Phat Tuesday King Cakes

It's probably a little ridiculous to post a King Cake recipe the day after Mardi Gras, but I didn't get my pics off my camera until now.

The King Cake is (I think) a lot like Christmas fruitcakes--they start popping up in grocery stores at one particular point in the season, and are never as appetizing as advertised. It's one of those traditional foods that people seem obligated to buy, but no one is really ever super excited about it. (I'm sure there are New Orleans residents who would beg to differ with me on that point.)

Anyway, I think they're kinda tacky--slathered in high sugar glaze and festooned with an explosion of sprinkles...they're like the over-forty cougars in miniskirts at the bar...trying just a little to hard to get noticed.

All that being said, this year I decided that they are probably better if made from scratch, not sealed in a plastic and cardboard box, and so I pulled a recipe from epicurious and made a couple King Cakes for friends and coworkers.

The dough is brioche-like in it's excessive use of butter, but then heavily seasoned with cinnamon and lemon zest. It actually made my house smell completely heavenly while it was rising. After letting it rise all day, I came home and partitioned the dough into strands to braid, then rise again.
After the second rise, they baked for half an hour, and cooled while I mixed a powdered sugar and lemon juice icing.

If you're unfamiliar with the whole King Cake tradition, you may not know that the baker hides a plastic, miniature baby figurines in the cake, and the person who finds it is "king" for the year. (What that actually means is beyond me. Serfs? Fiefdoms?) Not having a surplus of baby figurines lying about my house, I used a couple dollar coins instead, keeping in mind I needed something that wasn't a choking hazard.

Once they prizes were tucked away, I attempted to artfully apply the icing (I wanted these to be fancy-pants, Parisian pastry shop quality), but quickly realized that the King Cake cannot be classy--the icing pools and runs, thick in some places, thin in others. I forwent the silicon pastry brush and switched to a ladle. A generous application of green, gold, and purple sprinkles and the cakes were done.

And actually, they turned out to be pretty tasty...like a cinnamon breakfast danish, but a little more dense. Both friends and coworkers seemed to enjoy it, especially the two individuals who made a little cash when they found the hidden coins. Not sure I'll make them again, but it was fun to try it out. Next year, I think I'll get my friend to teach me to make Polish paczki's...