It’s time to Party Gras! Sure, everyone’s focused on Valentine’s Day in February…chocolates are nice, roses are pretty, but you know what absolutely takes the literal cake? A holiday devoted eating and drinking with zero judgement when it comes to how many slices of cake or number of Hurricanes you’ve had to drink. That, to me, is real love…which is why I made a cake devoted to the ultimate Mardi Gras dessert: the King Cake. I made mine into a layer cake, and there will be no plastic babies hidden in this beauty because my house is a child-free zone.
This cake is truly the life of the Mardi. It is swimming in rich brown sugar and cinnamon flavor and ensconced in the traditional colors of Mardi Gras. Fun fact! Purple represent justice, green represents faith, and the gold/yellow represents power. You will feel all three while you eat a slice of this cake. Coming in at 296 calories a slice/10 slices total, you’ll have plenty of room to eat yourself into a stupor this upcoming Fat Tuesday. Recipe and tricks below–be sure to check out the gallery for decorating tips. ‘Til next time, my fellow eaters!
Recipe and Instructions
Gluten free King Cake Layer Cake
A stunning tribute to Mardi Gras' traditional King Cake bundt cake
Ingredients
CAKE*One box of gluten free yellow cake mix
*75 grams (1/3 c) unsweetened applesauce
*1 1/4 cup fat free or skim milk
*3 eggs
*1/4 cup golden monkfruit or brown sugar
*1 TBS cinnamon
FROSTING
*224 grams (8 ounces) of 1/3 the fat cream cheese, softened
*112 grams (1/2 cup) of light butter, softened
*480 grams (4 cups) Lakanto powdered monkfruit
*1/4 tsp citric acid
*1/4 cup skim or fat free milk
*Purple, green, and yellow gel dye
OTHER INGREDIENTS
*Mardi Gras sprinkles (mine are from Amazon)
*Sanding or sparkling sugar in purple, green, and yellow/gold
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease three 6-inch round pans and add bake even strips.
- Whisk cake ingredients together in a stand mixer on low for 30 seconds before switching to medium-high for two minutes.
- Pour batter evenly into pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean from the center.
- Allow cakes to cool fully before frosting.
- To make frosting, mix butter and cream cheese on medium-high for 3 minutes until fluffy.
- Add in half of the powdered monkfruit, half the milk, the vanilla, and the citric acid, mixing well.
- Add in remaining sugar and milk, blending well.
- Take a bit of frosting and divide into two bowls; dye one green and the other yellow.
- Place one drop of purple gel dye into the mixing bowl and blend to get a light purple to coat the cake with.
- Place a layer of frosting in between each cake round and frost the entire cake, smoothing as best as you can with an angled spatula and bench scraper.
- Place cake in the freezer for 15-30 minutes to let frosting harden; dye remaining light purple dye with more purple to make a dark purple for piping a border.
- Remove cake from the freezer and use an untextured (Viva brand works best) paper towel to smooth any lumps or bumps.
- Wrap cake sides in Parchment or paper towels; then place a strip of Parchment paper in the middle of the cake. On one side, carefully pour the purple sanding sugar; on the other side, carefully pour the yellow sanding sugar.
- Gently remove Parchment paper and place green sanding sugar in its place.
- Load up your dyed frosting into three piping bags fitted with 1M or 2D tips.
- Start your border by piping large purple stars around the top of the cake (photos below).
- On top of the purple, pipe a smaller green star.
- To finish, pipe a small yellow star on top of this.
- Place the cake on a large baking sheet to collect mess, and press Mardi Gras sprinkles into the bottom of the cake to finish.
- Keep cake covered and in the fridge. Cake slices best served at room temp, so remove and slice 30-45 minutes before eating. Mardi On!
Nutrition
Macros10 servings
296 cal/41.7 c/11.2 f/7 p per slice
Kate Bakes Cakes 