Culinary Medicine for the Body, Mind, & Soul
GLUTEN-FREE
KING CAKE
Makes: 1 Large King Cake (or 6 mini and 1 medium size)
Serves: 12
Time to Make: 30 + minutes (plus ~3 hours of rise and 30 minutes bake time)
Good for the Body, Mind, & Soul
Contains Dairy, Yeast
GLUTEN-FREE KING CAKE
Having gone to enjoy New Orleans and all the beauty and deliciousness is has, I wanted to bring some of that good food back with me to my friends and family. One thing my husband and I did do was bring back two King Cake's for our daughter's classes to enjoy right before Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. Of course, only one lucky child (not ours) found the lucky baby and were blessed with a year of good luck while also obligated to present the cake at the next year's Mardi Gras.
These days, I make the cake(s) and have quite a few plastic babies in hand so each child (or adult) can receive one, especially if I'm making mini cakes. I also opt for gluten-free flour and use much more lemon peel even preserved lemons because gluten-free is a little denser and dryer than you're traditional Danish pastry (sad to say), so the lemon gives it an extra boost.
Happy hunting!
INGREDIENTS
Cake
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1 Cup Milk, lukewarm ~110 Degree F (desired % Fat and/or Planted Based option)
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½ Cup Sugar --- take 1 Tablespoon Sugar for yeast
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2 Tablespoons Dry Yeast
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3 ¾ Cups Gluten-Free Flour
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1 Cup Butter, Salted & Melted
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3 Eggs, large
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1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
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1 Tablespoon Lemon Peel/Zest, fresh or preserved
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1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
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½ teaspoon Nutmeg
Icing
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1 ½ Cups Powdered Sugar
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1 Tablespoon Milk
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1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
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½ Lemon, juice
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Purple, Green, Gold, Pink decorative sugars, etc.
PREPARATION
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In a small bowl/glass measuring pitcher, pour the warm milk, yeast and sugar, gently stir and rest for 3-5 minutes to “feed” the yeast (bubbles should form=yeast is active)
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In a large bowl, mix the flour and the rest of the sugar.
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Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and gently mix
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Add in the melted, eggs, vanilla, lemon peel/zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Gently folding until everything is well mixed, you can also use a standing mixer with dough hook to kneed for 5-10 minutes or kneed by hand until surface is smooth and elastic.
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Grease a bowl and place dough inside, cover with plastic or beeswax wrap and towel, set aside in a warm/draft-free place to proof and rise for 2-3 hours or until increases in size (gluten-free usually requires more time and does not double in size)
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees F oven.
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Once dough is risen to desired size, divide into equal pieces (or if using cake pans, fill to about ¾ full).
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If divided into equal pieces, you can braid into long strips, then create a circle pinching at meeting point for a traditional cake. Place on a greased baking sheet.
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Place plastic wrap or beeswax wrap on top and allow to rise for another 30 minutes
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Remove wrap and place in oven for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle of cake comes out clean.
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Remove from oven and let cool
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To make the icing, in a bowl add the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and lemon juice and mix until no lumps, bumps. If it’s too thick, you can add more milk (or other liquid) or if too runny, you can add more powdered sugar.
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When cake has cool, add the “plastic baby” or bean (for lucky person) and plate the cake
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Spread the icing over the cake
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Add any decorative sugars while icing still wet
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Enjoy!
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Welcome to Health-Crush Nutritional Label for this meal. See how it fits into your daily nutritional needs. This meal includes all the ingredients above, so any deviation can alter the nutrition. As always, should you have any questions, please consult with me and/or your medical professional.
