Blueberry Cream Cheese King Cake

It’s Mardi Gras Time! Let the good times roll. Traditional king cakes are just butter and cinnamon, but I saw this video for a stuffed one with pie filling and cream cheese, and that sounds much better. The traditional cakes are prone to dry out very quickly, so hopefully the moisture of the filling will help.

Why it works:

Yield: 1 Cake, 8 portions

Time: 4 hours

Pairing: Chicory Coffee.

References:

• https://adashofsugarandspice.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/blueberry-and-cream-cheese-filled-king-cake/

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibjMp-vYpLg

• https://kennethtemple.com/king-cake-with-cream-cheese-filling/

Equipment:

• Kitchen Aid mixer Plastic Baby Sheet Tray with Parchment

Ingredients:

• 1 package of active dry yeast

• ¾ cups warm milk

• ¼ cup raw cane sugar

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

• 6 tablespoons butter flavored shortening

• 1 large egg slightly beaten

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 3 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour divide, plus more for kneading

• 1 king cake baby

• Cinnamon Filling:

• 1 tablespoons oil

• ½ cup dark brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Cream Cheese Filling:

• 8 oz. cream cheese

• ¼ cup granulated sugar

• 2 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour

• 2 large egg yolks

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon water

Icing:

• 8 oz. 1 ¾ cups powdered sugar

• 3 tablespoons milk

• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

• Purple green & yellow sugar sprinkles

Instructions: Sweet Dough:

1. Preheat oven to 170°F or warm, once hot, cut the oven off. In the bowl for your stand mixer, mix the yeast and warm milk together, let yeast bloom for 5 minutes. Add the sugar, kosher salt, shortening, egg, vanilla extract, cinnamon and 1 ¼ cup of flour, place bowl in stand mixer, attach dough hook and mix on low for 30 seconds. Add remaining flour and mix on low for 5 minutes, scrape bowl to help dough form to a soft ball of dough.

2. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough 20 times until the dough is smooth, form into a ball and transfer to a lightly greased bowl, cover with a towel and pop in the warm oven for 30 minutes, dough will be slightly larger in size.

Cinnamon filling:

1. In a medium bowl mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and kosher salt together.

Cream Cheese filling:

1. In a medium bowl mix cream cheese, sugar, flour, egg yolks and vanilla until smooth.

Shaping King Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 170°F or warm, once hot, cut the oven off. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to ¼ inch thickness and into a circular shape (a little larger than a 10-inch plate). Brush with oil and evenly spread cinnamon sugar over dough.

2. Cut dough into 3 equal length strips and spoon or pipe cream cheese mixture down the middle (this will be the time to add any fruit filling). Push the cinnamon sugar ½ inch from the sides. Brush both edges of the dough with egg wash. Fold one edge over the cream cheese, tuck and roll the dough like a cinnamon roll.

3. Braid dough tightly, then bring both ends together in an oval shape. Place king cake dough on a baking sheet, cover and rest for 30 minutes. Brush with egg wash before baking.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F; bake for 30-45 minutes until golden brown. Cool king cake for 20 minutes before placing the king cake baby inside a secret spot.

Icing:

1. While king cake cools, in a large bowl whisk together powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and salt until smooth and thick.; then smear icing evenly over king cake.

2. Quickly sprinkle with the colored sugars in a cross shape one at a time to the top, bottom, left and right. Then repeat with remaining colors. Enjoy immediately or cover with plastic wrap and keep in a cool place.

Plating Instructions

Tasting Journal

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