King Cake Season!!

Geaux Saints! In honor of their Super Bowl appearance and Mardi Gras season, I am posting this fabulous King Cake recipe I found in Cooking Up a Storm, edited by Marcelle Bienvenu and Judy Walker. I have adjusted it some from the original recipe, but I like it better that way. Here you are:

Dough:
1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
1 envelope active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm milk (105 to 115 degrees F)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I add it everywhere I can!)
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs

Cinnamon Filling:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 red bean, pecan half, or plastic baby figurine

Frosting:
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (I think it's optional, or replaceable with vanilla extract, your choice)
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
Purple, green, and yellow paste food coloring (or just add those color sprinkles while icing still wet, or do both!)

For the dough: Pour the warm water into a large warmed bowl. Sprinkle the yeast and stir until dissolved. Stir in the warm milk, butter, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Add 1 cup of the flour and blend well. Stir in the eggs and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Lightly flour a flat work surface and turn out the dough. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes, adding more flour if the dough sticks. Put in a large greased bowl, and turn to grease the top of the dough. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. ***(I turned on the oven to 150 upon beginning the process, and turned it off when it reached 100 degrees. I placed the dough to rise in the oven with a wet towel on top and it rose perfectly for me!)

For the filling: Punch the dough down. Transfer to the lightly floured work surface and use a rolling pin to roll into a 30-by-9-inch rectangle. Brush with melted butter. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture over the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Beginning at the long end, roll up tightly, as for a jelly roll. Pinch the seam to seal.
***Here's where it gets tricky. The second time, I stopped the directions here, and placed it on the pan rolled up to let it rise and bake. It turned out round and moist inside (after also only baking for about 20-25 minutes)
The recipe goes on to tell you to do this, however: With a sharp knife, cut the roll in half lengthwise, and carefully turn the halves so that the cut sides face up. Join the ends, pinching them to form one ring, keeping the cut sides up. Transfer the ring to a large, greased cookie sheet. This method created a wider, less moist cake. However, I also baked it for 30 minutes instead of 20-25 minutes, and I believe it lost moistness because of it. It was cool looking, but a little drier. You could even twist all the cut pieces together for sort of a braid look. I believe it's totally up to the baker on this one...

If using a red bean or pecan half, push it into the underside of the dough to hide it. (A baby sharm will go in after baking.) Cover, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, 20 to 40 minutes. Preheat over to 350 degrees F.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned (For the second, more moist one, it was only just starting to get a litle color when I decided to take it out, perfect!) Remove cake from baking sheet and let cool on a wire rack. (If using a plastic baby figurine, push it into the underside of the cake.)

For the frosting: In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, almond extract (or vanilla), and milk until smooth. If using food coloring, divide among three smaller bowls. Tint one mixture purple, the second one green, and the third one yellow, mixing each one well. Drizzle each color atop the cake. If using sprinkles, sprinkle each color on a third of the top of the cake.

Next step, eat and enjoy!!