Project of the Week: Zulu King Cake!

So this past weekend my boyfriend, Will, our friend, Lam, and I had the genius idea of having a King Cake Making party. Okay, so maybe it wasn't the best idea in the world since we were trying to eat better, but we wanted to test out some different recipes and ideas. At the end of the night we had FOUR different king cakes in our house! FOUR!!

I decided to try and make one of my faaaavvvorite king cakes, the Zulu. Chocolate and coconut and cream cheese! Oh my! My mom sent me this recipe from The Advocate newspaper. I used another bread machine dough recipe, but followed the filling and topping from the Advocate's recipe with some minor adjustments.

First I made the dough. I used a recipe my friend, Jane, gave me long ago. It's SO simple. Just put the ingredients in a bread maker, set it on the Dough cycle, and press start! 90 minutes later, you have your dough!

Here are the ingredients for the dough (This dough is enough for two make two king cakes):

5 cups - All Purpose Flour
5 Tbsp - Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Stick - Melted Butter
1.5 cups - Whole Milk
1 (heaping) tsp - Salt
1 (heaping) Tbsp - Yeast

*Update 1-18-13* I recently made used this recipe again, and added 1 tsp of nutmeg and some lemon zest to the dough.  I found it to be a great addition! :)

Then I started to follow the Advocate's recipe:

Kneaded my dough

Divide dough into four pieces. You will need two pieces for one king cake. Save the other two pieces for another king cake!

Rolled the dough out into two long strips

The filling

Filling:
8 ozs. cream cheese, softened
3 tbls. butter, softened
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Plus, I decided to add a cup of confectioner's sugar to give the cream cheese a sweeter taste.

Put the filling on the strips of dough

Rolled the strips up

Twisted the rolled dough strips together
Yes, that is my dog trying to get a peak... or a bite! :)

Joined the ends together on a ungreased pan

Baked for about 25 minutes on 375.
I placed a small glass bowl in the middle
so the dough would keeps it's ring shape.

Then I made the chocolate gaze and added the coconut on top!

Glaze:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chip
4 tbls. butter
2 tbls. honey
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
Sweetened coconut flakes


Overall, my king cake was delicious. I don't think you could go wrong with chocolate, coconut and cream cheese... mmmm.

Will's king cake

Will used Emeril's recipe for his king cake. He did a lemon cream cheese cake. Out of all cakes we did that night, his tasted most like a king cake. When I try to do a king cake again (which may be soon) I would like to use the dough from the recipe.

Lam's chocolate filled King Cake

Lam went a different route with his cakes. He made two. They both used croissant dough from the refrigerated section at the grocery store. The first one was suppose to be a s'more one but it ended up being more of a chocolate filling. It was very good. Didn't really taste like a king cake, but the saltiness of the croissant really complimented the sweetness of the chocolate.

Lam's peanut butter King Cake

Lam's second king cake had a peanut butter. It was also really tasty. Not sure about that pink glaze though. ;)

All in all, the night of King Cakes was a big success, and resulted in a messy kitchens and full bellies. I have made several king cakes in the past, and this was my best one yet. I kind of want to go make another one this week, but for my diet's sake, I won't! :)

♥ Emily

Posted in: King Cake, recipe