 |
| It may not be gorgeous, but it is delicious! Happy Mardi Gras! |
I have several friends who have moved to New Orleans in the last year and every Instagram picture they post makes me want to go down and visit more and more. It's Mardi Gras on Tuesday, and so I decided to make a King Cake in honor of a holiday I don't super understand, but support fully! :) I was on the hunt for a gluten free and vegan recipe, and I couldn't really find one. But I did find a vegan recipe that I made using gluten free flour. It was not hard to make, and smells amazing. This is kind of an all afternoon project, so if you're pressed for time, this isn't the recipe for you. I've never had the original version, so I have no idea how this compares, but if you're gluten free and vegan, and you're desperate for cake, you've come to the right place.
Also, this is supposed to have a bean or plastic baby placed somewhere inside, so that the person who finds it has good luck. My house is bean free, so I bought a bag of plastic babies at the store today. That is a weird sentence. The more I thought about it though, the more I questioned the food safety of cooking plastic in food. I feel like that is the opposite of what you're supposed to do. So of course I Googled it. Most sites now recommend just sneaking it in after it's been cooked and to NOT cook a plastic baby. I fully support this. I found this recipe on The Spruce and the original recipe is by Ashley Adams
Gluten Free & Vegan King Cake
Cake:
1 pkg dry active yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 T maple syrup
2 1/2 c. gluten free flour (plus more) (I use Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 mix)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
6 T lactose free butter, cut into pieces
3 T Egg Replacer mixed with 1/4 tsp hot water*
1/4 c. coconut milk**
Filling
3/4 c dark brown sugar
1/2 c finely chopped pecans
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c lactose free butter
Sprinkles
The original recipe called for you to make your own colored sprinkles. That's crazy. Just buy them at your local baking store. If you want to make your own, see the original recipe
Icing
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 T warm water
*I was very confused by this, because this is not the normal ratio when doing Egg Replacer. It is basically still powder, but I guess it works?
**I took this to mean the canned version, but when I opened my can up, it had separated (I guess my kitchen is colder than I thought it was), and wouldn't mix back together, so I just used my boxed coconut milk that I use for recipes and cereal and it seems to have worked
 |
| Ingredients for the cake-note that I changed up the coconut milk |
I think it's important to note that my final product does not look like the pictures online. But my final product RARELY looks like the pictures online, because gluten free baking is it's own animal. Nine times out of ten, whatever I've made TASTES amazing, and really, that's more important, right?
1. In a small bowl, combine yeast, warm water, and maple syrup, mixing gently until the yeast dissolves and bubbles begin to appear on the surface. Set aside until frothy, about 5 minutes.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, salt, nutmeg, and sugar. Add the lactose-free butter and process until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
3. Add this mixture to the yeast, along with the Egg Replacer mixture and coconut milk. Knead, adding flour as necessary, until soft dough forms. If you are used to gluten free flour, you know this doesn't exactly exist, but you form it to the best ball version you can.
 |
5. Make the filling: In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, softened butter, copped pecans, and cinnamon until combined. I just used my hands, because it was easier. Also, it ends up being a pretty nice sugar scrub for your hands!
6. Preheat the oven to 350 F. I used parchment paper, but you can lightly oil a large baking sheet or round pizza pan too.
7. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a large rectangle about 1/8" thick. Again, GF batter doesn't 'do' this like normal batter, so just roll it out the best you can.
8. Use a sharp knife and cut the dough in half lengthwise. Cut each of the strips into triangles, each about 3" at their base.
9. With the tips of the triangles pointed inward, place the triangles in a circle on the prepared sheet, overlapping one over the other and pressing the edges to seal.
 |
| The babies are creepy |
11. Fold the outsides of the triangles over the filling, so that the reach is just over the filling. Fold the tips over, pressing slightly to adhere the tips to the outside of the ring.
12. Cover the ring lightly with a clean dish towel and let rise for 20 minutes. Nothing rose, but I was able to wash all of the dishes and make extra cookies with the left over dough.
13. Brush the cake lightly with coconut milk.
14. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
15. Allow cake to cool completely and transfer to a serving platter large enough to catch excess icing. Stick a plastic baby in somewhere at this point.
16. Prepare the Icing: In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and salt. Add the warm water, stirring vigorously, until the mixture is a very thick glaze.
17. Ladle the mixture over the cake in several additions, letting the icing run down the sides.
18. While the icing is still slightly warm, shake sprinkles over the cake, alternating sections of purple, green, and yellow. Allow the icing to harden completely before serving.
 |
| This is what 'frothy' looks like |
 |
| Right out of the oven. It looks messy, but smells amazing. This is where I stuck in the plastic naked baby so that someone will have good luck this year if they find it :) |
 |
I had extra dough so I made King Cake Cookies-they cooked a little long, but they taste great and are the perfect use of extra creepy babies.
No comments:
Post a Comment