Gluten-Free King Cake #Recipe by @LibbyKlein #MardiGras

  Libby Klein  I've always seen these brightly colored king cakes in the bakery, but I've never been able to try them because they don't come gluten-free. This year, I finally worked up the nerve to just make one myself. I was surprised to find out that this is just a giant cinnamon roll. It's not really a cake at all. I used a recipe that said either fill the dough with cinnamon and sugar, or a cream cheese pecan mixture. I went with the cream cheese and pecans because it seemed fancier. I think I would have liked just the spices. I also used a spice blend called speculoos. It's a combination of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, anise, ginger, and cardamom. You can just use cinnamon for a more traditional flavor.

The tradition says that you put a little plastic baby inside the cake, and whoever gets the baby has to buy next year's king cake. I left the baby out because one - I am the only one here eating this thing so I'll have to make it again next year anyway. And two - I'd be that one person in a million who would cut that baby in half. I once swallowed my crown because I thought it was a walnut in my oatmeal. 

If you put the baby in - or if you've ever been the lucky one to get the baby in your slice - let me know.

Gluten-Free Mardi Gras King Cake

Yield: 1 cake

Ingredients:

Dough

1/2 cup milk

1 3/4 cups gluten-free one-to-one flour blend
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tbsp plus 1 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 Tbsp psyllium husk powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sour cream
6 Tbsp soft butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
zest of 1 lemon

Filling

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 large egg

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped, toasted pecans

Glaze

2 cups gluten-free powdered sugar

3 Tbsp milk

1 Tbsp melted butter

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

Green, Yellow, and Purple decorating sugars

Directions:

For the Dough

Heat the milk to just barely warm. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the dry ingredients. Whisk around to combine. Using a dough hook or metal beater, add the warm milk, followed by the sour cream, soft butter, egg, lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon zest. Beat until a soft dough forms. It will be very sticky. Scrape dough into the center of the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let proof until doubled in size.

Make the Filling

Beat the cream cheese with the egg, sugar, cinnamon, and Vanilla. Fold in the toasted pecans. Set aside.

Prepare the Cake

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9" spring form pan.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Spread the filling down the lower half of the middle of the dough lengthwise. So not in the middle, and not all the way at the bottom. You want to be able to wrap the very bottom 1/4 of the dough over the filling. Then roll the dough over the filling into a log. I made a quick egg wash because I was afraid of the filling spilling out. Also, notice how I crimped both ends of the dough. You don't want the filling going all the way end to end either. 

Once you have a log, gently lift it into your prepared spring form pan and form a ring. Overlap the ends and crimp together. Be sure you don't roll your dough too thin. You can see mine had a rip on top. I added a piece of greased foil to the spot to keep the filling from running out. 

Now set this somewhere warm to double in size. I really like putting it in my oven with a pan of just boiled water below it. Remove the ring before baking so you'll get even browning.

Bake in a 350-degree preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

I've taken off my foil patches. You can see how my dough wasn't thick enough, but I'll cover all that with my glaze. Let this cool, and if you're shoving that plastic baby inside - now is the time.

Make the Glaze

Mix the powdered sugar, milk, melted butter, lemon juice, and vanilla together until a smooth but thick pourable glaze forms. Spoon over the top of the cooled cake. sprinkle with your Mardi Gras sugars.

Other than the rip in the dough, I was really excited about how this turned out. It rose beautifully and had a great texture that you would not know was gluten-free. I think the next time I'll just make the cinnamon and sugar filling. Don't forget to let me know what you think!

Gluten-free baker Poppy McAllister and her aunt Ginny are looking forward to a quiet, homey Christmas at their B&B in Cape May, but unfortunately, death isn’t taking a holiday this year . . .

Ever since Thanksgiving, Poppy and her pals have been left with an unsolved mystery of the romantic kind. But at least this mystery isn’t the kind that involves murder. That all changes when the body of a fish supplier is discovered in the kitchen of her ex’s restaurant—and he’s frozen, not fresh.

For once, it’s not Poppy who tripped over the corpse, yet she can’t escape being drawn in since the victim has a note taped to him reading Get Poppy. Figures—an engagement ring isn't labeled, but the dead guy is addressed to her. Now, while Aunt Ginny plans a tree-trimming party and pressures Poppy to decode a mysterious old diary, the amateur sleuth is asked to “unofficially” go undercover at the restaurant to help the police. Until then, the only crime Poppy had been dealing with was Figaro’s repeated thefts of bird ornaments from the tree; now it looks like it’s going to be a murder-y Christmas after all.

 

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

King Cake #Recipe @PegCochran

 

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Let the good times roll!

Since Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday is coming up on February 16, I thought this was the perfect time to try my hand at a King Cake. I had it for the first time when my sister sent me one when she lived in Baton Rouge.  

King Cake is a circular cake historically associated with the Epiphany, which falls on January 6.  There are a number of variations on the cake but they are all shaped in a ring to mimic the appearance of a king’s crown.  The cake also contains a trinket—often a small plastic baby.  Whoever gets the baby in their slice of cake is “king” for the day.  

In New Orleans, king cake is synonymous with Mardi Gras.  The cakes begin appearing in bakeries in early January and up until Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent.  The person who gets the baby in their slice of cake must host the next year’s celebration.  The cakes are usually decorated in Mardi Gras colors—green, gold and purple representing faith, power and justice.

This recipe comes from Betty Crocker and I followed the directions exactly as is although I doubled the quantity of icing as was suggested in the comments.

 Ingredients

 

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) Rapid Rise yeast

1 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs   

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, cut into 12 pieces 

 

Cinnamon Filling

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 

 

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Decoration (Optional)

Dark green, purple, and yellow or gold sugars, if desired

Miniature plastic baby, if desired

 

Mix 2 1/2 cups flour and yeast in mixing bowl of stand mixer with the paddle attachment for about 30 seconds.

 

Heat milk, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan until sugar is dissolved and milk registers between 120°F to 130°F.

 

With your mixer on low, add liquids to flour and yeast and mix until incorporated.

 

Add eggs one at a time and continue mixing until a shaggy dough forms. 

 

 

 

Switch to the dough hook. Mix in the remaining 1 cup flour a little at a time, adding more or less flour as needed to make a soft dough.

 

Add the softened butter, a piece at a time, kneading until each piece of butter is absorbed.

 

Knead for eight minutes on low. The dough should completely clear the sides of the bowl. If it is too sticky, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing in thoroughly before determining if more flour is needed. Every 2 minutes, stop the machine, scrape the dough off the hook, and then continue kneading.

 

 

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times by hand to be sure it’s smooth and elastic. Form it into a ball and place into a greased bowl. Turn once so greased surface is on top. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. 

 

 

 

Make cinnamon filling. In small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Combine butter with cinnamon mixture and mix well. I started with a fork and then used my fingers.

 

 

 

Roll the chilled dough into a 10 x 20 inch rectangle. 

 

 

Spread the filling on half of the long side of the dough. Fold the dough in half covering the filling. Pat dough down firmly so the dough will stick together. 

 

 

 

Cut dough into three long strips. Press the tops of the strips together and braid the strips. Press the ends together at the bottom. Gently stretch the braid so that it measures 20 inches again. Shape it into a circle/oval and press the edges together. 

 

 

 

Transfer the ring to a parchment lined or greased baking sheet. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled, about 1 hour. 

 

 

 

While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350°.

 

Bake the cake until it is golden brown, 20 – 35 minutes. Remove from

oven and let cool 10 minutes on baking sheet and then place it on a cooling rack to cool completely.

 

 

 

Icing: In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth (add additional milk if mixture is too thick or powdered sugar if too thin).

 

Spoon icing over top of the cake. Immediately sprinkle on colored sugar, alternating between the three colors.

 

 

 

Murder in the Margins has everything: England * Charming town * Book shop * Writer-in-residence * Royalty * Cute detective * Murder!

 

 

The plot thickens for American gothic writer Penelope Parish when a murder near her quaint British bookshop reveals a novel's worth of killer characters.

Penelope Parish has hit a streak of bad luck, including a severe case of writer's block that is threatening her sophomore book. Hoping a writer in residence position at The Open Book bookstore in Upper Chumley-on-Stoke, England, will shake the cobwebs loose, Pen, as she's affectionately known, packs her typewriter and heads across the pond.

Unfortunately, life in Chumley is far from quiet and when the chairwoman of the local Worthington Fest is found dead, fingers are pointed at Charlotte Davenport, an American romance novelist and the future Duchess of Worthington. Charlotte turns to the one person who might be her ally for help: fellow American Pen. Teaming up with bookstore owner Mabel Morris and her new friend Figgy, Pen sets out to learn the truth and find the tricks that will help her finish her novel.

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