Easy King Cake – Made with Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix

This King Cake made with Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix is easy to make recipe and a New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition!

Growing up whenever we saw my grandma she would have fresh cinnamon rolls waiting for us! It wasn’t until I was an adult that I found out she used the Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix to make her cinnamon rolls! My favorite year in the 4-H foods project was the year we made tea rings. I have been making them ever since. So when the Glass Barn reached out to me to share a Mardi Gras themed recipe I knew I wanted to do a King Cake!

While I don’t live anywhere near New Orleans and I don’t claim this to be an authentic recipe it is a fun tradition to celebrate where ever you live. A small baby is inserted to the cake prior to serving as a way to celebrate the Epiphany or Three King’s Day, the day the three Kings found baby Jesus. Whoever gets the slice with the baby inside it is said to have good luck and is declared the King of the party.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)

• 1 box Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 4 Tbsp. butter, divided
• 1 egg
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• none stick cooking spray
• cream cheese
• powdered sugar
• milk
• vanilla extract
• plastic baby
• purple, green and yellow sugar sprinkles

HOW TO MAKE KING CAKE

For Sweet Dough:

1. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients.
2. Add the water, butter and egg and stir until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
3. Lightly flour a service and kneed the dough for 5 minutes or until smooth.
4. Cove the dough and let rest for 5 minutes.

For Cinnamon Filling:

1. In a small bowl combing the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter with a fork.
2. On a lightly floured surface roll dough to a 10 x 15 inch rectangle.
3. Crumble cinnamon mixture evenly over dough.
4. Cut dough into three equal strips, long thin strips.
5. Roll each strip up individually.
6. Move all three rolls onto a greased cookie sheet.
7. Gently braid the three strands together, gently tucking the ends into the beginning to form a ring.
8. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled.
9. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
10. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

For Glaze:

1. In a medium bowl beat the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until blended.
2. Add powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and mix until smooth.
3. Evenly spread over king cake.
4. Shake sprinkles on top of wet icing.
5. Before serving gently embed the baby up underneath the bottom side of the cake.

This recipe is sponsored by the Glass Barn, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Affiliate links were used in this post.