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King Cake is the festive cinnamon-swirled sweet bread that makes Mardi Gras complete, draped in glaze and those iconic purple, green, and gold sugars. I make one every Fat Tuesday so the kids can hunt for the hidden plastic baby, and the whole house smells like cinnamon and celebration. If you love a sweet, glazed bake, you will also adore our eggnog bread with glaze.
A soft, tender dough rolled with cinnamon filling and finished with festive sugars makes this homemade king cake the star of any Mardi Gras party.
King Cake Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 30 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 25 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 3 hours (includes rising)
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 331kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Sweet, buttery, and warmly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg
- ✋ Difficulty: A fun project, easier than it looks, like our lemon blueberry coffee cake
Quick Answer
Bloom yeast in warm milk and butter, then knead it with flour, sugar, egg, and warm spices into a soft dough and let it rise. Roll the dough into a rectangle, spread it with a cinnamon brown sugar filling, roll it up, and shape it into a ring. Let it rise again, bake until golden, then drizzle with glaze and sprinkle bands of purple, green, and gold sanding sugar.
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Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- An enriched yeast dough. Milk, butter, and egg make a soft, tender, slightly sweet dough that bakes up like a cross between cinnamon roll and brioche.
- A cinnamon brown sugar swirl. Spreading the filling and rolling it into a log gives every slice that beautiful, gooey cinnamon spiral.
- Shaping it into a ring. Bringing the ends together into a circle gives the king cake its traditional shape and a slice for everyone.
- Two rises for the best texture. Letting the dough rise before and after shaping makes the finished cake light, fluffy, and never dense.
- The festive finish. A simple vanilla glaze holds the bands of purple, green, and gold sanding sugar that make it a true Mardi Gras centerpiece.
- The hidden baby tradition. Tucking a tiny plastic baby underneath after baking keeps the fun Mardi Gras custom alive at your table.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It is the ultimate Mardi Gras centerpiece, festive, fun, and made completely from scratch.
- The soft cinnamon-swirled dough tastes like a giant, shareable cinnamon roll.
- Decorating it with the purple, green, and gold sugars is a blast for the whole family, like topping our banana bundt cake.
Key Ingredients
Here is what goes into a festive homemade king cake. It is mostly pantry staples, plus those signature colored sugars.
- Yeast, Flour, and Milk: the base of a soft, enriched sweet dough; warm the milk to wake up the yeast.
- Butter and Egg: they make the dough rich, tender, and golden.
- Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Brown Sugar: the warm spices and sugar that create the gooey filling swirl.
- Powdered Sugar and Vanilla: whisked with a little milk into the sweet glaze, like the one on our eggnog bread.
- Purple, Green, and Gold Sanding Sugar: the traditional Mardi Gras colors, justice, faith, and power, that make it a king cake.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
King cake is easy to make your own with a few fun twists.
- Add a cream cheese filling: spread a sweetened cream cheese layer along with the cinnamon for a richer cake.
- Try a fruit swirl: add a thin layer of strawberry, raspberry, or apple filling for a fruity king cake.
- Make it nutty: sprinkle chopped pecans into the cinnamon filling before rolling.
- Use a shortcut dough: in a pinch, canned cinnamon roll or crescent dough works for a faster version.
- Glaze it your way: tint the glaze or add a splash of almond extract, the same way we flavor our coffee cake glaze.
How to Make King Cake
- Warm the milk and butter until the butter melts and bloom the yeast until foamy, then mix in the flour, sugar, egg, and warm spices and knead into a soft dough. Cover and let it rise until doubled, about an hour.
- Punch down the dough and roll it into a large rectangle. Spread the cinnamon brown sugar filling evenly over it, then roll it up tightly into a long log.
- Transfer the log to a parchment-lined baking sheet and shape it into a ring, pinching the ends together to seal them.
- Cover the ring loosely and let it rise again in a warm spot until puffy.
- Bake at 350 degrees F until golden brown, then let the king cake cool completely on a wire rack. Tuck a plastic baby underneath if using.
- Whisk the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla into a glaze, drizzle it over the cooled cake, and while it is still wet, sprinkle alternating bands of purple, green, and gold sanding sugar, then slice and serve.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Check your yeast is alive; the milk should foam within about 10 minutes, or your dough will not rise.
- Use warm, not hot, milk; too-hot liquid kills the yeast, so aim for just-warm to the touch.
- Roll the log tightly so you get a defined cinnamon swirl and the ring holds its shape.
- Let it cool completely before glazing so the glaze sets instead of melting and sliding off.
- Add the sugars while the glaze is wet so the colors stick in clean bands, like decorating our cinnamon-sugar hand pies.
- Hide the baby after baking; never bake the plastic baby inside, just tuck it underneath a slice before serving.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
King Cake is the heart of any Mardi Gras celebration, perfect with a cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk while everyone hunts for the hidden baby.
Set it out as the centerpiece of a Fat Tuesday dessert spread alongside our baked cake donuts and a tray of candied grapes for a festive, colorful table.
Whoever finds the baby traditionally hosts next year’s party or brings the next cake, so keep the fun going with more sweet bakes like our banana bundt cake and bite-sized mini cheesecakes.
King Cake FAQs
The three traditional Mardi Gras colors each have a meaning: purple represents justice, green represents faith, and gold represents power. Together they make the king cake instantly recognizable.
A small plastic baby is hidden in or under the cake after baking. Whoever finds it in their slice is said to have good luck and traditionally hosts the next party or brings the next king cake.
Yes. You can make the dough a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight for the first rise, then shape, rise, and bake the next day. Glaze and decorate it the day you plan to serve it for the freshest look.
Cover it loosely and store at room temperature for up to two days, or wrap and refrigerate for up to four. Bring slices to room temperature before serving for the best texture.
Yes. Freeze the baked, unglazed cake wrapped tightly for up to two months. Thaw at room temperature, then glaze and decorate before serving.
Absolutely. For a shortcut, canned cinnamon roll dough or crescent dough works well. Arrange it into a ring, bake, then glaze and decorate with the colored sugars.
Keep the celebration going with another glazed favorite, our quick eggnog bread with eggnog glaze, a cozy sweet bread for any holiday.
King Cake
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1/2 cup + 1/3 cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter thinly sliced
- 2 & 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 large egg
- 2 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
For the filling
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted
- plastic baby if using
For the glaze
- 1 & 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Warm the milk in the microwave in 15-second intervals until it reaches 105-110°F.
- Place the sliced butter into the body of a stand mixer and pour ½ cup of the milk on top, set aside.
- Place the remaining ⅓ cup milk into a small bowl and stir in the yeast. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy. If the yeast is not foamy after 10 minutes, the yeast is dead, and you need to start over with fresh yeast.
- Add the yeast mixture to the stand mixer along with the egg. Stir to combine with the hook attachment.
- Add the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the bowl. Stir to combine until it starts to form a dough on the stir setting.
- Turn the speed up to low or speed 2 and knead for 10 minutes. The dough will come together after a few minutes, it should mostly clean the sides of the bowl, and the bottom of the dough may stick to the bottom of the bowl.
- After 10 minutes, the dough will be smooth but slightly tacky still.
- Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place the kneaded dough into the bowl. Spray the top with more cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to double in size, about 1 – 1.5 hours.
- When the dough is almost ready, make the filling by stirring together the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Pour in the melted butter and stir to combine.
- Punch down the dough to release the air bubbles.
- Roll out the dough into a rough 24×10-inch rectangle on a clean, lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle the filling all over the dough, leaving a ½-inch border along the edges. Place the plastic baby, if using, in a random place on top.
- With a long side of the dough facing you, tightly roll the dough to form a log and pinch the seams together.
- Line a large sheet tray with parchment paper.
- Place the dough onto the sheet tray, shape it into a circle, and pinch the ends together well to seal. Cover with plastic wrap and rise again until about doubled 1 – 1.5 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Take the plastic wrap off the cake, and using kitchen shears or a knife, slice about ⅓ of the way through the dough to expose the layers, do this in 8 spots, equally spaced. Do not cut the dough all the way through.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. Tent with foil after 15 minutes to prevent over-browning. Let cool for 10 minutes on the sheet tray. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once the cake is cool, make the icing by whisking together the powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, and vanilla until smooth. The glaze should be thick but pourable. If it is still too thick, add up to another tablespoon of milk.
- Place the wire rack with the cooled cake over a sheet tray or parchment paper to catch any drips, and pour the glaze evenly over the cake. Immediately add the sanding sugar colors in any pattern you wish. Let set for at least 30 minutes to set before slicing and serving.
Notes
- Easily double this recipe to make two cakes.
- Other spices and fillings can be used. See my tips above on which I recommend.
- This can be frozen, see my tips above on how to store.
- You can bake it with or without the baby, or don’t use it at all. See above how to hide the baby after baking.
- If you can’t find gold sanding sugar, yellow will work too.
- I love to enjoy a slice warmed, see how long it takes to microwave in the above text.
- The dough is kneaded for a more extended period of time than other bread doughs because it will keep it on the softer, more tender side. The cake texture becomes a cross between cinnamon rolls and a cake.
Nutrition
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