New year, new y’all.

I’m still as inconsistent as ever.

Hey, April 2016 Blog Post, how you doin’?

Small Steps.

New Orleans rocks; you know the deal.  It’s Carnival Season and I made this King Cake so I can pretend I’m living in New Orleans in a colorful ass house with a ginormous porch, massive windows (with matching shutters, hello), a fence covered with Mardi Gras beads, and a neighbor who calls me “bayy-beh”.

Dreams, soon come.

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 cup whole milk, heated to 120°F
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 pkg dry yeast (4 oz)
• 3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup butter: melted, browned, and cooled
• 5 egg yolks,
• 1 tsp vanilla, the real shit
• 1 Tbsp Bourbon
• 1 tsp orange zest
• egg wash, for brushing the cake pre-oven

Filling:

• 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 tsp nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp orange zest
• 1 Tbsp Bourbon
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

Glaze:

• buttermilk (or whole milk)
• powdered sugar

Ingredients:

1. Pour the warmed milk into a bowl.  Whisk in sugar, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of the flour.  Mix until smooth and dissolved. Once the surface has foamed (about 5-10 mins), whisk in brown butter, egg yolks, vanilla, bourbon, and orange zest.  Add remaining flour, folding in with a rubber spatula until just incorporated. and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
2. Pour out onto a lightly floured surface, shape into a ball, and knead for 10-15 minutes until smooth and elastic.
3. Put dough ball into a clean bowl, cover w/plastic wrap, and set aside to rise until it doubles in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
4. Prepare the filling: beat all ingredients, minus the pecans, over medium-high speed w/handheld or stand mixer (use paddle attachment).
5. Preheat oven to 375°F.
6. Punch down dough.  Lightly flour your surface.  If twisting your king cake, split dough ball in 2.  If you want to keep it simple, keep in one dough ball.
7. Roll out dough (if two pieces, roll and fill one piece at a time) until you form a rectangle 1/8′ thick.
8. Spread out the filling, leaving a 1/2″ border around the edges.  Sprinkle with pecans.
9. Roll up, using the longest side of the dough, as tight as possible (think cinnamon buns) and pinch the ends closed.  If you have two pieces, gently twist the pieces together, starting at the center.  Shape into a circle or oval and tuck ends under one another, making sure ends are pinched closed.
10. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment, loosely cover with plastic wrap, and let rise another 45 minutes.
11. Brush the top lightly with egg wash.
12. Bake 30-40 minutes or until the top is a deep golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes on the pan, transfer to cooling rack to finish cooling.
13. Top with glaze and lots of sprinkles!!!

*Adapted from Joy The Baker,Chef John Besh & Chef Lisa White