King Cake Extraveganza!!

Update! I added ONE MORE King Cake!

Thank you all for your loving comments about my sweet grandpa, I really appreciate them. This blog won't quite be the same without our weekly "cooking for grandpa" meals. My cousin & her husband made a really great website for him if you're interested. But you can rest assured, I always find solace in the kitchen, so there's still plenty of cooking going on. Plus, I think I'll have a few more memorial food posts down the way!

First, I have some important bizness to get out of the way. Yes, I know Mardi Gras has long since come and gone. Still, I never had a chance to blog about all the different king cakes I've made in the last month. I've been testing for Kittee, and she's been pumping out countless variations of King Cakes. Each time I think I've made my last king cake, she puts out another tempting variation. These recipes aren't available yet, but if you've got a passion for Cajun/Creole cooking, drop by her blog and let her know you're interested in being a tester too. Or, you can use the recipe she DOES have up on her blog, found here.

First one I made, was the Original. You've just gotta start with the classics and work from there.

Here's the inside - a cinnamon-sugar filling. This cake didn't quite get a super-star rise, but still it was delicious and totally devoured. Suffice it to say, no one complained.


Cake 2: Apple-Pecan Praline Cinnamon King Cake. Now this cake dough rose and rose and rose. Perfect and chubby!
The filling here is pralined pecans, cooked apples, and cinnamon sugar. Gorgeous and delicious. Prolly my favorite so far. I loved the moist addition of the cinnamon-y apples, which were perfectly balanced between tender & crispy.

Topless King Cake! Throw this cake some beads!

Cake 3: ChocoCoco Zulu King Cake. Whoa! I don't know about you, but when I am presented with the option to bake something called a "ChocoCoco Zulu King Cake," it no longer becomes optional. I simply must make it. As you can see, this cake is decorated with sprinkled colored coconut, rather than colored sugar, for extra coconutty goodness.

The filling here is a coconut-cream cheeze filling. Then, the whole thing is topped with a chocolate ganache and more coconut. It was very, very good. I committed a Mardi Gras faux-pas (that rhymes!), and made this cake AFTER Mardi Gras day. So far, I'm happy to report, no bad luck has come my way as a result....yet!

This very delicious King Cake was the (take a deep breath) "Apple Praline Pecan Cheezecake King Cake." Yes, all those tasty and scrumptious flavors in one place. Very, very good.

Here's a cut away. You can't really see the pecans in this pic, but you can see some apples in the bottom there, and also you can see the giant Bean Baby poking out! Whoever gets this slice has to make everyone the next king cake! Not that I need any more King Cake at this point...