Mardi Gras King Cake

Absolutely incredible. I have made the cake twice and both times I cut the recipe in half. I also substitute applesauce for the butter in the dough and add lots of raisins and prepare the dough using a bread maker (use extra milk instead of the water and just throw the ingredients in the bread maker according to its directions - I do liquids, then dry ingredients, and yeast last). For the filling I also use applesauce instead of butter but add a little at a time to get a nice pasty filling that I can spread. Before I bake the bread, I add an egg white wash so that it comes out golden brown. I can not believe how delicious this cake is without using any butter. No one believes me that it isn't full of oil and butter. My favorite recipe!!!

I am from New Orleans and find this to be a very authentic tasting recipe. I use my bread machine on the dough cycle thru step 3 and find it makes the recipe even easier. It can also be filled with ready made pie fillings ie. lemon,cherry,apple which is another thing that is being done in New Orleans. Plastic babies can be gotten from party stores in the baby shower area. thanks Jo!

Better than bakeries! Living and eating in New Orleans for my entire life I was a bit skeptical if I could actually pull off a king cake. I wanted to make mine a tad more traditional so I made the following modifications: 1. NO RAISINS in the filling- I have never (in my 20-something years of eating king cake) seen raisins in one. I did make 1 and 1/2 times the filling too. 2. To first rise the dough I placed a mug of boiled water in the back of the microwave. I then placed my covered bowl of dough in the Micro and shut the door for 2 hours. The dough came out so fluffy. I think this technique played a part in the pillowy softness and tender layers of the finished cake. 3. I opted for a elegant braided look. Instead of just rolling the filling in a spiral I divided each rolled dough sheet into three sections. I then scattered the filling on top and rolled those long pieces into mini-spirals. I was then able to roll each segment out longer and finally braid the three sections together. It looks so nice on a cross-section when sliced too! 4. I placed a ramekin in the center while the cake was rising the second time to prevent the middle of the cake from rising together- I wanted to keep the ring shape of it all. 5. Baked at 350 degrees for 27 minutes- worked perfect for my oven. My general advice would be to bake until the top is evenly golden. 6. I ended up using the entire icing recipe on one of my cakes and I had to thin it with a bit more water than called for.

My family loved this king cake . I used a cream cheese filling also . It turned out really good . I used 2 blocks of cream cheese softened w/ 3 Tablespoons of flour , 2 teaspoons on vanilla and 2 Tablespoons of milk . mix untill creamy and spread over other filling . I think I will used stawberry and the cream cheese filling next time .

raisins in king cake???? yuck! and for those who are interested, there is much more to the story of the baby in the cake. although now many anticipate the the finder will host the next party, it was originally used to bestow the honor of royalty for the mardi gras balls.

I made this last night for 15 hungry people at our poker night. I used the bread machine method (liquids first, then solids, with the yeast on top) and it worked great. For the filling I left out the raisins, and for the frosting I used milk instead of water in the powdered sugar and just eyeballed it; it was more like 4-5 tbsp milk instead of 2, making the consistency easy to pour over the cake. I made my own purple sugar, about 1/3 c sugar, 3 drops red food coloring, and 3 drops blue. If you do this I suggest mixing the food coloring together before adding it to the sugar, and it takes quite a bit of stirring to break up the colored bits, but it worked great. Tip: pour the colored sugar on RIGHT AFTER

I was on a hunt to find a great King Cake recipe this past Mardi Gras. I made a dozen of these and everyone absolutely LOVED them. It is the easiest recipe (as far as King Cakes go) and the most authentic I found. I had people originally from New Orleans saying it tasted just like home! I shaped mine into a circle without the cuts and slathered the icing and stripes of yellow, purple, and green sugar - I also sat my babies on the top so that there wasn't an accidental choking!

I baked this for a French party, and it was quite good. I recommend making just one cake (use a 16 x 20 rectangle of dough), but whatever you do, double the filling - it's the best part! Once you've spread the filling on the rolled-out dough, cut off the edges to make a a neat rectangle and so you don't have large doughy parts in the cake. It was great without the raisins. Try making the frosting more interesting by adding butter, sour cream, and vanilla.

Great recipe! I iced it with a mixture of powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla, and used red and green sugar to decorate it, since we served it at an Epiphany party (Three Kings' Day). It was a big hit. And it was HUGE - served 40 people (20 adults, 20 children), not 16! I have a whole extra king cake left over because the recipe made such a large one. But I don't mind! I also substituted a filling of cream cheese sweetened with a little powdered sugar. Yum!

Yummy! Especially good still slightly warm. Much better than the mail order one we got from the bakery in New Orleans. Will definitely make this one again next year. I made the batter, let it rise, and formed it into the rings the night before, then put it in the 'fridge. The next morning, I let it come to room temperature, rise, then baked them for the normal time.

Excellent king cake! After I moved away from Louisiana, I found that no grocery stores carried king cakes during mardi gras or if they did.. they weren't too appetizing.. This cake is just like what I would get at home. The dough is spot in flavor. The filling is also delicious, although I omitted the raisins and pecans because I've never had that in king cake. I also used the cream cheese filling another user posted, which turned out great. The first time I made this, the frosting tasted a little off, but the second time I used 2 c. powdered sugar, 1 T butter, 1 tsp vanilla, and 3 T milk, and it came out great. The filling and frosting needed a little modification, but the dough is excellent, and that's the most important part! P.S. if you like fruit filled king cakes, canned pie filling works great. Strawberry is my fave, but blueberry is pretty good too.

Pleasantly surprised!! I knew I was going to use my bread machine, so I halved the recipe, so that it would fit. I didn't use raisins in the filling. I love raisins, but they have NO place in a king cake. :) The filling was really good, but it was a bit much. If you're from South Louisiana, like me, and want a traditional cinnamon king cake, I would suggest using a mix of 1/3 c white sugar and 1 T. cinnamon (or 2/3 c sugar and 2 T. cinnamon if you make the full recipe). And to me, king cake icing is equally, if not MORE important than the dough, so I am SO thankful to the reviewers who suggested using lemon juice to hide that funky taste that you get in powdered sugar. I loved this icing recipe from one reviewer: 2 c. powdered sugar, 1 T. butter melted, 1 t. clear vanilla, 1 t. lemon juice, 3 T. milk (plus add extra milk as needed to get to the right consistency.) It was PERFECT king cake icing. The full recipe, will make 2 regular-size king cakes, which could serve 20-30, depending on how you slice it.

I've made it several times now, it always turns out fantastic. To make life easier I just warm the milk in the microwave, mix all the wet ingredients together, mix all the dry ingredients together, and then combine the two in my bread machine. I find to make the cake look extra spectacular, I twist the two roles of dough together, join the ends so I have one twisted loop, and let it rise, it always comes out of the oven looking fantastic! Also for the filling I like to use a cream cheese based one, I just mix some powdered sugar, cinnamon, and milk with 8oz of cream cheese and spread that on the dough before I role it up!

Not being form New Orleans and having no idea what a Mardi Gras King Cake was I made it. After making it I decided it is basically a glorified cinnamon roll.

I lived in New Orleans my whole life until recently and desperately was in need of a king cake. I could have paid $40 to have one shipped so I thought I'd give this recipe a try. UNfortunately, this did not taste like a N.O. king cake AT ALL. I think it was the nutmeg and too much cinnamon. The next day, the cake was rock hard. I used the bread machine which may have had something to do with it but I don't think so. Next time I'll spend the $40.

Gave this 4 stars because I changed the recipe so much. Took other reviewers advice and cooked for about 25 mins on 335. It came out perfect! Also left out raisins and nuts. I made a strawberry cream cheese filling instead. I also made the icing with milk and vanilla instead of water. The cakes got rave reviews from everyone! Thanks Jo and all the previous reviewers!

This was a pretty good king cake recipe! I made the dough in my bread machine. A friend has a nut allergy, so I made different fillings for the two cakes this recipe makes. On the first cake, I made as recipe stated, except I doubled the filling ingredients. On the second cake, I also doubled the filling ingredients (leaving out the pecans) stirred in one package of cream cheese, then I spread the mixture onto the dough. I also doubled the icing ingredients. I cut the bake time by 10 minutes, but I think it needed to be cut down a total of 15 minutes...it was pretty dark brown and dry on top. The cake with cream cheese filling was fine, but the original filling cake was very dry. I'd recommend letting the cakes sit to cool for a couple minutes after taking them from the oven before icing. Only ice a third of the cake at a time, and immediately put the colored sugar on that section - then move on to do the rest of the cake in the same fashion. The sugar won't stick if you try to ice the whole thing, then do the sugar afterwards. I didn't have the plastic babies when I made the cakes, so I put them in the next day. It was pretty tough to dig them in the bottom after it was already cooled, iced and sugared; next time I will have the babies ready when the cakes come out of the oven.

Simply amazing. I could tell before I even got to the finished product that this was going to be exactly what I was looking for. The cake turned out nice and airy and sweet. I used a cinnamon cream cheese filling instead of the one here, but I'd love to give that one a try as well. I also added a splash of lemon juice and vanilla to get rid of the powdery taste you run into with just confectioners sugar and water. I serve at a restaurant and made this cake as a mardi gras dessert special for us and so far have received rave reviews from all the customers. Everyone's asking the owner who made it. Anyways, thanks for an awesome recipe, I will definitely be making this again ;). *Just wanted to add...I baked this cake at 335F for about 25-30 minutes and it came out perfectly golden brown...every oven's different it seems, but I shudder to think what 30 minutes on 375 would have done to my creation.

Awesome. Made three times for church. I used almond paste instead of pecans once (cut the sugar down 1/2) and made a filling of 1- 8oz. cream cheese softened and 1 sm box of instant vanilla pudding mix together for a cheese filling. They loved it so much needed to make it 3 times.

Great recipe. I used my kitchenaid to knead it, and did the final rise in a bunt cake mold. I used lemon juice instead of water in the frosting, and added a bit of vanilla extract for flavor.

I have rated this recipe before. But, not reviewed . . . it is a very good recipe--best dough recipe that I've found. Easy to half . . . as most won't need two cakes. I have taken out the raisins and nuts to keep it more authentic. I also used a different cream cheese and icing recipe. I HIGHLY recommend using Rapid Rise yeast as it will cut out the FIRST proof of 2 hours. Basically cutting recipe time in half! Just follow direction on yeast pack -- it's a 10 minute rest after kneading instead of 2 hours . . . Will be making a few soon for friends and family!!! Happy Mardi Gras from BR.

This is a very good, easy to follow recipe. The only ingredient changes I made were omitting raisins (not an authentic king cake addition) and a slight reduction in the nutmeg (I used regular ground), which I am glad I did. I did bake it at a slightly lower temp (330) for 25 minutes, also. I'm a Louisiana girl, and this is the real deal.

Made this as written once and it was OK. Made it again with a few changes and it was the best king cake I've ever eaten! -The second time, I made half the recipe, only one cake. -I accidentally dropped about a tsp of nutmeg into the dough but it tasted better like that than the original amount. -I spread 8 oz. of cream cheese before the pecan filling, which I doubled (used the same amount as would be used for 2 cakes), and substituted dried cranberries for raisins. -I baked it at 340F for about 35 minutes. -I also made a cream cheese glaze with regular granulated sugar dissolved in a few tablespoons of water because I was out of confectioners sugar. With these changes, it is a 5 star recipe. As written, it's a 3. The dough is quite good, just needs more filling. Careful! not to over-cook. It will dry it out and it won't be and good.

I've made this for several years now. The only things keeping this from being a 5 star recipe (in my opinion) are the baking time and the glaze. First, I checked my first cake when there were 14 minutes left on the timer. It already looked done, but I knew the filling wouldn't be. This is when I remembered having to watch it very closely the other times. I took it out after 23 minutes and it was actually a little darker than I wanted. My second cake was completely baked in 20 minutes. I do have an oven thermometer, so I know my temp is correct. Second, the glaze/frosting recipe is way off. You'll have to add way more than 1 TBSP of water to make this work, then there is only enough to cover one cake (unless you only want a tiny bit on each one.) I ended up almost doubling the frosting recipe in order tohave enough for both cakes. Filling is a matter of preference. I've used the included recipe with raisins and without. I've also used a cream cheese and cherry filling and a whipped chocolate filling. I generally do have to add a good bit of extra flour to make the dough "come together," but the dough is a dream to work with when it's finished.

This recipe was easy to make but I found the taste a little disappointing. The King Cakes I always had in Louisiana were very sweet and soft. This cake is very good but really not different from cinnamon rolls. If I make again I will add more filling and not bake as long.

The only reason its 4 stars instead of 5 is because 30min is much too long at 375. The crust/top was rock hard but the inside was wonderful. And I didn't put raisins in it, but cinnamon, sugar, brown sugar, flower and pecan.s

Thank you for this lovely American ('cajun') recipe..I have been looking for the French style cake, but find this one to be a great alternative! If you are short on time and want a delicious filling (although it can be 'pricey') spread a tube of quality almond paste (there is a high quality marzipan from Holland sold at Target!) and wow--it is yummy! (Use some melted butter still) Bonne Fete des Anniversaire Bebe Jesus!! He certainly deserves such a delight in his honor!!

Save yourself some time like I did...Instead of making the pastry from scratch buy the seamless cresent rolls. I used 2 packages, unroll them and put the both sheets together to make a long sheet. Fill with the filling, I used the applesauce instead of butter as suggested by another reviewer and added 1/2 small tub of ff cream cheese. I used 1/2 tub of frosting and low fat cresent rolls .I cut the cooking time to 20 min at 350*F..It was wonderful and easy... serve on baking sheet after cooling.

I made a few changes to the recipe. I added 1 8oz package to the filling- blend the pecans, raisons etc. to the mix, just microwave the cream cheese for 2 minutes so it mixes easily. I also used a cream cheese icing and piped in 'mardi gras beading' to the cake. Also use a deep roasting pan to get the oval shape, it kept the shape and had the same consistancy as I was making 6 cakes for a catering function.

Hold the raisins and the nuts, please. I like just a plain cinnamon filling. Great recipe. King cakes are very time consuming to make, but worth it for a special occasion.

Way too dry. Not at all what a King's cake should be.

Close to authentic, but there are no raisins in a real King Cake here in Louisiana. There may be other fillings, fruit or cream flavored, depending on how brave the cook wants to be.

I have made this king cake recipe twice now, and it comes out wonderfully. The only thing is I double the filling, omit the raisins and make 3 rolls, which are then braided. If you do a braid, the cross section of slices looks extra pretty. I also double the frosting and a brick of cream cheese (my DH, from Louisiana, insists on cream cheese frosting). Great recipe:)

This was my first attempt at a King "Cake". I was scared because it came out very brown on the outside, but the next day it was soft. I will probably cut the time 5 minutes next round. I also doubled the filling, but thought it was a bit too much. I'd recommend making one and a half the recipe for the filling. However, I tripled the frosting recipe. I also twisted the two rolls together to make one cake instead of making two rings.

Excellent!!! I made it with frozen bread dough, so easy!

This was wonderful! I used Smart Balance in place of the butter but other than that, followed the recipe exactly. I cut the recipe in half and it made just the right amount for our family. Next time, I'll reduce baking time by about 5 minutes or so. Thank you!!

My husband is from New Orleans and he loves this recipe. I used half bread flour and half AP flour so the dough really rose and was a little more fluffy, which is our personal preference. The dough itself is not too sweet so you can please those who like things sugary and those who don't by adjusting the amount of icing you drizzle on.

This has to be the driest, most tasteless king cake I have ever tried. I found the dough to be very bread-like, but with a cardboard flavor. The filling was extremely dry and lacked flavor. The icing had to be one of the worst parts of the cake. It did not make enough to cover one king cake much less two not that I would have wanted more of this bland sugar paste. I would not recommend this recipe to my worst enemy. I have been born and reared in Louisiana and have tasted many different recipes for king cakes, but this is not among the better I have ever experienced. Can I give this recipe a minus five stars? Yuck is an understatement.

I am a New Orleans native. This is better than virtually every king cake that I have ever eaten.

Made this cake for my daughter-in-law from New Orleans who was really feeling homesick. She loved it. We all did. Left out the raisins. Really easy. Awesome. Will definitely make again and again.

This was my first King Cake and I loved it. Perhaps not the most traditional, but yummy. I substituted oatmeal for the pecans (didn't have any on hand and didn't want to pay $10 lb to get any lol) and upped the butter a little bit to make up for it. Everyone loved it

This would have been 4-star, but I had to knock one off because of the temperature. I had my cake on for 20 minutes at 330 degrees- if I had put it on for 30 minutes at 375, I don't know what it would have come out like. Anyway, I used a cream cheese filling instead of the recommended one, but I kept everything else about the recipe the same. My cake turned out fabulously, better than any I've had from a bakery.

This recipe was amazing! I halved it for 8 servings since we are all giving up sweets for Lent and I didn't want extra for Ash Wednesday. Used applesauce in the dough instead of butter and applesauce in the filling instead of butter too. Can't beleive how moist and delish it turned out! Used skim milk for dough and glaze, too! Granted, it's alot of sugar but almost no fat! Didn't take the time to proof the yeast, just through all the indregients for the dough in my KitchenAid with the dough hook and whala! Beautiful! Thanks so much for a keeper recipe!

I made this cake last night and it's already half gone at work today! I made the dough exactly as the recipe stated but made one ring with the cinnamon/brown sugar filling and then made a cream cheese filling for the other. I only had regular crystal sugar for the colored sugar which worked fine but if you want a more solid color I would suggest using sanding sugar.

This is a pretty easy recipe to follow. I dyed my sugars and roasted the pecans. It was delicious!!!

The bread was perfect! This was my first try at a King Cake and it came out sooooo good. I let the dough rise in the microwave with a cup of hot water sitting to the side, idk if that really helped but this dough was so fluffy and soft, and even better the next day. On one cake I did the butter, cinnamon/brown sugar, and on the other I did half cream cheese, half strawberry pie filling mixed with cream cheese. The plain cinnamon/sugar was great and the strawberry cream cheese was rocking' too. I made the frosting like a few others posted: 2 1/2 C powdered sugar, 1 T butter, a little vanilla, and lemon juice and milk. I live in BR and this was my first king Cake of the season... it's gonna be tough to beat! So excited I know how to make a king cake :)

Yummy. I was a little homesick so I made this to remind me of home. Turned o ut great, followed the directions as is!

Half an hour was DEFINITELY too long to cook the cake in my oven, which is usually pretty accurate with temp and time. Other than that, great!

I have lived here in the south ALL my life. We are actually 45 minutes from New Orleans. Down here, we "stuff" our king cakes with srtawberry filling, pineapple, bavarian cream, cream cheese, caramel pecan or you can have it plain- it's your choice. Anyway, this was just OK. Not at all like what you get in the bakery. It so easy to just pick one up during the season than to go through the trouble to make this. If you don't live here, then maybe ignorance is bliss and you'll love it. Sorry- it's my opinion.

I have been an allrecipes lurker for years and i really felt that i had to rate this recipe because it is AWESOME!. I make this all the time and vary the filling to suit the occasion. I even use this dough for cinnamon buns! Also, if you find that you don't have the time to do it all at once, you can let it do it's second rise in the fridge over night. The dough wont be as airy but its still delicious!

Everyone loved this. I followed the suggestion to use applesauce in place of all butter and it was still a hit. Prepared dough in bread maker.

First time I ever celebrated Mardi gras this way. I made this for my coworkers who absolutely loved this. I had to explain them the meaning behind the colors and all (we're French, that kind of king cake doesn't exist here) and they were delighted. A great success, thanks a lot!!

This was my first King Cake. The recipe was great! I took it to work and it was highly praised. A long time New Orleans resident said that it looked and tasted authentic. This is a definite repeater for me. I did use too many eggs accidentally, but it was very good!

I made this for a Mardi Gras party for a class. Everyone said that it was traditional tasting, and complemented it. I used my bread maker for the dough as well. I think it would have been better with some other type of filling, but it was pretty good.

This is easy to make, but I needed less flour. I used four and a half cups. I also tried using lemon pie filling in one of the cakes and the kids loved it.

I cooked this for my french class on mardi gras and everyone love it. I made two one for french one for english. my english teacher askes me everyday when I am going to bring in another kings cake.

Excellent! Made one ring as directed and one with apples instead of pecans, since my mother can't have the nuts. Both were delicious.

I've made this King Cake many times and it's always turned out great! Made it as written minus the raisins.

I made this recipe with Creole Mama's recipe for additional filling (found in the ratings here) and it was absolutely perfect! Love this recipe!

This was pretty close to the ones in New Oleans but the bread was pretty dry unlike it should be. But it was ok.

Delish! I made this festive treat for a little dinner party. I cut the recipe in half to make one cake. I made the dough in my KA, super easy! Unfortunately, I didn't have fresh nutmeg so I upped the quantity a little using the pre-ground stuff. I also beat a bar of softened cream cheese in with the filling ingredients and spread the entire mix on the dough and then rolled it up. After 20 minutes, the cake was getting too brown so I covered it with foil for the rest of the baking time. I did skip hiding the plastic toy. Many of my guests had another piece of this tasty dessert! Will make again!

I made 2 cakes using the batter. 1 cake had 1/2 of the suggested filling while the second cake had 4 oz cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon of butter.

This recipe was spot on for times, temps and measurements. Really enjoyed the texture and flavor of the dough. I did add 1 tsp each of lemon zest and orange zest to the dough for personal preference. Really enjoyed the finished product.

Was good but came out a bit drier than expected. Probably my fault in overcooking.

Wonderful! It's like being back home in new orleans, though I did omit the raisins...there's almost never raisins in king cake. Thanks for a great recipe!

Having lived within 60 miles of New Orleans I know exactly what GOOD king cake is suppossed to taste like. I'm not talking about the cardboard flavored want-a-bes in local grocery stores. But the dedicated bakers who churn these babies out by the thousands during Mardi Gras season. Here is my take on this recipe... First of all I had to increase my flour by nearly a 1/2 cup. Otherwise the dough was way too sticky. I kneaded my dough in my kitchenaid mixer on stir for 10 minutes. I then oiled the boil and flipped the dough ball to make sure it was covered. I let it rise for the suggested 2 hours and the dough was literally perfection. It was easy to roll. The first time I made the recipe I made 2 king cakes. The second time around I made 4 smaller ones. On to the filling...I have NEVER had a king cake in Louisiana that contained raisins...nor have I ever heard of one that had them. So I omitted the raisins both times. The first time I doubled the filling....BIG mistake. It made the cake overly sickly sweet. The second time I only did a normal amount and it was perfect. Baking....reduce the temperature to 335 as suggested by others. Keep a close eye on baking. I would check at 18 minutes. Use a temperature probe to check for doneness. Don't overbake or you risk a dry cake. The temp should register at 195 degrees inside and will be perfect. Now on to the frosting. Water and sugar is not like the frosting that tops the king cakes in Louisiana. It is

One if the best things I've ever eaten in my life!

Rating even before trying., Just made a King Cake yesterday adapting two recipes from allrecipes.com, loved it! Reason I am rating this is because I like the sound of the filling use here Jo. Already planning one with raisins...but going to put the raisins in my dough., But will def. use your filling idea. One note...folks these are SWEET coffee cakes...the glaze and sprinkles make it over the top...so you can go easy!

I craved this desperately when I was pregnant but we live in upstate NY and nobody sells them not even around Mardi Gras and my husband said it was too hard to make. This recipe whipped up in a snap and would've been delicious if I hadn't subbed nature's blend butter stuff for the butter in the filling, totally ruined it by trying to be healthy. Cake tastes great to everyone but me though because I know what it's supposed to taste like!

Burned by 25 min :( should only be cooked for 20 min...maybe less

This ended up tasting okay, pretty authentic, but dried out quickly and was not worth the fuss. I cut the recipe in half, because I only needed one cake! The dough was much too sticky and very frustrating to work with. It tore when I rolled it up with the filling, which I made with just butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Even though I tried to patch it, some of the filling leaked out while baking. I read other reviews first and knew the baking time was too long, but forgot to check the cake early, so it got too browned on top. Also, the icing recipe made very little, so it was only drizzled on the cake. I'll be going back to my old recipe next year.

I've made this a couple of times. followed the directions to the letter. First time the cake came out burnt on the bottom. next time I used parchment paper and no burn, cake looked done in 20 minutes so I took it out and it was pretty dry. also the cake didn't taste sweet enough for us and the filling wasn't enough. I will make it again but next time I'm adding one half again as much filling, adding twice the sugar to the cake and soaking the raisins in something, probably countries, overnight.

Followed the recipe to the letter and this worked wonderfully. It's rather like a coffee cake and was a great hit today at the office. People tend to forget about holidays when they're living in a cube. My only wish is that the pastry stayed soft after baking. Well, that's what a microwave is for I guess. It takes awhile, but for an annual tradition, it's worth it.

the dough was excellent, easy to work with, and utterly delicious. Thank you so much for sharing this!

This was really good but I would have liked more filling and glaze. Next time I'll double those and I'll connect the two rolls to form one big oval instead of two small ones.

review 1) We loved this King cake! I changed this recipe using JNFAGAN's review because I needed it to go in the bread-maker, and I am lactose intolerant. I made a lot of changes so I only gave it 4 stars. I halved the recipe, used applesauce and rice milk in place of butter and milk, increased the filling amount, and I added fresh lemon juice to the glaze to make it brighter. Yummy! I put it in the bread-maker on the dough setting and then took it out, added the filling, and followed the directions from there. It baked up beautifully, but it was more of a bread texture than cake. I let my kids munch down most of it at snack time with peanut butter spread on top of each slice. My two toddlers LOVED it! My husband did too :). review 2) Made this a couple more times in the bread maker and we still love it! I used all the ingredients listed, but put them in the bread maker on the dough setting then rolled, filled, and baked. I filled it with a mix of ground pecans, apple sauce, brown sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. It was so good!

I had never made a King Cake before. I was surprised this recipe is so similar to my cinnamon roll recipe. So, a King Cake is basically a giant cinnamon roll! This really was a terrific recipe!

This was great. I made it for my class and they all loved it. , I subbed for whole wheat flour. My kids were eating whole grains and didn't even know it. I made it into one big huge cake and put it in a bundt pan to hold its shape while baking. I was a little too impatient, so I didn't let it rise enough before baking, but if fluffed right up during baking and it didn't seem heavy at all.

Very lovely cake. Simply delish.

I'm pretty disappointed. I made a great King Cake last year and hoped that this was the recipe I used. Sadly, I don't think it was. The flavor of the dough and filling were just okay. I left out the raisins in the filling, because I just don't associate raisins and King Cake. Then, I added the sugar frosting following the recipe as is...blech! I think it ruined the whole thing. I should have added a little lemon juice or maybe a touch of vanilla extract to brighten it up. I'm hoping it will pass as okay at my Fat Tuesday celebration tomorrow, but in the end I may not even bring it. If I were to use this recipe again I might add another tablespoon or two of butter to the dough and an extra 1/2 tsp of salt. I would also add either lemon juice or vanilla extract to the frosting for more depth of flavor.

Easy to follow instructions. If using a convection oven, rotate half ways through the baking time at 350. Also, if using a kitchen aid mixer, put the wet mix in the bowl and add the flour per directions at speed 2 for 3-4 min to develop gluten. To make sprinkles buy colored gel at Michaels or other and toothpick some in a sandwich bag and mix sugar colors. EVERYONE LOVED IT. "THANKS"

great recipe!! I made half for one cake. Mine got a little brown on top even with cooking it 25 mins. instead of 30. I forgot to lower the over rack, so it was my mistake.

I just made this and took it in to the office, and it got rave reviews. I used dried cranberries in place of the raisins. Delish!!

Non-dairy, but fantastic! I have never made anything that needed to rise before, so I was doubly impressed. I made a couple of changes because of food allergies but I believe that the recipe would be at least as good if not better without any modifications. I had to make this non-dairy so I substituted frozen leftover dairy-free eggnog for the milk. I figured that would be closer to real milk than rice milk would have been. I reduced the sugar just a little bit to compensate for the sweetness of the eggnog. I also used dairy-free butter. Oh, yeah, I didn't have pecans so I chopped up some almonds instead. Worked great. One more thing: I didn't have the right colors of sprinkles for Mardi Gras, so I made colored sugar using the recipe found under "Colored Sugar" on Allrecipes.

This is wonderful to eat and fun to make. I used the cream cheese frosting as was suggested in another review and left out the colors. I baked in my convection oven at 340 degrees for 22 minutes and I will cut down on the time to 20 minutes the next time we enjoy this wonderful cake (pastry).

I made this King Cake- my very first attempt at one- and it turned out beautifully! I only cooked it 25 minutes. It would have burned if I left it in for 30 so be sure to check it. It takes a lot of patience but it is well worth it! I also made one giant King Cake instead of two smaller ones like the recipe suggests. I left out the pecans and raisins in the filling and even used some whole wheat flour mixed in with the all purpose for the filling.

I made this recipe last year, and it was incredible. I used cinnamon apples as the filling, took the darn thing to work, and it was gone in an hour. Great recipe, and doubles well as a recipe for cinnamon rolls - just use a sharp knife to cut the roll. :)

Tasted yummy, but I think the filling could be doubled or even tripled!

I can't believe I made something so pretty! I followed a few suggestions 1) I split each 1/2 into thirds and braided. It looked beautiful. 2) Omitted the raisin because I don't like them. 3) Used walnuts because that's what iI had on hand. 4) Cooked at 350 for 27 minutes and even that seemed too long. So, for the second one, I cooked it for 25minutes and it was still a little drier than I would have liked. Next time I'll decrease the cooking time by another few minutes to see if that makes a difference. 5) I used a thinned out cream cheese frosting to ice the cake and it added a fantastic flavor. This was a great recipe. I cannot wait to make it again! Thank you sooo much for posting it...my guests were thoroughly impressed.

I have several different variations of this recipe, and while they are all great, I really like this one best. What you use for the filling is a matter of personal preference. I'm not particularly a raisin fan, but I did use golden raisins in the filling for this recipe, and everyone LOVED the cake (myself included). This is a wonderful recipe, and not at all difficult, it just takes a bit of time. This makes two large rings---one to serve and one to give. Do try this!

This was delicious! I added extra brown sugar and butter to the filling and did not add the nuts and raisins. I made my own sugars with regular granulated sugar and food coloring. Gotta get that sugar on there quick, cause the powdered sugar glaze dries fast! Not sure if I made the cuts the way they are supposed to be, but they ARE NECESSARY because first time around I forgot to do it; it was still edible but looked terrible. These two came out really good.

This king cake is amazing! Better than most bakeries. I made some changes: for the filling I left out the nuts and raisins, I never heard of a king cake with raisins and I'm from Louisiana! And I doubled the filling. I did the dough in the bread machine which helped a lot. For the frosting I put a pinch of vanilla in the sugar, a small amount of melted butter and enough milk to make smooth. I baked at 350 for about 15 minutes. This was my first time doing a king cake and using a bread machine and found it was easier than I thought it would be. If you follow directions, you won't be disappointed with this recipe!!

First time trying this recipe and it came out better than I expected. The video was very helpful, and good for referencing how to kneed the dough. I didn't like the frosting so I made a buttercream frosting instead.

Great for Mardi Gras themed book club! Special thanks to Laur5270 from Feb 01, 2010 as I didn't know how I would get dough to rise in cold winter months, but the 2 hours in the microwave with a cup of boiled water worked great. I made 1 cake (1/2 recipe) and put it in a bundt pan and it looked a little more elegant. I cut a little off the bottom to level it out. Wilton has a 4 sprinkle package which had the perfect green, yellow and purple (plus pink) which made decorating easy.

it took more work than i originally thought, but totally worth it! I combined this recipe (dough and baking time) with one on bon appetit (custard filling and icing) and it was great!

This is a very good recipe with one exception- the cooking temp. I am giving this a 4 because of that, but would like to say that the dough of this recipe is fantastic. I did leave the raisins out because that isn't traditional. And I added cream cheese and apple filling. I made my dough using the dough hook of my kitchenaid mixer.

Nice taste, fairly easy to make. Next time I'll cut the bake time down to 25 minutes, came out a little dark, and slightly dry.

Absolutely the best I've every had, and that includes the ones in New Orleans. Amazing. We made one change, switched out the raisin filling for cream cheese filling. But it the texture and taste of the bread that was so amazing.!!

I am from New Orleans and this one was pretty close. Since we don't add the raisins to our King Cakes, I left that part out. It was a great substitute for us now that we are far from home. Thank you!