Shrove Tuesday – King Cake

I found the recipe for King Cake at the King Arthur Flour Company website.  I haven’t ever made a special cake for Shrove Tuesday, not for lack of wishing and wanting!  This is the year my wish was made reality.  Food coloring are generally avoided in our household, mostly due to my sensitivity, but I just couldn’t resist making the cake ‘as it should be’ … colorful and completely festive.

 

Mixing the dough ingredients…

 

While the dough rises, I mixed up the cream cheese filling:

 

Preparing the dough … I formed the rectangle by hand:

 

I was distracted, so there is no picture of the filling being placed on the dough.  Fold the dough over the filling and transfer to a baking sheet:

 

While the dough rests and rises (about 1 hour), I colored the sugar.  The green and yellow turned out nice … can you tell the other is purple??

 

After baking, let the cake cool for about 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack:

 

After completely cool, frost the cake and decorate with colored sugar:

The purple looks better on the cake than on the blue plate.

 

 

Cake was enjoyed by all!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This is a recipe from my youth. It's one of my 4-H baking entries from the 'Be a Better Baker' project. Who knows how many times I made this coffee cake to get the 'just right' look for Achievement Days. The coffee cake in my pics was in the oven a bit too long, so it's darker than I would have liked. But, since I'd been craving it, the texture and taste hit the spot anyway. It looks prettier when baked in a bundt pan, but I have to be much more careful in greasing the pan. The two-piece tube pan is a big time saver for me.

I usually prefer not to add nuts to my baked goods, but today I was in the mood and added pecans. Pecans add just a little crunch and a buttery flavor. This coffee cake has a lighter texture and does freeze well.

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

¾ cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 ½ cup white sugar
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 ½ cups dairy sour cream

FILLING:
½ cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup finely chopped nuts (optional)
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease tube or bundt pan. Combine butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Alternately mix in the dry ingredients with the sour cream. Spread 1/3 of the batter in the pan and sprinkle ½ of the filling mix over top; repeat twice. Bake for 50 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool slightly in the pan before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

The coffee cake is fine as is, but you could top it with a dollop of whipped cream or cool whip to dress it up.