Kid-Sized King Cake
The perfect way to celebrate Mardi Gras with these kid-sized king cakes. Whether you want to introduce your kids to a fun new tradition or enjoy a King Cake that's a little smaller portion-wise, these King Cakes are the perfect size for a small group and taste delicious too.
Ingredients
King Cake Dough
- 8 oz sour cream
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter cubed
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup warm water
- ¾ Tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 large egg beaten
- 3-3 ½ cups bread flour see recipe note
King Cake Filling
- 3 Tablespoons butter softened
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 small unwrapped candies to hide in the King Cakes
Glaze
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla or any flavoring you like
- purple, yellow, green sugar sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- In a saucepan on the stove over low heat, cook the sour cream, sugar, butter and salt until the butter is melted. Cool to room temperature.
- Pour the mixture into a heavy duty stand mixer (Bosch, KitchenAid, etc…) and add the water and instant yeast. Mix in the egg and 1 cup of flour and beat until smooth. Gradually add in the remaining flour until a soft dough forms.
- Knead with your mixer 5 minutes or by hand about 10 minutes. Be careful not to over-flour your dough.
- Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about an hour.
- Punch down the dough and divide it in half (this recipe makes two “smaller” King Cakes).
- Mix together your filling: butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and divide it in half (a portion for each cake).
- Using one piece of dough at a time, roll the dough out to a rectangle about 16 inches long, or longer and 6-8 inches wide. Spread the filling over the dough trying to get an even coating over all the dough (this should remind you of making cinnamon rolls).
- Place your candy on the cake at the edge nearest to you and where you begin to roll.
- Roll up each rectangle like a jelly-roll and then form a circle by bringing the ends of the roll together and pinching the seams together as you
- Repeat for the second king cake. You may want to put a small, circular, oven-proof dish in the center of the ring to help keep the circular shape in the middle when baking.
- Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes until puffy.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes until golden and cooked through.
- While the cakes are cooling, mix up the glaze with a spoon or hand mixer. Add a little more cream if glaze is too thick.
- Add glaze to piping (or ziplock) baggies, cut off the ends and let your kids decorate their cakes!
- Top with purple, yellow and green sprinkles and have your child guess where their “baby” (or candy in this case) is located in their cake. Enjoy the deliciousness of a Mardi Gras King Cake!
Notes
Serving Size: This recipe makes two small king cakes, each feeding about 8 people. If you want to make one large king cake, use all of the dough and make one large king cake (feeding about 18 people).
Bread Flour: If you don't have bread flour, you can substitute all purpose flour. If you have vital wheat gluten, add 2-3 teaspoons in with the all purpose flour for a bread flour substitution.
King Cake Candy: Unwrap any of your favorite candy to hide in the King Cake. Caramel held up the best. Chocolate worked well. Gummy candy dissolved but was still fun.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!