Recipe - King Cake

KING CAKE, BATON ROUGE CAJUN

2 pkg. yeast One half c. lukewarm water One half t. sugar 1 c. scalded milk One half stick
good margarine 3/8 c. sugar 2 t. salt 1 egg 56 c. flour Scald milk and add
melted margarine. LET COOL. Soften yeast in water, add One half t. sugar to
yeast. Let sit 30 seconds to activate yeast. Add yeast mixture, eggs,
sugar and salt to COOLED milk. Add flour a little at at time until you have
a thick dough. Let rest 10 minutes, knead 20 minutes. Divide dough into two
portions. Roll one portion out into a rectangle until dough is approx. 1/2
in. thick. Spread softened butter onto dough. Sprinkle with a mixture of
Three fourths c. sugar and 2 t. cinnamon. Roll dough up starting at widest end and
them form a circle and squeeze together at opening ends of circle.
Carefully place on cookie sheet. Let rise till double and bake 350 deg.
oven for 2025 min. Make confectioner sugar thin icing and divide into
three bowls. Color each icing bowl, purple, green and yellow. If you have
a plastic baby doll put it inside the bake cake.If not, some true Cajuns
add a red bean inside the cake. FROST the cake with the three different
colors. Now I sometimes make a cream cheese filling. Simply mix soften
cream cheese (16 oz) with 1 c. confectioner sugar and 1 t. almond extract.
Instead of the butter/cinnamon sugar filling, I put this cream cheese
filling. IT IS VERY VERY GOOD. Here in Louisiana,it is traditional that
whoever get the baby or bean when served the cake has to bring the cake to
the next party or office coffee shop. LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULLER!

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini