How To: Mini King Cakes

If you're reading this right now, I'm guessing you took it easy on the Hurricanes and survived Mardi Gras, give or take a few strands of beads. Kudos.

Yesterday I posted about the Mini King Cakes I made for my family and friends, but didn't have time to go into detail. So, today I'm giving you a step by step on creating these cute little cakes so you'll be ready to go for next year. {Although you certainly don't have to wait that long if you don't want to.}

As I mentioned, the King Cake recipe I used makes a lot of cake - 2 decent sized ones to be exact. So, I halved the recipe and wound up with 12 minis and a medium cake.

The process of forming the minis was actually pretty easy, though I think using a mini bundt cake pan definitely helped.
Here's how I did it:

{Please pardon the horrible pictures. I took them at night and I'm still getting acquainted with my camera settings and lighting adjustments.} :)

1. Make King Cake recipe, halved.

2. Once the dough has risen the first time, punch it down and roll it out on a floured surface into a 12 x 17ish inch rectangle. Liberally apply softened butter, sugar, and cinnamon. {Alternatively, you can make a cream cheese or fruit jam filled recipe.}

3. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut 4 inch wide strips from dough.

4. Cut dough strip into mini rectangles. {About 2x4 inch}

5. Roll rectangles, jelly roll fashion, into little logs.

6. Bring ends together and pinch dough to seal the seam.

 {They should look like little donuts.}

7. Place in a buttered or sprayed mini bundt cake pan, and press down slightly. {If you don't have one of these pans, just put them on a baking sheet. The holes in the middle might close up while they bake, but they'll still be cute.}

8. Cover and let rise in a warm place, 20-30 minutes.

9. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes, or until cakes start to get slightly golden in color. Let cool slightly, and remove from pans. Cool completely before icing and decorating.

To decorate:

1. Make Creamy Glaze.

{Note: Because I used milk and lemon juice as suggested in the recipe, my glaze looked slightly curdled, though it tasted just fine. If that kind of thing grosses you out, replace fresh lemon juice with 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract, and that should do the trick.}

2. Dunk cakes upside down into glaze, and place right side up on a cooling rack with a foil lined pan underneath to catch drips.

3. Sprinkle with colored sugar while still slightly wet. {I made my own because I only had white sanding sugar in the pantry. Tutorial coming soon!}

4. Allow icing to set, and package these cuties up, if desired.

Well, that about covers it for these little guys.

I know Mardi Gras is over, but I'll be continuing the New Orleans themed foods the rest of the week... and tomorrow I have another Big Easy sweet treat you won't want to miss. Any guesses on what it might be??

I'll also be sharing some info about what to do with all those left over Mardi Gras beads now that the celebration is over. {Unless you want to keep them and rock them all year long. Hey, I won't judge.}

Stay tuned!