Mam Papaul's King Cake Kit

During third year of medical school, there was a rare snow day in medical school. Rare that it snowed that much in STL and rare that we would get med school off. Anyways, my friend said we should make a King Cake! I had never heard of one. My friend explained it was a Mardi Gras Tradition and in addition to sprinkles, there was a plastic baby in the cake. My kind of cake! Haha! It was so much fun to make! I was thinking about that recently and decided to make a King Cake this year!

I got this mix from Mam Papaul's, which had the sprinkles and plastic baby -- as you can see! :) You hide the baby in the cake (after baking). Whoever finds the plastic baby gets prosperity for the upcoming year. :)

Side note: Mardi Gras is pretty big in STL. They say it's the biggest one outside of New Orleaas.

Here is a lot more about King Cakes! Also why they were tradationally eaten between Epiphany and Mardi Gras, they are eaten all year round these days!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/what-is-king-cake-history-and-meaning-of-the-mardi-gras-tradition/ar-BB1dobzd?ocid=uxbndlbing

What I used:

- Mix (+egg, 8 tbsp butter, 1 cup of water)

- Praline / sugar mix

- Multicolored sprinkles

- Plastic baby

Something that is interesting is that you mix the dough in a plastic bag, which is provided. I had never made bread / cake and kneaded it in a bag. I like it though; a lot less messy. It made me think about trying it later.

I also let it rise by putting it in a warm water bath. I put some water in a big plastic bowl and I microwaved it for 45 seconds. I thought by making the dough sit dry (it was in a plastic bag) , but in the warm water bath that it would help it rise and double-in-size.

Left: Plastic baby for fun. Center and right: Dough in a bag.

Then I added the praline sugar mix and sort of made a ring. I could have shaped it into a better ring. I don't have a big Bundt pan, but that would have come in handy here.

Then I made the glaze; the powdered sugar is provided and I added the sprinkles. Ta da!

Here is the King Cake. It's sort of like in between a cake & a danish. It's tasty! The praline sugar crunch provides a nice texture.

Give it a try! -- anytime of year :) We are good at this!