It is the end of February, Valentine’s Day is over and the weather is less than desirable. So naturally, I just want to bake! I was looking for ANY excuse I could find to bake a cake. While wasting some time on Facebook I ran across a friend’s post who had just received a King Cake for Mardi Gras also known as Fat Tuesday!

PERFECT! It looked like Mardi Gras was on Tuesday, so this was the perfect cover up for baking an un-needed cake, Andy hates having cake sitting around.

I got straight to work! Figuring out what exactly a Mardi Gras King cake is. Have you eaten Mardi Gras King cake, what is do you think it’s defining characteristics are? Somehow, I have gone my whole life without having any. Now I just needed a plan for an egg and dairy-free version, a vegan Mardi Gras King cake.

I surprised a bunch of my work friends with the Mardi Gras King cake, which is always ideal for my waistline. It turns out I’m not the only one who knew very a little about this festive cake.

The final result was delicious!

I am getting ahead of myself, King cake is a staple of Mardi Gras. So obviously the perfect cake to make at the end of February! Now since I have never had a King cake before I set out to research what it takes to make a great Mardi Gras King cake. Before that I did a little research on Mardi Gras!

Unless you spent a lot of time in New Orleans you might not be super familiar with Mardi Gras but it dates back to pagan spring and fertility rites in Medieval Europe. Tided to the Roman Catholic’s it is a Christian holiday that happens the day before Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent where good Catholics spend 40 days fasting and penance.

It all started as a way to get all of the “rich” foods out of your house before the fasting began. People ate all of the meat, cheese, wine, etc that they had, then they had nothing in the cupboards to tempt them during lent.

As this cultural phenomenon evolved, sometime in the late 1830s, in New Orleans, a parade was added to the custom. It is also customary to throw beads and trinkets, wear masks, eat King cake and of course decorate floats. Louisianna is the only state in which Mardi Gras is a legal holiday. Don’t take my word for it check out what the history.

Historically Mardi Gras King cake was a cake made out of a cake or sweet bread served in the shape of a crown. As the holiday progressed the “bread” got fancier adding sweet fillings and frosted tops. My King cake is reminiscent of a cinnamon roll. Basically, it’s cinnamon roll dough, with a brown sugar and cinnamon center. Then cut it into strips and braided into a crown.

Now an important element of a King cake, which I left out, is a plastic baby. Now historically it was a bean, pea, coin, or pecan. Representing the January 6th birth of baby Jesus. If you get a slice of King cake with a “baby” in it you are in charge of the next King cake.

Since I was trying to make this cake vegan I left the baby out. LOL Also I was fresh out and they don’t sell plastic babies at the campground market. So no baby for my King cake.

Green for faith,
gold for power & purple for justice.

Once baked I added a homemade frosting made out of whipped coconut cream with vanilla, almond, and citrus. Somewhere I read that a King cake has a slightly citrus frosting. The frosting turned out AMAZING! I will definitely make that frosting again. The consistency was fantastic, taste amazing and super easy.

The dough turned out tasty and nicely dense but I would like to try it again using a dough that involves yeast. That was my original plan for this cake but once again they don’t sell yeast at the campground market.

I found it a little challenging to get my dough to roll out into a rectangle. So to help you out here is a link to a short video from Chow tips, they’ll give you a few pointers.

The last part of the cake is the colorful sprinkles. The colors of Mardi Gras are gold, purple, and green. Green for faith, gold for power, and purple for justice. I had green sprinkles but needed to make purple and yellow.

Making sugar sprinkles is easy. Just poured some sugar in a bowl, I used about an 1/8 of a cup in two separate bowls. Then add food color and mix it around until it is the desired color of sprinkles.

BAM!!! sprinkled that on the cake and it was ready to go!
Print Recipe
 Mardi Gras King Cake
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
depending on slice sizes
Ingredients
Dough
Filling
Frosting
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
depending on slice sizes
Ingredients
Dough
Filling
Frosting
Instructions
Dough
  1. 1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. 2. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
  3. 3. Mix in butter until it is crumbly, I suggest cutting the butter into cubes.
  4. 4. Create a volcano with the dry ingredients and pour the milk into it.
  5. 5. Mix to make a soft dough, add more milk or flour if needed. I think I added about 1/4 cup additional flour.
  6. 6. Dump on a clean floured surface and neat a bit, unit a nice dough has formed.
  7. 7. Roll dough into a rectangle. I found this to be a bit challenging so here is a link with advice.
  8. 8. Rub the butter all over the rectangle of dough then sprinkle it with the cinnamon and brown sugar.
  9. 9. Then cut the rectangle lengthwise into long rectangles.
  10. 10. Roll each rectangle into a long tube.
  11. 11. Take all three tubes and braid them together and then link them to form a crown.
  12. 12. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until slightly golden.
Frosting
  1. 1. Pour coconut creme in a chilled bowl and beat. (You can use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer.)
  2. 2. Once the creme starts to resemble whipped cream add the powdered sugar, extracts, and essential oils. Whip until incorportated.
  3. 3. This can keep in the fridge until the cake has cooled or you can wait to make it until the cake is cooled.
  4. 4. Frost cake and sprinkle with colored sprinkles.
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