Easy King Cake

Making your at-home Mardi Gras celebration easy-peasy!

Mardi Gras is just around the corner and while we may not be able to celebrate it in true carnival style this year, there’s nothing stopping us from throwing our own parties at home! I’ll be making delicious New Orleans inspired dishes and of course…not forgetting this Easy King Cake!

While the King Cake is rich in history, it’s also rich in delicious pastry cake flavors and sweet vanilla icing, then decorated with the proud colors of Mardi Gras. It’s the perfect piece of indulgence to treat yourself and the family to before everyone starts giving up their food addictions for Lent!

WHAT IS KING CAKE?

• While this cake got its meaning and name originally during the middle ages in Europe, it has evolved through French influence to become closely associated with Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday. This yummy cake is then generously covered in icing and colored sanding sugar or sprinkles to show off the colors of Mardi Gras (purple, green and gold/yellow). Purple represents power, green represents faith and gold/yellow represents justice.

Why is there a baby in King Cake?

• Through tradition, some still add a miniature plastic baby in their cake that represents a symbol of prosperity and luck.  Whoever gets a slice of cake with the baby is said to be in for a good year ahead! You can buy King Cake Babies on Amazon.

HOW SHOULD I STORE THIS EASY KING CAKE?

• If you plan on making this ahead of time, I suggest assembling the cake without the icing and then wrapping it tightly with plastic wrap to be stored in the refrigerator for up to 7 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• When you are ready to enjoy your King Cake, allow it to reach room temperature and make up the fresh icing to finish off this festive-looking cake with colored sanding sugar, ready to be served and enjoyed!
• If you have any leftovers, these can also be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

TIPS FOR MAKING EASY KING CAKE

• For easy clean up, keep your cake on a cooling rack with a sheet of baking paper underneath while icing the cake in case any of the icing drips off the cake.
• Instead of icing, you could make use of homemade cream cheese frosting. Depending on the size of cake you want, you can either use regular size or jumbo size refrigerated cinnamon rolls. If you opt for a larger cake, you may need to make additional icing to give your cake a good covering.
• While this recipe is fairly straightforward, if you don’t feel up to making your King Cake from scratch, you do have the easy option of purchasing this King Cake mix on Amazon.

Easy King Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray. Remove cinnamon rolls from packaging and set aside the icing.
2. Drizzle about 1⁄3 of the melted butter into the bottom and sides of the bundt pan. Sprinkle with about a third of the brown sugar.
3. Use your hands to smash each cinnamon roll a bit so that it spreads a little bigger. Line half of the cinnamon rolls around the bundt pan.
4. Drizzle with half of the remaining butter and sprinkle with half of the remaining brown sugar. Place your king cake baby or trinket into the middle of the pan over one of the cinnamon rolls.
5. Repeat smashing and layering the remaining cinnamon rolls. Drizzle with the remainder of the butter and sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar over the top.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes until the cinnamon rolls are browned and puffy and have mostly filled the bundt pan. Allow pan to cool for about 5 minutes.
7. Invert the cinnamon roll cake onto a cake plate or cooling rack and allow to cool the rest of the way.
8. Heat the cinnamon roll icing in the microwave for just 5-10 seconds until it is easy to spread.
9. Pour over the cooled cake and sprinkle with purple, yellow, and green sanding sugar.

Recipes for Your Mardi Gras Celebrations

• Easy Shrimp Fried Rice
• Crockpot Red Beans and Rice
• Mardi Gras Snack Mix
• Hot Italian Sub Sliders

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4.67 from 3 votes

Easy King Cake

Don't have time to make a traditional King Cake? My Easy King Cake recipe using cinnamon rolls as a base and topped with sweet vanilla icing.

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cooling Time: 1 hour hour

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 55 minutes minutes

Serves:12

Hover over "serves" value to reveal recipe scaler

Calories:282

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Ingredients

• 26 oz. cans of cinnamon rolls plus included icing
• 1/4 cup salted butter melted
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• Green yellow, and purple sanding sugar

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray. Remove cinnamon rolls from packaging and set aside the icing.
• Drizzle about 1⁄3 of the melted butter into the bottom and sides of the bundt pan. Sprinkle with about a third of the brown sugar.
• Use your hands to smash each cinnamon roll a bit so that it spreads a little bigger. Line half of the cinnamon rolls around the bundt pan.
• Drizzle with half of the remaining butter and sprinkle with half of the remaining brown sugar. Place your king cake baby or trinket into the middle of the pan over one of the cinnamon rolls.
• Repeat smashing and layering the remaining cinnamon rolls. Drizzle with the remainder of the butter and sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar over the top.
• Bake for about 30 minutes until the cinnamon rolls are browned and puffy and have mostly filled the bundt pan. Allow pan to cool for about 5 minutes.
• Invert the cinnamon roll cake onto a cake plate or cooling rack and allow to cool the rest of the way.
• Heat the cinnamon roll icing in the microwave for just 5-10 seconds until it is easy to spread.
• Pour over the cooled cake and sprinkle with purple, yellow, and green sanding sugar.

Video

Recipe Notes:

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Nutrition Information:

Calories: 282kcal (14%)Carbohydrates: 40g (13%)Protein: 3g (6%)Fat: 13g (20%)Saturated Fat: 6g (30%)Trans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 10mg (3%)Sodium: 477mg (20%)Potassium: 13mgSugar: 22g (24%)Vitamin A: 118IU (2%)Calcium: 9mg (1%)Iron: 1mg (6%)

Nutrition Disclaimer

Family Fresh Meals is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.

Course:bread, Dessert

Cuisine:Family Favorite

Keyword:mardi gras, new orleans

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