Hey everyone, start the king cake dough in your breadmaker and let the good times roll! Just in time for Mardi Gras, I came up with this unconventional technique to construct a fairly conventional cake.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 55 mins |
| Servings: | 14 |
| Yield: | 1 cake |
Ingredients
- 1 cup sour cream
- ¼ cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees F/40 to 45 degrees C), or as needed
- 2 tablespoons softened butter
- 1 large egg, slightly beaten
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour, or as needed
- 3 ½ tablespoons white sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 2 ½ tablespoons melted butter
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons melted butter
- ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons milk, or as needed
- 1 tablespoon purple colored sugar, or as needed
- 1 tablespoon green colored sugar, or as needed
- 1 tablespoon yellow colored sugar, or as needed
Instructions
- Make the dough: Place sour cream, warm water, softened butter, egg, flour, sugar, salt, and yeast into a bread machine in the order listed, or follow the order recommended by the manufacturer if different. Run Dough cycle. Remove dough from the machine after the cycle is done, about 90 minutes.
- Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface; roll out to a 10×28-inch rectangle.
- Make the filling: Mix sugar, melted butter, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Spread mixture over dough, then sprinkle pecans over top. Starting at a long edge, roll dough over filling into a log. Transfer to a greased baking sheet with the seam facing down.
- Moisten dough at each end of the log; pull ends together to form a ring and pinch to seal. Cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Bake cake in the preheated oven until golden brown on top, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
- While the cake is cooling, make the glaze: Combine confectioners’ sugar, melted butter, and vanilla in a bowl. Stir in just enough milk to make a smooth but not watery glaze.
- Spoon glaze onto warm cake, allowing it to dribble down the sides. Immediately sprinkle alternating bands of purple, green, and yellow colored sugar over glaze. Allow cake to cool completely before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 315 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 48 g |
| Cholesterol | 34 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 134 mg |
| Sugars | 22 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
The family loved it!
Very soft, moist. Not as bready as the cakes Id bought in Alabama. I increased the filling a bit. Wish I had let it bake 20 minutes instead of 15. Also, could reduce the glaze a bit and make it thinner. That may be a personal preference since I dont care for a lot of icing. And, dont forget the baby!
yes
My very first one I have made . It was very easy to make . My family loved it! Using the bread machine saves so much time to. I am making another one as we speak. I am using blueberry and cream cheese filling. Not sure how the filling is going to be. But had to try it !!
This turned out much better than I was expecting. It’s better than the ones I got as a kid on the Gulf Coast for Mardi Gras. It is soft with the consistency I’d expect from a King Cake. The pecan/cinnamon is a great touch.
So easy to make a special treat for a civic group.
I followed the recipe exactly, except I omitted the nuts. I made 2 cakes last year and one so far this year. Very easy! And so good! This is now my go-to recipe for King Cakes!
It was great. I lots of compliments!
Delicious!!! I’ve been using this recipe for a couple of years. It is so convenient to have the bread machine do the majority of the work. Always gets rave reviews from family and friends. I follow the recipe exactly as written for the dough. It is such amazing dough. So easy to work with and have never had a problem with the rise. I DO double the sugar/butter/cinnamon filling. Make sure you spread it all the way to the short ends so that you don’t get a “dead” spot with no filling in your cake where the ends of the roll come together. I put a ramekin in the middle (greased) of my tray (lined with parchment, no need to grease) so that the cake doesn’t come together in the middle. Bake at 375 a little longer than recommended, about 22 min. Our sitter is from NOLA and says it is the best King Cake he’s ever had.
What a it! I made this for a Mardi Gras party and everyone loved it! I loved the fact that you started the dough in the bread machine. Not sure if it made any difference but I warmed up the water, butter, and sour cream together before putting it into the bread maker. Definitely will be making this again! One thing I did change was double the cinnamon, sugar, and butter. It’s seemed to cover the dough better.
This was really tasty! I made it exactly as is. I would make this again for a breakfast treat probably leaving off the top sugar (it’s a little too sweet for my taste).
This review is only for the dough, because I adjusted the filling based on some of the other reviews. The dough came out perfectly – smooth, not super sticky, and rolled really well. It also puffs up a quite a bit which leads to the next portion of my review. For a 5 star king cake I would recommend a) adding a cream cheese filling to the cinnamon sugar; b) doubling the cinnamon sugar (the dough swells to amazing proportions and really needs more filling); and c) placing a greased bowl in the center of your ring to prevent the dough rising and filling. Important notes: make sure your seam is very tight, especially after the rising process. Also make sure you roll your dough without any holes – there was a bit of delicious spillage from tiny air bubbles I did not know existed from my lazy rolling. I would also recommend using parchment paper rather than a greased pan. It made cleanup a snap.
This recipe is wonder except for the cooking time and temp. I stuffed my cake with cream cheese mixture and the middle was not quite done. I suggest to reduce temp to 350 degrees and cook for about 30 minutes.
I double the filling and use brown sugar! this is everyone’s favorite and I make it 3 or 4 times a year!
This cake is amazing! I’ve had several King cakes from a variety of bakeries, from LA to my local HEB. What I have found is that MOST of them are good in their own way but they’re all different. Whether it be the dough or the filling. This cake has a great dough that is easily prepared in the bread machine. Yay! The filling is just one of many variations. I personally prefer a cinnamon/brown sugar/pecan filling. In fact, I want to share my version of my second cake from this recipe. I split the dough in half, used a cream cheese/confectioner’s sugar filling on one half, and the cinnamon/brown sugar/pecan filling on the other half. I then twisted the two together and formed the ring. Wow! it was such a hit that my friends are trying to place orders for it! I’m a risk analyst, not a professional baker so I give all credit to this recipe. Thank You!
This recipe was flawless for me!!! It came out so beautiful; rose up just perfectly in the bread machine and the dough was wonderful to work with. Thanks for a super-festive and tasty recipe that my whole family loved. (I’ve had king cake in the past and this was the yummiest I’ve ever tried!)
I made this recipe just as it was written. It was WONDERFUL! My family ate the whole things in 2 days. I’m making this again. Oh soo good! I put the baby on top after cooking in the icing. I might try and make this for Christmas and form candy canes with red and green colored sugar sprinkles!!
Super easy and scrumptious!! I used creme fraiche instead of sour cream just because I had it in the fridge already. Also I didn’t add the pecans because of a guest who is allergic to nuts. After I rolled out the dough, I cut it in half and made two smaller cakes. I put the cinnamon sugar on one and then a creme fraiche and cranberry pie filling mix (probably about 2T of each) in the other. They are both awesome. I’ll be making this again asap and every carnival season from now on.
Best King Cake dough I’ve ever made. I used a cinnamon and cream cheese filling. It turned out great.
I made the recipe exactly as stated and it came out beautifully! It was delicious and the hit of my Mardi Gras party! Everyone was so impressed and all I had to do was dump some ingredients in my machine and then shape it. Easy peazy! My only suggestion for anyone making this cake is to do the glaze in phases so the sugar has a better chance of sticking. I piped about half the Glaze at the beginning and few places were dried by the time I got back to put sugar on it. Once I figured it out, I just did a section at a time and had no problems.
I make this for my nephew every year!! It’s so easy and tastes great!