Mardi Gras King Cake & Celebrating in a NOLA Cemetery

Depending on where you live, today–February 25th, might be designated something other than a typical Tuesday. In Pennsylvania, German and Dutch heritages celebrate Fastnacht Day or “fast night.” In New Orleans, it’s Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. Nationally, it’s termed Pancake Day. Go to Iceland and you’ll probably hear today called “Bursting Day!” For me, it’s another Tuesday to bake!

Christians have been pigging out on doughy sweets on Fat Tuesday for centuries. Want not, waste not! Today was the day to use up the sugar, butter and lard before Lent’s fasting season started–Ash Wednesday. On Fat Tuesday (aka Bursting Day), it’s socially okay to glutton your way through stacks of syrupy pancakes or piles of dough-nutty delights!

Instead of flipping my Best Buttermilk Pancakes, I’m opting to use this last day of Carnival to make the iconic Mardi Gras King Cake. If I don’t, I theoretically am supposed to wait until next January, at the start of Epiphany, to make one. King Cakes are only supposed to be eating during Mardi Gras season. Who would’ve known?!

Since we’re talking Mardi Gras, let’s talk New Orleans. After all, it’s the place to go, besides Brazil, to see over-the-top floats, festive costumes and have beads flung at you. I’ll be honest. I’ve never been to NOLA during Mardi Gras season, but can only imagine the garish hoopla based on my Bourbon Street experiences!

Long after the floats are taken apart and costumes are packed away, the remains of Mardi Gras linger. Everywhere! The trees along parade routes, called Mardi Gras trees, drip with shiny gold, green and purple beads. Beads are even found in one of New Orleans’ famous Cities of the Dead–the historic Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 near the Garden District.

Several years ago, the hubby and I visited this very spot. Good thing, we aren’t squeamish about cemeteries. We’ve been tracking down the headstones of long-buried relatives for decades! Not knowing there were specific hours of “operation,” our first visit to Lafayette No. 1 was stopping-at-the-gates short. We noted the hours and returned later. Companies provide guided cemetery tours, but we opted for a self-guided one on our return visit.

Never having been to a cemetery of this sort, it was quite an eclectic experience. Tombs, dating back to 1833, are a combination of high-rise burials and raised-bed containers. The area’s high water table forces the final resting places of Lafayette Cemetery’s 7,000 dearly departed residents to sit higher towards the heavens. If a soil internment in your native dirt was your final wish, you’d pay a premium for a coping tomb! Once colorfully decorated, the tombs today come in all shades of gray. Colors pop out from the occasional fake-flower carefully placed in a vase, Mardi Gras beads adorning a guardian angel, or a fern with a foothold in a tomb wall.

Walking through Lafayette No. 1 leaves you wondering who-was-who and what was filmed where! The Earhart/Ferguson chamber is the final resting place of Supreme Court Justice John H. Ferguson of the Plessy vs. Ferguson trial (1896). An empty lot once housed a movie prop for Ashley Judd’s character to escape from in Double Jeopardy. The Karstendiek tomb is the only one of its kind in Lafayette No. 1. This cast iron, pre-fabricated version served as the model mausoleum in Anne Rice’s Interview with The Vampire (1994). And if you’re wondering where the residents of the Koenig vault are? They never were. It’s believed the family purchased the plot, but moved before using it. Cool to see its inner workings, huh?

Let’s think about those inner workings of a King Cake! For whatever reason, this mysterious, once-a-year cake always seemed too difficult to attempt. Until…I scrolled across King Arthur Flour’s King Cake recipe! An egg and butter-rich brioche, lightly flavored with lemon and nutmeg, King Cake is a closer relative to the cinnamon roll than a cake. Since this was my first attempt at a King Cake, I didn’t deviate from King Arthur Flour’s tried-n-true recipe. The recipe below is completely credited to King Arthur Flour, using an almond filling. The directions for a traditional cream cheese filled cake can be found here.

It’s going to be hard to NOT make this colorful brioche year-round! Maybe if I trick the Mardi Gras gods into thinking I’m making almond rolls (aka cinnamon rolls), we can enjoy King Cake longer…

Mardi Gras King Cake

Print Recipe

Lemony and light, this tender brioche centers a rich almond filling.  Decorate this King Cake’s simple vanilla glaze with gold, green and purple sugars and you’re set for Mardi Gras season!

• Author: King Arthur Flour Company
• Prep Time: 35 Minutes
• Cook Time: 50-55 Minutes
• Total Time: About 4 Hours
• Yield: 1 King Cake 1x

Ingredients

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For Dough:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup lukewarm milk (about 98 to 105 degrees F)

2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature; reserve the egg white.

3–1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup nonfat dried milk powder

1–1/4 tsp. salt (kosher or table)

2–1/2 tsp. yeast

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 to 1/4 tsp. lemon oil or extract; OR 1 tsp. lemon zest

For Almond Filling:

1–7 ounce package almond paste, crumbled

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tsp. almond extract

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cups white bread crumbs (make by tearing white bread into fine pieces)

For Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. salt

2 to 3 tbsp. milk (start with 2 tbsp. and add remaining until thick and pourable)

Colored sugars (green, gold and purple)

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Instructions

For Dough:

In a large bowl, using a stand mixer electric mixer, or bread machine, combine butter, milk, eggs and egg yolk, all-purpose flour, sugar, dried milk, salt, yeast, nutmeg and lemon oil.  Mix dough until it forms a silky, very smooth dough.  It will be sticky and soft.

Lightly cover dough and allow to rise in a warm location for 1 hour.  It will puff, but won’t completely double in size.

For Almond Filling:

In a medium sized bowl, beat almond paste, unsalted butter, and almond extract together until well incorporated. Add granulated sugar and white bread crumbs.  Beat again until evenly distributed.  The mixture will be moist and stiff.

Assembling the King Cake:

On a lightly greased surface, roll the dough into a 6″ by 24″ rectangular strip. Pat and spread the almond filling evenly over the dough’s surface, leaving a 1″ strip bare along the longest edge closest to you. Brush this bare edge with a light coat of water.  Roll the dough into a log, starting at the edge farthest away from you. Pinch the long seam closed.  Place the dough log onto a greased baking sheet or a parchment lined sheet.  Use a lightly greased, oven-safe round to form the dough around.  Pinch the ends together.  Cover lightly and allow to rise in a warm location for about an hour. Dough will be puffy.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F as the dough is rising.

Beat the reserved egg white together with 1 tsp. of water.  Brush over the risen dough.

Bake the cake for 20 minutes.  Tent with aluminum foil and continue baking for 30 more minutes. The dough will develop a deep golden brown color.  Let cake cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then moving the cake to the wire rack to cool completely.

For Icing: 

Mix the powdered sugar, milk, salt and vanilla together.  Start with 2 tbsp. of milk and add remaining to sugar until the icing is thick and pourable.  Pour over cooled cake and decorate with colored sugars.

Notes

I used a bread machine to make the dough. The dough doubled in size during the first rise.   It is a soft dough to work with, so be sure to work quickly when moving the rolled dough log to the baking sheet.