She Had Cashews On Her Feet: King Cake

As I've alluded to here and here, I've been working on perfecting my King Cake recipe. The base recipe is this one from King Arthur Flour, but I've made some changes to it.

One change was to come up with a chocolate filling since it was requested for the King Cake I'm taking to a party on the 27th. I searched for a pastry cream-type of chocolate filling, but decided to go with a chocolate cheesecake filling instead. For the second test cake, when I added the melted chocolate to the cream cheese filling, the chocolate was not hot enough and the cream cheese too cold and it did not fully incorporate. But that turned out to be a good thing -- having the little chocolate pieces made it taste much more chocolatey, so I've kept it that way. Also, it is easier to put the filling together without having to melt the chocolate -- one less bowl to wash.

King Cake

One large cake, Serves 16

Dough
3-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
2-1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
3/4 cup warm milk
2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Vanilla Cream Cheese Filling
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla

Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

2.5 ounces (~1/3 cup unchopped chips) semi-sweet chocolate, very finely chopped

OR

Pecan Filling

1 cup pecan halves, broken up slightly and roasted until fragrant
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch of salt
4 tablespoons corn syrup

OR

Strawberry Filling
2/3 cup strawberry preserves (I like to use seedless jam), stirred well

Egg Wash

1 egg white + 1 tablespoon water, mixed together

Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
~2 tablespoons milk

Topping
yellow, purple, and green fine sparkling sugars

Mix together 3 cups of flour and the rest of the dry ingredients for the dough, then add the warm milk and melted butter. Mix for 30 seconds or so and then add the eggs and vanilla and mix until a dough forms. Knead for 8 minutes, adding up to 1/2 cup flour. In order to avoid a dry cake, you want this to be a very soft dough, so be careful not too add too much flour, especially if kneading by hand. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.

If using one of the cream cheese fillings: While the dough is rising, mix together the cream cheese, sugar, flour and cocoa (if making chocolate filling) just until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add the chopped chocolate if making the chocolate filling. Try not to incorporate too much air into your filling while mixing it or you'll end up with air pockets in the finished cake. Chill the filling while the dough rises so it will firm up and be easier to work with.

If using the pecan filling: Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

Transfer the risen dough to a lightly floured work surface and pat and stretch it into a 24" x 4" rectangle. Spread the filling down the center of the dough. Then fold one edge of the dough over the filling, brush the top of that edge with the egg wash and fold the other edge of the dough on top. of that Pinch the edges together to seal the filling inside as much as possible. Also pinch the ends together

Place the roll of dough on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper (or lightly greased), seam down. Form into a circle and pinch the ends together. You will want a pretty big area in the center or else you won't have a hole in the middle once it bakes. Cover and let rise for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F while the dough rises.

Brush the risen loaf with the egg wash and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, then tent the cake lightly with aluminum foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes, until it's a rich golden brown. Remove the cake from the oven and carefully transfer it from the baking sheet to a rack to cool.

Beat together all of the icing ingredients and dribble in additional milk to make the icing pourable but still thick. Pour the icing over the completely cooled cake and, while the icing is still sticky, sprinkle with alternating bands of yellow, purple, and green sugars.

Although it hastens staling of any yeast-raised baked goods, you'll need to refrigerate this if not eating it within a few hours. Bring to room temperature before serving and keep leftovers in the refrigerator.