Rheinlander Bakery's King Cake Recipe

1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 (.25-ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105F to 115F)
1/8 teaspoon mace
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 trinket, preferably made from sugar

Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

Glaze and Sugars:
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
Water
Green, gold and purple sugar

1. Heat milk in a small saucepan until it steams; remove from heat. Add sugar, salt and butter, stirring until butter is melted. Let cool to lukewarm. In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water. Stir to dissolve and let stand until frothy. Add milk mixture to yeast mixture.
2. Combine mace, cardamom and flour.
3. Add eggs and 1 1/2 cups flour mixture to milk mixture; stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add remaining flour mixture. Stir until dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead about 4 minutes, until a small piece of dough stretches, without tearing, to form a thin windowpane. If it tears, the gluten has not developed; continue kneading. Place dough in an oiled bowl. Loosely cover with a cloth or a plastic wrap and let rise until double in size, about 1 hour in a warm room. Punch dough down, cover and refrigerate overnight.
5. To prepare filling, combine sugar and cinnamon.
6. Roll dough into a 6 x 24-inch rectangle. Spread butter over dough and sprinkle with cinnamon mixture. Fold dough over the filling and roll up tightly, forming a long rope and leaving seam side down. Form roll into a circle placing one end inside the other to hide the seam; pinch to seal. Place on a baking sheet and let rise, loosely covered with a cloth or plastic wrap, until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 350F.
8. Bake cake 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. When cake has cooled, make a slit in the bottom and insert trinket, so it does not show.
9. To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and extracts. Drizzle in enough water, while whisking, to make a thin icing. Spoon icing over cake. Decorate cake with alternating bands of purple, green, and gold sugars. Serves 12.

How to Make Colored Sugar

If you cannot find the colors at the grocery store, you can color sugar at home.

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 to 2 drops each of green, yellow, red and blue food coloring

1. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and a drop of green coloring in a jar. Place lid on jar, and shake vigorously to mix the color with sugar. Repeat with yellow coloring. To make purple sugar, use 1 drop red and 1 drop blue with 1/2 cup sugar. You’ll have about half the colored sugars left over.

Nutritional facts per serving: 330 calories, 15g fat, 4g protein, 48g carbohydrates, 1g fiber, 110mg sodium.