It is officially King Cake season in Louisiana. My normal go to is OBVIOUSLY Randazzo's. Unfortunately, I live in Baton Rouge now, and have yet to find anything comparable. Though I did have a pretty amazing double chocolate king cake with Bavarian cream. None of which I usually like, but it was amazing.
I used to not be a fan of the crazy fillings and twists that people put on King cake, itself a twist on a french pastry...
I like original with a heavy icing and colored sugar (not sprinkles!) The way it should be. But then I came across a recipe for a king cake babka. And with my recent introduction into the world of baking, I knew I had to try this twist on a traditional polish dessert. Which is a twist on my traditional favorite cake.
This was only my second time using active yeast, so I was nervous my first foray was simply beginners luck. But here I go anyway...
Makes 1 (9x5-in) Loaf
Cook time- around 5-6 hours
Ingredients:
3 cups all- purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar, divided
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (one packet is usually 2 1/4 tsp. Make sure!!)
2 tsp orange zest
1/2 cup warm milk (whole is best) (heated to 105-110)
2 large room temperature eggs (room temp. helps them incorporate easier)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter, softened, divided in half
2 tsp sea salt/kosher salt
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 cup finely ground pecans
1 cup confectioners sugar
3 tbsp cold whole milk
Carnival Sugars
Directions:
1) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine yeast and warm milk (105-110 F) let sit until foaming, about 5 - 10 minutes.
2) Add flour, sugar, and zest. Combine.
3) with mixer on low speed, add eggs and vanilla. Beat until mixture comes together, 2-3 minutes
4) Increase speed to low-medium. Add 1/2 cup of butter (one stick) 1 tbsp at a time. Letting each piece incorporate before adding the next. Add salt, beating until just combined.
5) Increase mixer speed to high-medium. Beat until smooth and elastic dough forms, and pulls away from the side of the bowl.
6) Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place dough in bowl, turn dough so all sides are greased. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size- 1.5-2 hours. Place dough in fridge for about 30 minutes.
7) In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cinnamon, 1/2 cup of butter (the second stick), and remaining 1/2 cup of sugar at medium speed until creamy. Stopping to scrap sides of bowl. Fold in the pecans.
8) Spray a 9x5in. loaf pan with cooking spray
9) On a heavily floured surface, roll dough into a 16x12in. rectangle. Spread pecan mixture onto dough, leaving a 1in. border on the long sides.
10) Start rolling dough short side, jelly roll style. Press to seal the edge.
11) Using a SHARP knife, cut roll in half, lengthwise.
12) Carefully twist dough pieces together. Place in prepared pan, cut side up. Cover, let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size. 1.5-2 hours.
13) Preheat oven to 350 F
14) Bake for 30 minutes. Cover with foil and bake until a thermometer inserted into in the center reads 190 F, about 30 minutes.
15) Let cool in pan for 30 minutes. Remove.
16) In a small bowl, mix confectioner's sugar and cold milk. Drizzle this glaze over the loaf, top with carnival sugar.
STEP by STEP:
I'm a big fan of dirtying a bunch of dishes so that everything is ready to go as soon as you need it- and you don't waste a bunch of time being all "What am I missing...?" It also allows for quicker cleanup, at least for me.
First, warm 1/2 cup of whole milk, 105-110 degrees. Any hotter and you'll kill the yeast. I accidentally got my milk too hot, and had to wait for it to cool down. If you're going to be using yeast, I highly suggest investing in a food thermometer, this one is originally for candy but I highly recommend an instant read thermometer.
Once your milk is at the right temperature, add it to the yeast in the stand mixer. Let it sit for about 5 min. It will begin to foam. If it doesn't foam. You're a murderer. Because the yeast is dead and you have to start over.
This may be as foamy as it gets. But its got the bubbles, and a distinct foam forming. Add the flour and sugar at this point.
I can not stress enough how important it is to SIFT THE FLOUR! ALWAYS sift the flour. Either as you add it, or before hand. You need to get rid of the clumps of flour that happens when you're measuring. Or it can cause bubbles in your final product.
With the mixer on low speed, mix the flour and sugar with the activated yeast. Once combined, add eggs, vanilla, and orange zest.
Raise the mixer to medium, add one stick of butter (1/2 a cup) one tablespoon at a time. Making sure each piece is fully incorporated before adding the next. It'll look a little goopy. That's okay right now. It'll come together the more you mix
Add the salt and beat until combined, then increase speed to High. Beat until the mixture comes away from the sides. Watch closely on this step, I was washing dishes since it was taking a little while. Next thing I knew, the stand mixer was basically knocking itself off the counter.
Spray a large bowl with cooking spray, place dough in the bowl. Turn to cover all sides of the dough and then cover. Let rise for 1.5-2 hours in a warm, dry, draft-free location until doubled in size.
(Don't forget to wash out your stand mixer unless you're fancy and have more than one bowl...)- If you need a short break, now is the time to take one.
Once the dough has doubled in size, place in fridge for 30 min.
(See the difference in size?)
Once the dough is in the fridge, get to work on the pecan filling. Add the remaining1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon into the stand mixer, fixed with the paddle attachment. With the speed on medium, add the remaining 1/2 cup butter in small increments, this helps blend it better. Make sure to intermitadly stop to scrape the sides of the bowl.
Once the mixture is fully incorporated, fold the finely chopped pecans in.
When fully mixed, set aside.
Prepare a floured surface for the dough. (I don't have a good space for this, so I always end up using something like parchment paper as my surface. I don't recommend it...)
Roll out the dough till its around 12x16 rectangle. Make sure to cover the pin in flour as well.
Spread the pecan filling across, leaving an in. border around the top and bottom of the long sides. (It isn't perfect? Neither is life. Do what you can)
Roll the dough jelly-style from one short end to another. It may be lumpy... It happens. Try to seal the end closed.
using a sharp knife, cut the roll in half, lengthwise. Twist the sides so the inside faces up.
From here, carefully wrap the two sides around each other, like a braid.
Next is a tricky part, and honestly I got frustrated with myself because I couldn't make it look like I wanted. Don't do that. It's dumb.
Pick up the plait, and put it in the prepared loaf tin.
Cover the tin and allow the bread to rise in a warm, draft free place until doubled in size, about 1 - 1.5 hours. Nows another time to take a mini break.
Once you go back to the bread, it should have doubled in size.
Set the oven to 350F, bake for 30 minutes.
Take out and cover with foil, bake for about 30 more minutes, until a thermometer inserted into in the center reads 190 F.
Let cool in pan for 30 minutes. Remove.
Mix the cold milk and confectioner's sugar (spoiler- its the same thing as powdered sugar) This will make a glaze for the top of the cake.
Let the cake COOL COMPLETELY before glazing, I did not, and it did not come out like it should have...
Cover with Carnival Sugars. (Purple, Green, and Gold sugar)
Carnival Sugars:
Because I used organic powder food coloring, the coloring came out very pastel. Also- I accidentally added to much blue to yellow to make my green... so it came out more aqua than I wanted. Live and learn.
Literally all you do is:
1) Add 1/2 cup of sugar to a plastic bag
2) in each bag add gold, purple, and green food coloring- separately of course)
3) Shake around till the sugar is the color you want
(This recipe was heavily based on a recipe found in Louisiana Cookin' Magazine. I have adjusted some things and went to other Babka recipes to understand the basics of the Babka as the original recipe was a little confusing and unclear.)
