make it go stale faster. 

Reheat leftover slices in the microwave for 15 seconds to give them a just-baked flavor. 

King cake tastes best within a day or two of baking. Three days tops.

Can I freeze King Cake?

If you want to freeze this king cake, do so before frosting it with the vanilla glaze. Since the glaze is so easy to make, that shouldn’t be a big deal. 

Allow the cake to cool completely before wrapping it in a double layer of plastic wrap. I then wrap mine in a layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil before freezing it for up to 2 months. 

Thaw the frozen king cake at room temperature, then frost and decorate. 

Pin this recipe to your breads board, and you’ll have it ready for you when your Mardi Gras soiree arrives! And don’t forget to let me know what you think, then share this post with your friends!