I live in Santa Cruz, CA but I'm from Lafayette, LA and last year I threw what has become an annual Mardi Gras party for over 30 people! I was stressing about the king cake recipe because I could not find a recipe suitable to my exquisite standards and taste for king cake. I have had MANY over the years (Keller's till I die btw). I found this recipe and knew instantly when I saw you using the Tangzong that you were my guy. I made this king cake and it was without a doubt the best king cake I've ever had. The dough was AMAZING!!!! It was such a huge hit! Fast forward a year later and I've sent this recipe to every loved one and I'm ready for round 2!!! Can't wait to make it again. Thanks so much for the amazing recipe and for contributing to the Mardi Gras spirit that is alive and well on the West Coast! -Reece ⚜💜💚
This king cake is exceptional! It does rival a Randazzo’s king cake. Thank you for blessing us with your gift, Matt. My family and I no longer live in New Orleans full time, so this has really blessed us. I can now give my family a king cake whenever they want, and it’s a lot more budget friendly than Randazzos. 😅
Followed this recipe to a tee. This is it. This is the king cake you want to make. If you have any question about which RUclips recipe is for you, you now have your answer. He is absolutely right to say that this recipe holds up against any bakery in Nola. Make this cake and see for yourself.
New Orleans native living in Kentucky ( missing home.every day), watching on Mardi Gras day.. I need home.. I need King cake today lol ! Going to try this!!
I’ve been watching your videos for 2months in the background while doing school work and playing games didn’t realize how small your channel is keep up the good work high quality videos
I made this last year after my husband and I went to NOLA and I wanted another one. It was fantastic. Then, when my SIL suggested we do a "bread" breakfast for Christmas, I asked my husband what he wanted. Blueberry lemon, pumpkin, banana or this king cake. His eyes lit up when I mentioned the king cake. So, I made it. I turned it into two different loaves instead of one big one, and that worked out really well. I made one cinnamon/cream cheese and one Nutella/ cream cheese. They were both hits. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe!
This isn’t a comment to tell you you’re wrong but rather a cultural note. We start eating king cake on 12th night or “kings night”. This is ok 1/6 which is the first night of the Mardi Gras season. Again not knocking a king cake bread party! Just a fun tradition. We only eat it 1/6-Mardi Gras day which of course changes each year. This year I believe it’s 3/4. So we get an extra long season to enjoy these! Thank you for appreciating our culture!
I lived in New Orleans for 60 yrs before moving to Texas to be near to grand kids. I miss the food so much and one item that is greatly missed is Kingcake. I'm not a baker but to make one but it wasn't to my liking. I tried your recipe and mad a home run. It came out wonderful. Rivals some of the best of home town bakeries.
Man, thank you so much for sharing your recipe and process. As a non-baker, I really appreciate the detailed descriptions of how things should look along the way. I made the recipe this past weekend as a test run for an upcoming Mardi Gras party. The cake came out better than I ever expected and I’ve received nothing but rave reviews from those who have tasted it. My wife (a proud Louisianan) says it’s perfect and she wouldn’t change a thing. That’s high praise. My sincerest thanks!!!
We made it last night, thanks for the updated video. I'm from new Orleans born and raised. It's an awesome recipe and big thanks for the content . If you ever heard of Dat King Cake Guy... That's me 😎 Thanks again, Justin
@@matthinkampcooks I did king cake deliveries from popular bakeries few years back. It was huge hit, but I moved and haven't been back to run it again. People were able to order whatever they wanted from select handful bakeries I had relationships with and my team worked to get all the different cakes from each bakery and deliver to where you wanted it . I blew up lol. But I moved to Florida and coming back been difficult. Next year I think I'm gonna do it. 2025
Imma hold you to the hype! Update: amazing recipe! I made it yesterday. So soft, people thought it had a cream cheese filling, but I made a plain cinnamon version. Lots of praises. A friend thought it was the best king cake he ever ate and asked where I bought it. I told I made it and he was very impressed. Thanks Matt!
Just tried this recipe on Wednesday. It was slightly colder than usual with us just having our very own New Orleans blizzard. So the dough didn’t want to cooperate and stretch, which made it a little “bready”, but it was delicious! Definitely cannot wait to try this again in more normal temps lol
“I just go by what feels good.” Man, your measuring system drives me nuts! I can’t argue with the results, though. This thing looks amazing! I wish I had an oven to accommodate it but my kitchen is 7’x12’ (and that’s including counter space). Although, this is certainly something I would try when I have a big enough oven to fit this bad boy!
OMG! I never leave comments on RUclips, but this recipe is SO GOOD. This king cake is comparable to some of the best I’ve had in NOLA. My husband and I met at LSU and were obsessed with this king cake. MAKE THIS RECIPE!!!
Thank you for taking the time to comment! I’m glad you were able to try this and enjoy the hard work! Love hearing nice stories like this, makes it all worth it
Made this yesterday. Had a hard time getting it to roll as thin as I would like so it came out pretty fat but still so good! Very very close to a randazzo’s taste and texture!
Matt, I was searching for a really good King Cake and I ran across yours. I watched the video from a year or so ago 2 days ago and was still looking at others but really felt yours was the winner. My husband’s favorite is Randazzo’s too. As I was viewing all your videos I saw your Dong Phuong one. Last year my Brother In-Law waited in line for one of theirs on the Northshore and it had a filling and I didn’t like it but I liked their icing. I tried the Dong Phuong dough first and I also made your version of Randazzo’s. They are both similar in ingredients but just a slight difference with the Japanese method, etc. I like the dough from yours but I prefer the icing from DP. I never leave reviews and I had to leave one for you because it is the BEST King Cake. It’s so moist and it’s so delicious. I usually don’t eat King Cake and especially plain cinnamon, but in my opinion there really isn’t a need for any filling as the plain cinnamon is so good. I have made 3 of them in 2 days. One my husband and I are still snacking on and my close neighbors have sampled and LOVE. One my husband took to work today and One I’m bringing to my elderly parents tomorrow. Great job on the video and the recipe because it is truly an awesome King Cake. Thank you for sharing as I’m a huge fan and I’ve subscribed to your channel. BTW: I’m from Metairie and reside outside of Baton Rouge in Livingston Parish so we know King Cake and how many of them are so dry. Thank you again! ❤😊
I must have missed this one but wow thanks SO much for the detailed review! I agree that the DP frosting is unmatched…but I’m so glad this cake worked out for you all! Means a lot that you came back to leave a comment 😃
Simply fantastic...best king cake I've ever made. Just like you said, had to tinker with the flour to get the dough consistency right, but your ingredient list is pretty darn close. Had to do the same with the powdered sugar and milk to get the glaze right and added a bit more lemon squeeze than you suggested to make it taste just like Randazzo's. This recipe is a great way to really wow people if you have a modicum of baking skills and know how.
Yeah I think the randazzos recipe includes lemon and/or orange zest in the dough too, and more juice in the icing. But I’m glad this came out well for you! Thanks for leaving your feedback 🤘
Why oh why did not YT recommend this video when I searched for 'King Cake' recipes? Now I have to send a subpar KC to my friend in Indiana. I hope that she forgives me. Subscribed.
@@matthinkampcooks my friend Melodie and I are going to make some content (kind of like your vid) making your recipe and then delivering the king cakes to local businesses! You should make a guest appearance for the recipe cred!!
I don’t have it on a site yet, unfortunately 🫤 somebody wrote down the steps in a comment on my original video from 2022 and I pinned it there, that’s the best option I have for now
I finally got the chance to try this recipe, and I nearly cried when I tasted it. I moved from Louisiana about 6 years ago, and the king cake is what I've missed more than anything. My husband got to try it for the first time, and now he wants one for his birthday cake! I wanted to try and make one with an apple filling, but the dough came out very dense. I think it's partly because he dough itself didn't rise as much after being mixed, and partly because I mixed the diced apple with the cinnamon-brown sugar mix, turning it liquidy. I hope that adding the apples after I lay out the cinnamon sugar mix on the dough and using the oven to rise it will fix it. Have you tried using fruit in a king cake before? If so, what advice do you have?
Wow thanks so much for this lovely feedback! I’m glad yall liked it 😁 as far as fruit I’ve actually never tried to use it in a king cake, maybe there’s some way to pre cook the apples in the sugar so they reduce a bit and lose some of their liquid? Or maybe look around at some apple pie recipes and see if any do anything special with them before they go in the pie…it’s something I’d like to explore at some point too, but I wish you the best of luck!
Made this king cake! It was my first time making king cake it turned out great!!! Mine was huge! But it was wonderful! Also made cinnamon rolls with this dough. Wondering what else I could make with this dough? Donuts?
I think donut dough varies a bit in the proportions, but they’re close, it would be interesting to try. This is based off brioche so anything that is brioche-adjacent would be worth a shot. I don’t have any ideas cause I haven’t tried anything else 😅 but thanks for testing this one!
I am making your king cake right now and its in the oven rising. I am so excited! I would like to add cream cheese inside for this one. Any insight would be great!! Thank you so much!!!
I would do the regular filling, but also whip up an 8oz block of cream cheese with about a cup of powdered sugar, and a little vanilla extract and optional lemon zest. Might be best to pipe that into logs across each strip before rolling, but I’ve never tried it exactly that way. Other option would be to spread that first and add cinnamon sugar on top. Best of luck to you!
Thank you so much! It means a lot to us that you got back so quickly. Thank you for the cream cheese/powdered sugar ratio. I may try this. We are excited!!!
I am circling back and I am posting here for everyone to see. We travel to NOLA each year and I have tried lots of King Cakes. This recipe is amazing!!!! I am sure it is extra amazing when made by following the instructions 100%. Look no further and make the recipe from the video. I was carried away because I wanted to make one final king cake before fat tuesday and know that we can not eat another one until 2025. It was hands down the best king cake I have made so far and I have tried lots of recipes from youtube. For this cake, I mixed the cream cheese 8 oz with one cup of the powdered sugar and added one cup of chopped pecans to this mix. I added the mixture to the piping bag and followed suggested instructions above. I should have added the lemon zest but I truthfully became lazy after all the clean up and patience from the process. I feel like the cream cheese (while I did not add a lot) made the king cake way denser and creamier (not in a bad way). I did not add much so it was just for certain bites. I was worried the cream cheese would get messy during the baking process but this was not an issue at all. I LOVED having some of the pecans. I would also like to add that my king cake stuck to the parchment paper and I had to flip the king cake over to peel off the parchment paper that really baked into the bottom of the cake. This was a huge pain. ***
Hey Matt! Looks like a fantastic recipe and I really want to test run this tomorrow before next week BUT Im wanting to do individual portions (like a bunch of mini king cakes) as they will be for a party 😊. How would you recommend me successfully altering this recipe to make this work? Could I cut the braid in smaller sections and bake? Do you think it would take away from the larger one’s inner layers/stuffing/moisture?
I’ve had someone say they split this into 4 smaller cakes with success. Any more splitting and I would almost be tempted to say it’s better to just do single rolls for each cake (like a cinnamon roll) instead of braids. But I could see it working with you cutting each portion into 3 tiny strips and braiding them. But I’d just be weary about it being long enough to loop around in a ring that way. I think it’s worth a shot though. I would just bake at a higher temp, maybe 380ish, so the outside can brown faster before the inside dries out
You saved the day for me! Tried the first recipe I found - yuck! Then found yours!! AMAZING I can tell you're a Chef by the lingo you use!! I have to bring this to work in 1 hour!! 🥰 Merci beaucoup!!!
Thanks for trying it! Glad it turned out well…but yes the bottom sometimes browns quickly, depending on the tray material I think and other factors. I’d maybe try to lower the temp to 325 so the inside can cook more evenly with the outside, or putting it higher up in the oven. Or maybe a crazy idea is to refrigerate the tray before putting it in the oven so it can’t get as hot as fast
I think you could either freeze it after mixing, but before rising OR After rolling out, cutting, filling, and shaping the cake, but before the final rise Either way, you should keep it tightly wrapped (option 1 can be kept in an airtight container, option 2 I would suggest freezing it on a tray for a couple of hours and then wrapping heavily in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn). I’ve never tried freezing so take this with a grain of salt, but it should keep frozen for a month or 2. You just have to take it out and thaw it and then it should rise again
Matt, I made your recipe yesterday for a king cake party I hosted and it went really well. I had trouble incorporating the butter into the dough, and was also worried about adding too much flour. I found some good resources online that recommended either an autolyse (mixing the dough and letting rest for 20 mins before adding the butter) or a 2-3 minute mix before any butter is added. The point of this is to develop as much gluten as possible before adding in the fat, which can inhibit gluten formation. It might be worth a try, and could help you to not have to add too much extra flour. Thanks again for the recipes and keep up the good work. PS: I also made your dong phuong cake and it was a big hit too
Thanks so much for this detailed comment! I’ve looked at doing an autolyse before, but just haven’t tried yet. Usually the stand mixer can overpower the toughness of developing gluten with butter in the dough, but that gets tricky with more sophisticated styles of brioche. I definitely want to experiment more with this recipe going forward since I’m comfortable with it now. Thanks so much for the support!
How do you keep your filling in the cake? I have tried most things, I just keep getting leakage. Thanks for the heavy cream wash tip - my last loaf was so soft!
I don’t entirely know the answer, I always have a small amount of leakage but it rarely happens that I have massive filling leakage, maybe 10% of the time. I can only suggest pinching the seam tighter when making the individual rolls, but also keeping the braid tight. Hope you have better luck!
It’s based off of brioche recipes which typically use bread flour for the higher protein content (a bit more chew). That said numerous people have used AP instead and had success with this
It really looks delicious! Two questions… Where’s the baby? Lol! But second, I wonder if you could put lemon extract instead of fresh lemon in the icing
The reason I asked about the extract, was that my grandmother used to ice her cupcakes, and/or cakes with confectionery sugar, a little bit of milk, and extract. Lemon, maple, etc. depending on what she was baking.
My sweet spot is 2 hours, but I go anywhere from 90 mins to about 3 hours. I’ve never had issues, but for a more regulated temp I can recommend turning your oven on for 2-3 mins and then turning off before putting dough in to proof. I do that when my house gets cold
@@emilyhalley8911 if it will be eaten within 2-3 days no, I think refrigerating drops the quality a bit, but if it’s going to sit for longer I recommend it
Possible yes, just very hard to knead enriched dough like this because the fat inhibits gluten formation. I would mix everything before the butter and start kneading that on a counter for a few minutes to head start the gluten development. Then work the butter in slowly and continue to knead until you can stretch it like the window pane test. It will take a long time
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
I live in Santa Cruz, CA but I'm from Lafayette, LA and last year I threw what has become an annual Mardi Gras party for over 30 people! I was stressing about the king cake recipe because I could not find a recipe suitable to my exquisite standards and taste for king cake. I have had MANY over the years (Keller's till I die btw).
I found this recipe and knew instantly when I saw you using the Tangzong that you were my guy. I made this king cake and it was without a doubt the best king cake I've ever had. The dough was AMAZING!!!! It was such a huge hit! Fast forward a year later and I've sent this recipe to every loved one and I'm ready for round 2!!! Can't wait to make it again. Thanks so much for the amazing recipe and for contributing to the Mardi Gras spirit that is alive and well on the West Coast!
-Reece ⚜💜💚
Okay as a Lafayette native myself, how does this compare to Meche’s king cake
I’m late but thanks for trying this and giving feedback!! It truly means a lot especially from a Louisiana native
This king cake is exceptional! It does rival a Randazzo’s king cake. Thank you for blessing us with your gift, Matt. My family and I no longer live in New Orleans full time, so this has really blessed us. I can now give my family a king cake whenever they want, and it’s a lot more budget friendly than Randazzos. 😅
Followed this recipe to a tee. This is it. This is the king cake you want to make. If you have any question about which RUclips recipe is for you, you now have your answer.
He is absolutely right to say that this recipe holds up against any bakery in Nola. Make this cake and see for yourself.
Thanks so much for the feedback! I’m glad this worked out for you and thank you for sharing your experience for others to see also
New Orleans native living in Kentucky ( missing home.every day), watching on Mardi Gras day.. I need home.. I need King cake today lol ! Going to try this!!
I’ve been watching your videos for 2months in the background while doing school work and playing games didn’t realize how small your channel is keep up the good work high quality videos
This means a ton! Thank you for putting in the time and following along 😄
I made this last year after my husband and I went to NOLA and I wanted another one. It was fantastic. Then, when my SIL suggested we do a "bread" breakfast for Christmas, I asked my husband what he wanted. Blueberry lemon, pumpkin, banana or this king cake. His eyes lit up when I mentioned the king cake. So, I made it. I turned it into two different loaves instead of one big one, and that worked out really well. I made one cinnamon/cream cheese and one Nutella/ cream cheese. They were both hits. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe!
This is so awesome! Thanks for sharing, I love reading these comments. The twists you made to the cake sound fabulous, glad you guys enjoyed
This isn’t a comment to tell you you’re wrong but rather a cultural note. We start eating king cake on 12th night or “kings night”. This is ok 1/6 which is the first night of the Mardi Gras season. Again not knocking a king cake bread party! Just a fun tradition. We only eat it 1/6-Mardi Gras day which of course changes each year. This year I believe it’s 3/4. So we get an extra long season to enjoy these! Thank you for appreciating our culture!
@@adamwales5088 I appreciate your insight! I always love learning about other cultures.
I lived in New Orleans for 60 yrs before moving to Texas to be near to grand kids. I miss the food so much and one item that is greatly missed is Kingcake. I'm not a baker but to make one but it wasn't to my liking. I tried your recipe and mad a home run. It came out wonderful. Rivals some of the best of home town bakeries.
I’m late but thanks a ton for trying this and letting me know. I’m glad it turned out well
Man, thank you so much for sharing your recipe and process. As a non-baker, I really appreciate the detailed descriptions of how things should look along the way.
I made the recipe this past weekend as a test run for an upcoming Mardi Gras party. The cake came out better than I ever expected and I’ve received nothing but rave reviews from those who have tasted it. My wife (a proud Louisianan) says it’s perfect and she wouldn’t change a thing. That’s high praise. My sincerest thanks!!!
Wow these are awesome and kind words! Thanks for trying the recipe and sharing with your friends. Hope you get to make more
We made it last night, thanks for the updated video. I'm from new Orleans born and raised. It's an awesome recipe and big thanks for the content . If you ever heard of Dat King Cake Guy... That's me 😎
Thanks again,
Justin
Thanks Justin! Glad to hear that…are you still in the area? What is Dat King Cake Guy known for?
@@matthinkampcooks I did king cake deliveries from popular bakeries few years back. It was huge hit, but I moved and haven't been back to run it again. People were able to order whatever they wanted from select handful bakeries I had relationships with and my team worked to get all the different cakes from each bakery and deliver to where you wanted it . I blew up lol. But I moved to Florida and coming back been difficult. Next year I think I'm gonna do it. 2025
As a south LA native, who has had countless amazing king cakes, this was indeed the best king cake recipe!!! Thanks so much for this ❤️
Such high praise and I really appreciate it!
Imma hold you to the hype!
Update: amazing recipe! I made it yesterday. So soft, people thought it had a cream cheese filling, but I made a plain cinnamon version. Lots of praises. A friend thought it was the best king cake he ever ate and asked where I bought it. I told I made it and he was very impressed. Thanks Matt!
Let’s go! Thanks for coming back to leave a review…I’m happy you tried it and happy it worked out for you
I just guessed on the nutmeg - made this today and my family is comatose. Fantastic! Thanks for sharing your technique and recipe!
Sorry for the delay - it’s less than 1/8 tsp, or a small shake from a container, about 5 seconds grating fresh on a microplane
But glad it came out well!
This recipe changed my life no lie
This comment changed my life
Just tried this recipe on Wednesday. It was slightly colder than usual with us just having our very own New Orleans blizzard. So the dough didn’t want to cooperate and stretch, which made it a little “bready”, but it was delicious! Definitely cannot wait to try this again in more normal temps lol
Yeah those cold countertops are not the friendliest I feel you, but thanks for trying it!
“I just go by what feels good.”
Man, your measuring system drives me nuts!
I can’t argue with the results, though.
This thing looks amazing!
I wish I had an oven to accommodate it but my kitchen is 7’x12’ (and that’s including counter space).
Although, this is certainly something I would try when I have a big enough oven to fit this bad boy!
Hmmm a toaster oven version would be amazing!
Amazing recipe! Best king cake I've made ever. I've probably done about a dozen over the last couple of years but this "takes the cake."
That’s awesome! Love that for you and glad this recipe worked out for you :)
Made this cake. Excellent! Fed it to my neighbors. They want several more for a big party. Thx for what you do.
I’m late but thanks for making this and sharing!!
@@matthinkampcooks Almost time to make more...
I just made your king cake recipe from your old video last night. It’s absolutely amazing. I baked on a pizza pan!
That’s awesome! Thanks for the comment and I’m happy you liked it
I’m making it again this year too! Thank you Matt.
You’re the best Brandi!
I made this last year and will definitely make it again. It was absolutely great. Thank you so much.
Yes I remember! Thanks for the comment again, I appreciate you
Love this recipe ❤ great video!
Thanks!! 😎😎
OMG! I never leave comments on RUclips, but this recipe is SO GOOD. This king cake is comparable to some of the best I’ve had in NOLA. My husband and I met at LSU and were obsessed with this king cake. MAKE THIS RECIPE!!!
Thank you for taking the time to comment! I’m glad you were able to try this and enjoy the hard work! Love hearing nice stories like this, makes it all worth it
Made this yesterday. Had a hard time getting it to roll as thin as I would like so it came out pretty fat but still so good! Very very close to a randazzo’s taste and texture!
It is hard sometimes…I’ve definitely gotten better with practice but I’m glad yours still came out well
Matt, I was searching for a really good King Cake and I ran across yours. I watched the video from a year or so ago 2 days ago and was still looking at others but really felt yours was the winner. My husband’s favorite is Randazzo’s too. As I was viewing all your videos I saw your Dong Phuong one. Last year my Brother In-Law waited in line for one of theirs on the Northshore and it had a filling and I didn’t like it but I liked their icing. I tried the Dong Phuong dough first and I also made your version of Randazzo’s. They are both similar in ingredients but just a slight difference with the Japanese method, etc. I like the dough from yours but I prefer the icing from DP. I never leave reviews and I had to leave one for you because it is the BEST King Cake. It’s so moist and it’s so delicious. I usually don’t eat King Cake and especially plain cinnamon, but in my opinion there really isn’t a need for any filling as the plain cinnamon is so good. I have made 3 of them in 2 days. One my husband and I are still snacking on and my close neighbors have sampled and LOVE. One my husband took to work today and One I’m bringing to my elderly parents tomorrow. Great job on the video and the recipe because it is truly an awesome King Cake. Thank you for sharing as I’m a huge fan and I’ve subscribed to your channel. BTW: I’m from Metairie and reside outside of Baton Rouge in Livingston Parish so we know King Cake and how many of them are so dry. Thank you again! ❤😊
I must have missed this one but wow thanks SO much for the detailed review! I agree that the DP frosting is unmatched…but I’m so glad this cake worked out for you all! Means a lot that you came back to leave a comment 😃
Simply fantastic...best king cake I've ever made. Just like you said, had to tinker with the flour to get the dough consistency right, but your ingredient list is pretty darn close. Had to do the same with the powdered sugar and milk to get the glaze right and added a bit more lemon squeeze than you suggested to make it taste just like Randazzo's. This recipe is a great way to really wow people if you have a modicum of baking skills and know how.
Yeah I think the randazzos recipe includes lemon and/or orange zest in the dough too, and more juice in the icing. But I’m glad this came out well for you! Thanks for leaving your feedback 🤘
Why oh why did not YT recommend this video when I searched for 'King Cake' recipes? Now I have to send a subpar KC to my friend in Indiana. I hope that she forgives me.
Subscribed.
Well I’m glad you still found it! Hope you get to try it next time and thanks for the support :)
I will definitely make this KC for other friends in the neighborhood! The best recipe, hands down! @@matthinkampcooks
Here to say I’m back to this amazing recipe for the 2nd year!!!!
Ur the best Morgan!!! I haven’t made any yet this year I need to stop slacking
@@matthinkampcooks my friend Melodie and I are going to make some content (kind of like your vid) making your recipe and then delivering the king cakes to local businesses! You should make a guest appearance for the recipe cred!!
@ whaaaat that’s awesome! DM me the deets pls if I can make it work with my schedule I’m def in 😃
Is the whole recipe written down somewhere? Not just the ingredients?
I don’t have it on a site yet, unfortunately 🫤 somebody wrote down the steps in a comment on my original video from 2022 and I pinned it there, that’s the best option I have for now
I finally got the chance to try this recipe, and I nearly cried when I tasted it. I moved from Louisiana about 6 years ago, and the king cake is what I've missed more than anything. My husband got to try it for the first time, and now he wants one for his birthday cake!
I wanted to try and make one with an apple filling, but the dough came out very dense. I think it's partly because he dough itself didn't rise as much after being mixed, and partly because I mixed the diced apple with the cinnamon-brown sugar mix, turning it liquidy. I hope that adding the apples after I lay out the cinnamon sugar mix on the dough and using the oven to rise it will fix it. Have you tried using fruit in a king cake before? If so, what advice do you have?
Wow thanks so much for this lovely feedback! I’m glad yall liked it 😁 as far as fruit I’ve actually never tried to use it in a king cake, maybe there’s some way to pre cook the apples in the sugar so they reduce a bit and lose some of their liquid? Or maybe look around at some apple pie recipes and see if any do anything special with them before they go in the pie…it’s something I’d like to explore at some point too, but I wish you the best of luck!
Made this king cake! It was my first time making king cake it turned out great!!! Mine was huge! But it was wonderful! Also made cinnamon rolls with this dough. Wondering what else I could make with this dough? Donuts?
I think donut dough varies a bit in the proportions, but they’re close, it would be interesting to try. This is based off brioche so anything that is brioche-adjacent would be worth a shot. I don’t have any ideas cause I haven’t tried anything else 😅 but thanks for testing this one!
Made it 3x now, only thing different I did cream cheese filling and icing, amazing.
Thanks for sharing! Glad to hear you’re still going strong 💪
Try putting purple, green and gold food coloring into the icing in three separate bowls. No crunchy sugar texture that way, and still very colorful.
This is a great idea!
Any guidance on how much grated nutmeg?
I am making your king cake right now and its in the oven rising. I am so excited! I would like to add cream cheese inside for this one. Any insight would be great!! Thank you so much!!!
I would do the regular filling, but also whip up an 8oz block of cream cheese with about a cup of powdered sugar, and a little vanilla extract and optional lemon zest. Might be best to pipe that into logs across each strip before rolling, but I’ve never tried it exactly that way. Other option would be to spread that first and add cinnamon sugar on top. Best of luck to you!
Thank you so much! It means a lot to us that you got back so quickly. Thank you for the cream cheese/powdered sugar ratio. I may try this. We are excited!!!
I am circling back and I am posting here for everyone to see. We travel to NOLA each year and I have tried lots of King Cakes.
This recipe is amazing!!!! I am sure it is extra amazing when made by following the instructions 100%. Look no further and make the recipe from the video.
I was carried away because I wanted to make one final king cake before fat tuesday and know that we can not eat another one until 2025. It was hands down the best king cake I have made so far and I have tried lots of recipes from youtube.
For this cake, I mixed the cream cheese 8 oz with one cup of the powdered sugar and added one cup of chopped pecans to this mix. I added the mixture to the piping bag and followed suggested instructions above. I should have added the lemon zest but I truthfully became lazy after all the clean up and patience from the process.
I feel like the cream cheese (while I did not add a lot) made the king cake way denser and creamier (not in a bad way). I did not add much so it was just for certain bites. I was worried the cream cheese would get messy during the baking process but this was not an issue at all. I LOVED having some of the pecans.
I would also like to add that my king cake stuck to the parchment paper and I had to flip the king cake over to peel off the parchment paper that really baked into the bottom of the cake. This was a huge pain. ***
I’ll be trying this recipe in 2 days. I’ve been trying different ones the past two weeks.
Wonderful to hear! I hope it goes well for you and look forward to hearing about it
@@matthinkampcooksit looks much fluffier than the ones I’ve tested so far. I’m going to make it today because I can’t wait another day lol
@@matthinkampcooks great recipe. I have made 5 different king cakes so far with this recipe!
How would you do a strawberry cream cheese king cake
I have a cream cheese filling recipe in a video from a couple of years ago! I would just add diced strawberries on top of that filling
Hey Matt! Looks like a fantastic recipe and I really want to test run this tomorrow before next week BUT Im wanting to do individual portions (like a bunch of mini king cakes) as they will be for a party 😊. How would you recommend me successfully altering this recipe to make this work? Could I cut the braid in smaller sections and bake? Do you think it would take away from the larger one’s inner layers/stuffing/moisture?
I’ve had someone say they split this into 4 smaller cakes with success. Any more splitting and I would almost be tempted to say it’s better to just do single rolls for each cake (like a cinnamon roll) instead of braids. But I could see it working with you cutting each portion into 3 tiny strips and braiding them. But I’d just be weary about it being long enough to loop around in a ring that way. I think it’s worth a shot though. I would just bake at a higher temp, maybe 380ish, so the outside can brown faster before the inside dries out
You saved the day for me! Tried the first recipe I found - yuck! Then found yours!! AMAZING I can tell you're a Chef by the lingo you use!! I have to bring this to work in 1 hour!! 🥰 Merci beaucoup!!!
I’m glad you found it and it worked for you! Thanks for sharing your experience
I made a traditional and bananas foster version, love this recipe
Sounds amazing! I’d love to know what you do for the bananas foster version
Just made it and turned out great! Only thing is the bottom of mines was a little burnt. Not sure why.
Thanks for trying it! Glad it turned out well…but yes the bottom sometimes browns quickly, depending on the tray material I think and other factors. I’d maybe try to lower the temp to 325 so the inside can cook more evenly with the outside, or putting it higher up in the oven. Or maybe a crazy idea is to refrigerate the tray before putting it in the oven so it can’t get as hot as fast
@@matthinkampcooksgreat idea! Thanks.
If I want to freeze the dough for future use, at which point would I stop and store in freezer? Thanks in advance
I think you could either freeze it after mixing, but before rising
OR
After rolling out, cutting, filling, and shaping the cake, but before the final rise
Either way, you should keep it tightly wrapped (option 1 can be kept in an airtight container, option 2 I would suggest freezing it on a tray for a couple of hours and then wrapping heavily in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn). I’ve never tried freezing so take this with a grain of salt, but it should keep frozen for a month or 2. You just have to take it out and thaw it and then it should rise again
Matt, I made your recipe yesterday for a king cake party I hosted and it went really well. I had trouble incorporating the butter into the dough, and was also worried about adding too much flour. I found some good resources online that recommended either an autolyse (mixing the dough and letting rest for 20 mins before adding the butter) or a 2-3 minute mix before any butter is added. The point of this is to develop as much gluten as possible before adding in the fat, which can inhibit gluten formation. It might be worth a try, and could help you to not have to add too much extra flour. Thanks again for the recipes and keep up the good work.
PS: I also made your dong phuong cake and it was a big hit too
Thanks so much for this detailed comment! I’ve looked at doing an autolyse before, but just haven’t tried yet. Usually the stand mixer can overpower the toughness of developing gluten with butter in the dough, but that gets tricky with more sophisticated styles of brioche. I definitely want to experiment more with this recipe going forward since I’m comfortable with it now. Thanks so much for the support!
How do you keep your filling in the cake? I have tried most things, I just keep getting leakage. Thanks for the heavy cream wash tip - my last loaf was so soft!
I don’t entirely know the answer, I always have a small amount of leakage but it rarely happens that I have massive filling leakage, maybe 10% of the time. I can only suggest pinching the seam tighter when making the individual rolls, but also keeping the braid tight. Hope you have better luck!
Question: is there any specific reason you use bread flour instead of AP flour?
It’s based off of brioche recipes which typically use bread flour for the higher protein content (a bit more chew). That said numerous people have used AP instead and had success with this
Can you do half of this recipe to make a smaller cake?
Absolutely, I do it often. People have even said a quarter of the recipe works
It really looks delicious! Two questions… Where’s the baby? Lol! But second, I wonder if you could put lemon extract instead of fresh lemon in the icing
The extract is a neat hack that’s worth a shot! Thanks
But where does the baby come into it? Just curious…
The reason I asked about the extract, was that my grandmother used to ice her cupcakes, and/or cakes with confectionery sugar, a little bit of milk, and extract. Lemon, maple, etc. depending on what she was baking.
How long do we proof for?
Sometimes it takes up to 2 hours for mine to double and still doesn’t come out right for me
My sweet spot is 2 hours, but I go anywhere from 90 mins to about 3 hours. I’ve never had issues, but for a more regulated temp I can recommend turning your oven on for 2-3 mins and then turning off before putting dough in to proof. I do that when my house gets cold
Does it need to be refrigerated?
@@emilyhalley8911 if it will be eaten within 2-3 days no, I think refrigerating drops the quality a bit, but if it’s going to sit for longer I recommend it
What temperature to bake on?
350F
Is it possible to make this without a stand mixer?
Possible yes, just very hard to knead enriched dough like this because the fat inhibits gluten formation. I would mix everything before the butter and start kneading that on a counter for a few minutes to head start the gluten development. Then work the butter in slowly and continue to knead until you can stretch it like the window pane test. It will take a long time
@@matthinkampcooks Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my comment! I will let you know if I decide to try it!
How big does it turn out? Trying to find a box for other bride so make it
Sorry for the delay, but it is a little smaller than my 15x21 baking sheet. Hope that helps
🤤🤤🤤 so ready for this
Stay ready so we don’t have to get ready
What type of bread flour
Any bread flour you find will work. All purpose works as well
Can confirm 10/10
A living legend
You forgot the doll! LOL - Looks delicious.
Lol, thanks for your support ✊
Awww nooo Not a King Cake without Baby Jesus!!!
Have you ever let the dough rest over night?🤔
Yeah I often do that (in the fridge) and I think it yields a slightly better result. I did that in my king cake video from 2023
You know you need some vanilla milk Matt!
Haha I have definitely been slacking! 😜
you forgot the vanilla milk lol
You know me too well 😁
No baby?? I guess I can just pinch it into place before I braid it.
I would definitely add the baby after baking if you’re putting one
@@matthinkampcooks😂😂😂😂😂 the next comment was gonna be why you didn’t tell me the baby melt
Please don’t😂😂😂😂😂😂
You forgot to add the baby! Lol