Easy King Cake {Bread Machine}

What is a King Cake?

A king cake is a classic dessert served for the Mardi Gras season in New Orleans and is especially appropriate for the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, also known as Three Kings Day.

Traditionally, a plastic baby is hidden inside the cake. Whoever gets the slice with the hidden baby is crowned King or Queen of the party and is in charge of hosting the next Mardi Gras event and/or buying the next king cake.

If you're interested in learning even more about the history of the king cake and the plastic baby tradition check out this Better Homes & Gardens article here.

Why This is the Best Recipe

While there are several different variations on king cake and tons of filling flavor options to choose from, I wanted this recipe to be easy enough for a family to bake at home to celebrate the Epiphany or Mardi Gras together.

As the author of The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook, I think this is the best king cake recipe because:

1. Bread Machine Friendly: My cake is like a giant, braided cinnamon roll. It starts with a tender brioche bread dough that you can prepare in a bread maker with less than 5 minutes of hands-on work.
2. Cinnamon Sugar Filling: While a traditional filling option, this also happens to be the easiest for new bakers to work with and the quickest to mix together.
3. Easy to Shape: Even if you've never made cinnamon rolls before, I think you'll find that forming this braided king cake is quite easy.
4. Fun to Decorate: With a simple vanilla glaze for the top, all you need are some colorful sprinkles. Anyone can make this king cake look incredible in minutes.

My recipe is adapted from the House of Nash Eats king cake recipe. Amy's recipe makes two king cakes from one batch of dough and doesn't require a bread machine so there will be a little more hands-on time to make it.

Ingredients

To make the brioche dough for the king cake, all you need is:

• Flour: Just regular all-purpose flour works great. No need to use bread flour.
• Sugar
• Milk: I used 2%.
• Egg
• Butter
• Vanilla
• Instant Yeast: I used SAF-instant yeast.
• Salt: I used Morton's Kosher Salt

For the cinnamon filling you will need:

• Brown Sugar
• Regular Sugar
• All-Purpose Flour: This thickens the filling so nicely.
• Cinnamon
• Butter

For the vanilla glaze on top you will need:

• Powdered Sugar
• Milk: I used 2%
• Vanilla

Make the Dough in the Bread Machine

As with all my bread machine recipes, you will start the brioche dough by adding the liquid ingredients to your bread maker pan first.

Check to be sure your paddle is in place first.

In a liquid measuring cup, measure the milk. Cut the butter into small cubes and add it to the milk. Heat the milk on HIGH in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Pour the warmed milk into the bread pan.

Add the warm water and vanilla extract to the pan.

Crack your egg into the still-warm measuring cup. Check for shells. Then pour it into the bread pan.

Layer the dry ingredients directly on top of the wet ones:

Add the flour over the milk. Then spoon the sugar around the perimeter of the pan.

Add the salt around the edge of the pan and then use the back of your spoon to dig a well in the center of the flour. That is where you should put the yeast.

Set your bread machine to the DOUGH program and click start.

The dough program takes 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete and it should do all the work for you.

Prep the Cinnamon Filling

Towards the end of the bread machine cycle, you can prepare the cinnamon filling.

Add the brown sguar, sugar, flour, and cinnamon to a small mixing bowl and whisk them together.

Drizzle in the melted butter and stir to combine. The sugar will form an almost streusel like texture with clumps of sugar that look like this:

How to Assemble the Cake

When the brioche dough is finished rising in the bread machine, set out a baking mat and sprinkle it with flour.

Transfer the dough to the mat and roll it out to a large rectangle, about 10 x 16 inches.

Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough in half lengthwise to form two long strips.

Add the prepared cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the two halves. Spread the sugar from edge to edge but leave a 1-inch border on one side as seen in figure 2 below:

Roll the dough towards that open 1-inch border. You'll notice that the bread pushes excess brown sugar towards that open space as you roll. This trick helps ensure you don't lose all your filling onto the baking mat.

Repeat with the second half. You should now have two long rolled logs of dough sitting side by side.

To braid the dough and form the king cake, you need to use a gentle hand. You don't want to twist the ropes too tightly together or you won't get the nice puffy braided top.

Start with one end and fold one log over the other. Then take the opposite log and fold it over the first one. (Figure 1 below.)

Keep gently laying one log over the other until you have one long twisted braid.

Transfer the braid to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Pull both ends together to form a circle and pinch the ends together.

Cover the king cake with plastic wrap and let it rise for 30 - 45 minutes.

Baking Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the king cake for 25 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. Set aside to cool.

How to Decorate a King Cake

A traditional king cake has a plastic baby hidden inside and is topped with purple, green, and gold sprinkles.

You can buy the plastic babies here and I found this awesome set of sprinkling sugar that has all the colors you need in one easy package. You can buy the sprinkles here.

I did not feel comfortable baking the baby inside the bread, I didn't trust the plastic to not melt in the oven. So instead, I tucked the baby into one of the braid creases (Figure 2 & 3). You can't even see it!

Whisk the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla together and spoon it over the king cake letting it drizzle a little down the sides.

Immediately sprinkle the colored sugar over the top before the glaze sets. You'll need to work quickly, by the time I made it around the surface of the cake, the glaze had already hardened.

You might find it even easier to work in sections and add the sprinkles before you finish adding the glaze.

My vanilla glaze recipe is intended to make a bit more than you need. It is so much easier to have too much than not enough when it comes to decorating this cake. Don't worry if you end up having leftover glaze that doesn't get used.

Make Ahead Tips

The king cake absolutely tastes best the day it is baked.

If you need to make it in advance, I would recommend making the brioche dough and braiding the cake. But once you have it on the baking pan, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge overnight.

You can let it warm on the counter for 30 minutes before baking the next day. Then you just need to ice it and add the sprinkles.

Serving Suggestions

This particular version of king cake tastes just like a giant cinnamon roll with icing.

It would work great as a Mardi Gras dessert but you could also serve it as part of a brunch or a breakfast treat for the family.

I love the idea of serving it for the Feast of the Three Kings and we definitely plan to make it an Epiphany tradition in the years to come.