Celebrate Mardis Gras With King Cake, King Cake Mocktail

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Celebrate Mardi Gras the right way — with king cake!

King Cake Mocktail

From Harmons Chefs

Serves 1

Ingredients:

Crushed ice

3 Tbsp (1 ½ oz) fresh lime juice

1 ½ tsp (¼ oz) simple syrup

2 Tbsp (1 oz) grapefruit juice

2 Tbsp (1 oz) pineapple juice

Vanilla frosting

Purple, green and gold sprinkles

Fresh mint leaves

Instructions:

Fill a tall glass with ice. Add lime juice, simple syrup, grapefruit and pineapple juices and shake or stir to combine.

Dip the rim of a cocktail glass with frosting. Place sprinkles in a shallow dish and dip frosted rim in sprinkles.

Pour mocktail mixture, while straining ice, into prepared cocktail glass.

 

Mardi Gras King Cake

From Judy Walker from The Times-Picayune

Serves 20

Ingredients:

Cake

4-3/4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1-1/2 tsp salt

2 packages instant yeast

3/4 cup whole milk

1/2 cup water

½ cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus 2 Tbsp melted butter

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 tsp lemon zest

2 Tbsp cinnamon, divided

Dash nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Icing

2 cups powdered sugar

About 3 Tbsp liquid, including 2 Tbsp lemon juice and 1 Tbsp milk

Purple, green and gold sugars or sprinkles

To make the cake, in a saucepan over medium heat, add milk, water, and butter to 120-130 degrees. Check it with an instant-read thermometer.

In a large bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast.

Add liquid mixture to the bowl and beat 2 minutes at medium speed with an electric mixer. Add the eggs, egg yolk, 1/2 cup flour, lemon zest, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Beat on high speed 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining 3-3/4 to 4 cups flour to make a stiff batter. You may not need the entire 4 cups.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl coated with cooking spray. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate about 2 hours.

Line a jelly-roll pan with parchment paper.

Punch the dough down and place on a lightly floured surface. Shape the dough into a roughly flattened rectangle. With a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to about ¼” thick, making a large rectangle roughly 24” long and 8-12” wide. Run a spatula gently underneath to make sure the dough is not sticking to the floured surface.

With a pastry brush, spread the 2 tablespoons melted butter lightly over the surface of the dough. Lightly sprinkle with powdered sugar and the remaining 1 tablespoon cinnamon.

Starting at one long side, roll the dough tightly into an even roll. Transfer the roll to the baking pan covered with parchment. Shape the roll into an oval, with the ends meeting on one side (not at the top or bottom). Pinch the ends together firmly to connect the ring.

Cover the cake with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Let the cake rest on the pan for 5 minutes, then use two large spatulas to carefully remove the cake to a baking rack to cool completely before decorating.

To decorate the cake, make the icing to a pourable consistency. Pour the icing all over the surface of the king cake. Working quickly with the pastry brush, slather the icing all over the cake.

Working in wedge shapes, sprinkle colored sugars over the icing, working all the way around the cake, alternating purple, green and gold stripes/wedges. Try to make the stripes even.

Let the icing and sugar set completely before moving the king cake carefully onto a serving tray.