Comments:
Ingredients:
a. Tangzhong:
60g BREAD FLOUR (1/2 cup)
120ml WATER (1/2 cup)
180ml WHOLE MILK (3/4 cup)
b. Dough:
9g active dry YEAST (~1 packet) (1 tbsp)
100g sugar (1/2 cup) - used a bit of brown sugar
120ml whole milk (1/2 cup) microwaved 30 secs
600g bread flour (5 cups), plus more
10g kosher salt (1.5 tsp)
Grated nutmeg
2 whole eggs 2 egg yolks
113g softened butter (8 tbsp or 1 stick)
c. Brown Sugar Cinnamon Filling:
170g or 1 1/2 stick BUTTER (softened)
220g or a full 3/4 C. Brown sugar (I used ½ c light and ¼ dark last time)
20g or 2.5 tbsp CINNNAMON
1g or 1/4 tsp salt
1 tbl whole milk or heavy cream (enough to make the filling soft enough to spread)
2 tbls cream cheese mixed to bump up the richness
d. Icing 1: (less sweet) Cat Cora’s
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of fine salt
e. Icing 2: (sweeter with less cream cheese)
4 tbls cream cheese, softened
½ stick unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
Pinch of fine salt
purple, green, and gold sugar. I think that sanding sugar is too coarse. need something finer
YouTube Links:
a. For the Dough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOsWt_wimRw&t=418s (Matt Hinkamp)
b. For the Filling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfHT7r4XoJY (Brian Lagerstrom)
c. For the Icing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HU-47tej2k (Cat Cora)
Links To Embellishments:
Purple Sanding Sugar: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNZRL5T?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
Gold Sanding Sugar: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09T397L4J?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
Green Sanding Sugar: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5D1GB19?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
Mardi Gras Sprinkles: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TMP152M/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_undefined?linkCode=ml1&tag=matthinkamp-20
King Cake Babies:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RXW3BQR?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/ZYFLSQ-Plastic-Figurines-Decorations-Epiphany/dp/B0DK985D8W/ref=rvi_d_sccl_5/146-3306985-1613863?pd_rd_w=KBf0p
Walmart Cake Box: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Way-To-Celebrate-White-Cake-Box-with-Window-19-x-14-x-4/224646540
Directions:
Instructions:
a. Dough: (Matt Hinkamp)
Start with the Tangzhong paste, which is arguably the most important step in this dough. It's what keeps it moist and fresh for longer.
I sprayed the sauce pan with pam to reduce sticking and fake cleanup easier...
Into a saucepan, I'm adding 60g or 1/2 cup of bread flour, 120ml or 1/2 cup of water, and 180ml or 3/4 cup of whole milk. I whisk that around over medium heat for 5 minutes until it becomes this pasty texture. Set that aside and we can proof our yeast.
I have 120ml or 1/2 cup of whole milk and stick into the microwave to warm it between 90 and 110° F (about 30 seconds). Then, I'm spooning in 9 to 10g of active dry yeast. If you just have the packets, use one packet. I grab a little bit of the 100g or 1/2 cup of sugar that I've already measured and mix that together. Once that sits for 5 minutes, it becomes a frothy boy.
Meanwhile, I'm going to grab my stand mixer bowl and mix the dry ingredients. That's 600g or 5 cups of bread flour, 10g or 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt, and the rest of the granulated sugar. I start to mix by hand with the dough hook, before ceremoniously forgetting to grate in the nutmeg. I also forgot to grate in a few seconds' worth of nutmeg. Just pretend I didn't forget to grate in some fresh nutmeg here—just a few seconds of that.
i crack the eggs on a paper towel. makes for easier cleanup and i can use the paper towel to wipe my fingers off.
Then add this to my stand mixer and then add in my Tangzhong and my frothy boy. I'll start to mix on low speed and then slowly add in two whole eggs plus two egg yolks, one yolk at a time. Once those get incorporated, the dough should become more cohesive, albeit wet. At that point, add one whole stick or 113g of softened butter—very softened butter in little chunks, about a tablespoon at a time, until those are incorporated. Then kick this up to high speed and mix it for about 8 to 10 minutes until it's kneaded.
It should pull away from the sides more at this point. you may need to ass a bit more flour. After about 8 minutes, check on the dough and start to stretch it to see if it's done. This is the windowpane test: if you can see light through it before it tears, you're done.
This dough is like a brioche or a cinnamon roll dough, so it's going to be very tacky when you touch it, but it shouldn't stick to your hands completely. That's also a good indicator of if you're hydrated enough but not too much—uh, the dough, not you. So maybe you drink a beer.
Now grab a large bowl and spray it around with oil, then add the dough to it. Fold all the edges under itself so that it can sit smooth in the bowl as it rises. Turn your oven on to its lowest setting for about 2 minutes and then cut it off before adding the dough. Let rise for at least 2 hours.
I've lately been cold fermenting my King Cakes and getting better results, so that's what I'm going to do. After its first rise, I stick this in the fridge for at least one night, but I usually go two nights. That yeast fermentation flavor is very good—it's what a lot of good pizza recipes do. I know you won't always have time to do this, and it's not absolutely necessary, but I'm always going to recommend it.
When I'm ready to move on, I try to take it out at least 3 hours before I'm going to work with it because it's just going to come more to room temperature and be easier to work with. I flour up my clean countertop and just dump this on top and start to roll it out. Just take your time with this and try to go even in all directions. I try to get as defined of corners as I can, so I try to focus on all four corners as I'm rolling. They're going to be rounded to some extent, but as sharp as you can get them is best.
I've also been rolling this about as thin as I can get it because I feel like the final product is best. For instance, this was rolled out bigger than my 21 by 15 baking sheet. It's just going to allow for more rolls of the braids and just have more cinnamon filling in each bite.
i have been rolling to 18x28
I'm going to cut it into three even strips, which are going to be braided. You can measure with a ruler, but I just kind of guess and try to make it as even as possible. You should always score each
Evenly disperse the cinnamon filling until it's gone, and I try to just brush it into all the corners and crevices.
Now we can roll these up like individual cinnamon rolls. Just try to keep it as tight as possible. Hopefully your strips are roughly the same amount of mass, because that's going to help them be the same width of braid. Just try to stretch them as thin as the thinnest roll will let you go and try to match the other two. I pin these together at one end and then I start to braid. The middle strip gets pulled over the rightmost strip, and then the rightmost strip becomes the new middle strip. That new middle gets pulled over the left side, whatever side is away from where it came from. Just keep pulling the new middle strip each time. Keep everything tight and you should come to a nice braid at the end.
should be about a 36" long braid then put in pan and make into an oblong about 9"x17"
in a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The braided King Cake gets carefully added to this and I try to circle it around into a ring. I carefully stretch this to try to keep it as flat as possible. Again, I wanted everything thin and flat so it's not too bulky. Then when the two ends meet, I just try to kind of braid them together the same way that I braided the rest of the dough. This should measure about 16” x 9” to fit in the cake box from Walmart.
I cover this with a towel and then let it rise for about 45 minutes to 1 more hour before we can bake it. Meanwhile, the oven is preheating to 350°F. When it's ready to bake, I'm going to cover it in an egg wash. That's the left over egg whites from the dough with a little bit of milk or water that's just going to be brushed over every surface of the King Cake, including the inside and outside of the ring, so nothing dries out. Place that into the center of your oven for anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes. It'll vary based on many factors—you're just ready to pull it out when you get a nice dark browning around everything. Just come in and check at 20 minutes, and if you see a medium browning, you can pull it out. internal temperature should be 180 degrees. you can cover with foil and continue to bake till it reaches 180 F
I immediately come back with two more tablespoons of heavy cream and brush that over every surface. Let that soak into the cake, which will soften up the crispy edges and bring a nice rich flavor. This cake will rest for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then I can transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
b. FOR THE FILLING: (Brian Lagerstrom)
Whip with paddle attachment in stand mixer, or with eggbeater until well creamed and light brown, about 5-7 minutes.
I have a stand mixer, so I'm going to get that set up. Into the bowl, I'm going to measure 170 grams of softened butter. I cut that up about 20 minutes ago before I started mixing, so it's good and soft. On top of that, we're going to measure 220 grams of brown sugar, 20 grams of cinnamon, and 1 gram of salt. I'm going to throw the paddle attachment on here and start to cream everything together. Again, we're going to start on low speed for a minute or two to let things get moistened. Next, I'm going to turn things up to medium-high and continue to whip all this up for a while, like 8 to 10 minutes.
Don't walk away from your mixer while it's running on high speed—these things can buck themselves right off the counter and mess up your whole setup. So stick nearby. After about 10 minutes, we fully cream the sugar and butter. If you're wondering, creaming is where we use sugar to whip air into butter. You would normally do this for a cookie, but in the context of a cinnamon roll, we get a filling that's not going to melt out the bottom as easily. If you don't do this step, you're basically going to have an oily brown butter caramel on the bottom of your pan. That sounds kind of good in theory, but in practice, barf. Cream your stuff, bro.
Now I'm going to scoop this out and set it aside for later. The air that we whipped in there should give us about two cups of total filling for our cinnamon rolls. Add enough cream to make the filling spreadable.
I have made smaller cakes using a single strip cut in half and twisted like the old twisted donuts from Tastee Donuts. these are great smaller cakes that fit into a 9x9 pie box from Walmart. they bake for 20 minutes as well.
c. Icing: (Cat Cora) https://catcora.com/blogs/recipes/cat-coras-copycat-cinnabon-cinnamon-rolls
Then I'm going to make my cream cheese frosting that goes on top. Let me tell you, when you talk about cream cheese frosting, that's all you have to say!
I'm going right in with the cream cheese. Just add in the softened butter, a pinch of salt, and then half the bowl of powdered sugar. Let's mix it a little bit… add in the rest of the powdered sugar.
try
Copycat Cinnabon Icing Recipe
Ingredients:
4 ounces (1/2 cup) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon milk (optional, for desired consistency)
Instructions:
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and butter. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
Gradually add the powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, beating on low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add the vanilla extract and salt, and continue to beat on medium speed until the icing is smooth and fluffy.
If the icing is too thick, add milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency.
try adding 1 cup and then add sugar gradually till you get the sweetness you want.
