King Cake Crescent Recipes

EMERIL'S QUICK KING CAKE

Steps:

• After opening the can of crescent rolls, unroll in one piece. With your fingers, press seams together to form one piece of dough.
• Mix together butter and cinnamon, gently spread over the dough.
• Mix together cream cheese and powdered sugar. Drop teaspoons over the top of the dough. Drop teaspoonfuls of pie filling (cherry, blueberry or peach) over the dough as you did the cream cheese.
• Starting on the long end, carefully roll the dough, horizontally, with the filling and cream cheese inside. Insert plastic baby at any place within the dough.
• Place on baking pan with the seam side down in a circle, pinching the ends together.
• Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
• While the cake is baking, use the food coloring to dye the sugar.
• When cake is cool, pour icing over the top of the cake. Sprinkle with the colored sugar, alternating the three colors as you go around the circle.
• For icing: Combine 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp water until smooth.

MARDI GRAS KING CAKE

Steps:

• Scald milk, remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup of butter. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of the white sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
• When yeast mixture is bubbling, add the cooled milk mixture. Whisk in the eggs. Stir in the remaining white sugar, salt and nutmeg. Beat the flour into the milk/egg mixture 1 cup at a time. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. When risen, punch down and divide dough in half.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
• To Make Filling: Combine the brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix until crumbly.
• Roll dough halves out into large rectangles (approximately 10x16 inches or so). Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough and roll up each half tightly like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of each roll together to form 2 oval shaped rings. Place each ring on a prepared cookie sheet. With scissors make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Push the doll into the bottom of the cake. Frost while warm with the confectioners' sugar blended with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.

KING CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FILLING

Steps:

• Unroll both tubes of crescent dough and separate into triangles. Place triangles on a greased 12-in. pizza pan, forming a ring with pointed ends facing toward the center and wide ends overlapping. Lightly press wide ends together., In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spoon over wide ends of ring. In another bowl, stir the brown sugar, butter and cinnamon until crumbly. Sprinkle over cream cheese mixture., Fold points over filling and fold wide ends over points to seal. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes., Meanwhile, combine the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Divide icing among three bowls. Using red and blue food coloring, tint one portion purple. Tint another portion yellow and the remaining portion green. Drizzle over cake. Serve warm.

EASY MINI KING CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 360 degrees F (182 degrees C). Spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray.
• Stir brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon together in a small bowl until smooth.
• Remove crescent roll dough from the can and separate into 4 rectangles. Press the seams together tightly to seal the dough.
• Spread butter mixture evenly over each rectangle, not going all the way to the edges. Start at the bottom of each long edge and roll tightly into a 10-inch log, sealing any open seams. Bring the ends of each roll together to form an oval shape, making sure you press tightly to seal so the filling doesn't ooze out in the air fryer and burn.
• Place one or two at a time in the prepared air fryer basket without overcrowding.
• Air-fry in the preheated air fryer for 5 minutes per batch. Remove to a wire rack and cool.
• Meanwhile, whisk powdered sugar and milk together until smooth. Divide mixture among 3 bowls. Add food coloring to each bowl.
• Drizzle icing over each cooled cake and decorate with sugar or sprinkles. Let icing dry before serving, about 10 minutes.

KING CAKE CRESCENT

Steps:

• Arrange crescent rolls in a circle on the surface of a round pan with the points of the dough to the outside. Press the dough in the bottom of the pan together, and cut a circle out in the middle of the pan to form a ring. (Note, dough should form about a 12 inch circle when finished.).
• In a bowl, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Spread the mixture evenly over the dough - don't cover the circle in the middle. Thinly slice and peel apple, the place apple slices over the cream cheese mixture and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
• Chop pecans and sprinkle over the apples.
• Pull points of dough over filling and tuck under dough in center of the ring.
• Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.
• For glaze, mix about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of powdered sugar with a small amount of water to form a thick mixture. Pour the glaze over the cake and sprinkle with colored sugar.
• Make colored sugar by mixing 6-8 drops of green food coloring with 1/3 cup of granular sugar, 6-8 drops of yellow food coloring with 1/3 cup sugar, and 4-6 drops of red and 4-6 drops of blue food coloring to 1/3 cup of sugar for purple sugar. (Pre-colored cake decors can also be used if you want to save a little time).