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In anticipation of Mardi Gras next week, I whipped up a King Cake for my family to enjoy. I used my own Ultimate Vegan King Cake recipe, but I simplified some parts and took a different approach to the decorations. As a result, I present to you my new and improved Mardi Gras King Cake Redux recipe! Serve it after my Vegan Red Beans and Rice to make it a full Mardi Gras meal!

My King Cake Recipe is new and improved!

Sugar Crystals

This year, I really wanted to incorporate those colored sugar crystals that are so iconic on all the bakery king cakes throughout New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. You’re welcome to use store-bought sugar crystals for this. I’m a bit wary of artificial coloring, so I made my own sprinkles from homemade colorings, extracted from natural ingredients. It was a bit of a process, so I won’t get into it on this blog post. Perhaps in the future, I’ll do a blog post with a round-up of my favorite natural food coloring techniques. First, I attempted Learn To Grow’s technique for making sprinkles, but I found that the baking step unnecessary, and it melted the sugar. I recommend mixing the coloring and sugar early in your prep process, then air-drying the sugar until the cake is ready for decoration, as suggested in the recipe below.

I used homemade natural food coloring to make these sugar sprinkles.

The Baby

Also, this year we incorporated a real baby figurine inside the cake. I don’t like the idea of putting a plastic toy inside of food, so Mr. T whittled this little guy for me last week from a piece of wood. After whittling the rough shape, we washed him and lightly oiled him. Isn’t he cute? We named him Thibodeaux! Since he’s food-safe, he can be rolled up inside or poked through a hole in the bottom after baking. To incorporate this tradition without breaking out the whittling supplies, you can also use a pecan in its shell or a dried bean.

Internet, meet Thibodeaux! My first and only baby.

Print Recipe

Vegan King Cake Redux

Even vegans know how to Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Prep Time30

Cook Time25

Rising Time1 30

Total Time45

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: New Orleans, Soul Food, Southern

Servings: 10

Ingredients

Dough

3/4 cup boiling water
10 Medjool Dates
1/4 cup aquafaba the water from a can of chickpeas or white beans
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
3 cups flour + extra for kneading
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp nutritional yeast
2.5 tsp active dry yeast

Cinnamon-Cream “Cheese” Filling

1/2 cup skinned and soaked almonds cashews or macadamias would work too
1/3 cup organic brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice approx. the juice of 1 orange
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Frosting

2 cups organic powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp plant-based milk added 1 tsp at at time

Sugar Sprinkles

3/4 cup organic cane sugar large crystals
1/2 tsp yellow food coloring
1/2 tsp purple food coloring
1/2 tsp green food coloring

Instructions

Make the Dough

Pour boiling water over pitted dates and set aside until cool (like warm bathwater). Approx 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix aquafaba, maple syrup, apple sauce and yeast together in a bowl or jar, and set aside until bubbles begin to form.
Mix flour, salt, and nutritional yeast together in a large bowl or stand mixer.
When cool enough, add the dates AND their soak water into the aquafaba mixture and puree with an immersion blender until completely smooth.
Slowly add the liquid ingredients to the dry mixture until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for 5 minutes until dough is smooth and springy.
Cover with a lightly floured sheet of cellophane or damp towel and set aside in a warm place for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Make the Sugar Sprinkles

Divide the sugar into 3 bowls (1/4 c sugar each).
Add purple food coloring with the first bowl of sugar and mix thoroughly, grinding andy clumps apart with the back of a spoon whenever necessary.
When the color is distributed uniformly, spread the sugar out as thinly as possible onto a piece of parchment paper. Allow the mixture to dry for 1-2 hours, minimum.
Repeat the last two instructions for the 2nd and 3rd bowls with the yellow and green food coloring, respectively. Spread each batch as thinly as possible on its own sheet of parchment and allow to air dry as much as possible, until the cake is ready to decorate.

Make the Cinnamon-Cream “Cheese” Filling

In a bowl or jar, combine the almonds, organic brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutritional yeast, water, orange juice, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar. Blend with an immersion blender. The mixture does not have to be perfectly smooth. Cover and set aside.

Form the Cake “Crown” Shape and Rise

When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down with floured hands and turn the dough ball out on a floured surface. Knead for 2-3 minutes to distribute moisture.
Roll the dough out into a large square shape (approximately 10×14 inches).
With a knife or pizza cutter, divide the dough into three strips that are roughly equal in size.
Spread about 1/3 of the cinnamon-cream “cheese” filling onto each section length-wise, leaving about an inch of dough uncovered.
Roll each section up “jelly-roll” style. Begin on the side that is covered with filling. Gently roll the dough into a long “noodle” shape, and then pinch the uncovered edge into the body of the noodle to seal it together.
(optional) during this stage, you may want to try hiding a wooden “baby” or a pecan in its shell in the dough to be found later. It’s also ok to add the baby after the cake has been baked.
When you have 3 long noodle shapes, pinch the three sections together at one end, and gently braid them together.
Carefully transfer the braid to a lightly-floured, parchment-lined baking sheet while simultaneously pinching the two ends of the braid together to form a braided loop. You may tuck any funny-looking ends under.
Cover loosely with a lightly-floured piece of cellophane and allow to rise for another 30 minutes, or until it has roughly doubled in size.

Bake

While the cake is still rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (approx 177 degrees C).
When doubled in size, uncover and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the cake reaches an internal temperature of about 190-degrees F (or 88 degrees C).
Allow the cake to cool completely before adding frosting, sprinkles or decorations.

Make the Frosting

While the cake cools, combine organic powdered sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, and plant milk in a jar or bowl. Mix until smooth, cover and set aside.

Decorate the cake

(optional) If you prefer, you may add the baby to the cake after baking. Lift the cake up on one side. Poke a hole from the bottom and insert the baby.
When the cake is completely cool, spoon about half of the frosting over the top of the cake and allow it to drip down and glaze the sides. Allow the frosting to air-dry on the cake uncovered for about 10 minutes, then repeat with the remainder of the frosting.
If necessary, fold over the parchment paper for the yellow-colored sugar and crush it up with the back of a bowl or spoon. Sprinkle the sugar crystals in patches onto the cake until the desired pattern is formed. Repeat with purple and green sugar sprinkles. Slice and serve.