Mardi Gras King Cake

By davidv

It's a long process to make a traditional King Cake. When you need something quick, try this sour cream pound cake recipe. It’s absolutely delicious and can decorated with citrus icing and colored sugar crystals to look just like the real thing. Don’t forget to drop the plastic baby in the batter before baking. Whoever finds it has to hold the Mardi Gras party (and make the cake) next year!

Tip: Feel free to add a teaspoon of your favorite citrus zest into the batter to create a new flavor.

Ingredients

• Ingredients:
• Cake:
• 3 cups cake flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-1/3 cup sour cream
• Glaze:
• 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp orange juice
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp water, if necessary
• Purple, green, and gold sugar crystals (for decorating)

Preparation

Step 1

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease the Temp-tations baker (or another 4-qt. baking dish).

To prepare the cake, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda into a medium-sized bowl; set aside.

In a bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. (If your mixer has a paddle attachment, use it for this process.) Beat in the eggs one at a time, and then stir in the vanilla. Alternate adding the flour mixture and sour cream and mix until combined. (If you need to add water, do it at this time.) Turn off the mixer and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 60–70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 1–2 hours. Then, turn-out the cake onto a platter and let it cool completely.

To prepare the glaze, combine all the ingredients except the colored sugar crystals in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze on top then sprinkle with sugar crystals; alternate the colors.

To serve, cut the cake into slices and pray you don't get the baby (unless, of course, you want to host the next Mardi Gras party!)