This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!
Tuesday is Mardi Gras in New Orleans, also known as Fat Tuesday. It is the culmination of Carnival season, which kicks off on January 6 every year (Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day). Many people in Indianapolis (which is 800 miles from New Orleans, by the way) don't take it seriously. They may celebrate by indulging in southern food and sweets, but that's the extent of it. In contrast, southerners celebrate throughout the entirety of Carnival season with dozens of parades, many gatherings, lots of alcohol, and indulgent foods—including king cake.
King cake isn't just a one-day treat. Bakeries in New Orleans have been selling king cakes since January. So if you haven't had your king cake fix yet, I have just the solution for you. I'm making bananas foster king cake with store-bought puff pastry. I wanted to combine a classic New Orleans dessert with a classic Mardi Gras dessert.
Most bakers make king cakes with brioche dough, which is an enriched sweet bread, and fill them with either cinnamon and sugar or a cream cheese mixture. So my version definitely isn't "traditional." But it's important to point out the king cakes we see today are very different now than they were even just a few decades ago. And if you visit New Orleans during Carnival season, you'll find king cakes in dozens of different flavor combinations.
I used Challenge Unsalted Butter to make this king cake. Challenge Unsalted Butter is 100% real cream butter—nothing artificial or synthetic. I recommend using unsalted butter when baking so you can have complete control over the salt level in the recipe.
1 teaspoon banana extract (you can substitute vanilla extract)
100 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
15 grams (2 Tablespoons) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
2 Tablespoons pecans, chopped
1 banana, peeled and sliced thin
For the icing
115 grams (1 cup) powdered sugar
1/8 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Yellow, green, and purple food coloring or yellow, green, and purple sprinkles
Directions
For the cake
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bring puff pastry to room temperature. Cut it down the middle lengthwise in two equal pieces.
Mix butter, rum, extract, sugar, flour, cinnamon, cardamom, and pecans. Fold in banana pieces.
Spread half of the mixture on one half of the puff pastry sheet and the rest of the mixture on the other half.
Roll up each puff pastry piece from the long edges like a log. Place the two pieces side-by-side and twist one over the other to form a rope.
Transfer the twisted puff pastry onto the parchment paper and shape it into an oval. Pinch ends together.
Bake 30 - 35 minutes until golden brown on top and cooked through. Set aside to cook.
For the icing
Combine powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth. Icing should be thick but pourable.
(Skip this part if you choose to use sprinkles.) Divide icing into three bowls. Color with yellow, green, and purple food coloring.
Pour icing over cooled king cake. (Skip this part if you choose to use food coloring.) Decorate with sprinkles. Allow icing to set.
This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!
Indianapolis is over 800 miles away from the Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the colorful cultural phenomenon!
It’s important to remember that Mardi Gras is the culmination of the Carnival season. Carnival kicks off on January 6 every year (Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day) and ends on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras), which is always the day before Ash Wednesday.
People down south celebrate throughout the entirety of Carnival season with dozens of parades, many gatherings, indulgent foods, and lots of alcohol.
I’ve never been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but my cousin Caitlyn lives in New Orleans with her fiancé Ranh, who was born and raised in the Big Easy. So they filled me in on what it’s like to immerse yourself in Carnival culture.
Many of us conjure up images of king cake when we think of Mardi Gras. Even in Indiana, you can find king cakes at bakeries and grocery stores at this time of year. King cake is traditionally made with brioche dough, filled with a cinnamon-sugar mixture, braided, formed into a wreath shape, and decorated with traditional Mardi Gras colors: yellow, green, and purple. And of course, there is a tiny baby baked inside the cake.
King cake is extremely popular in New Orleans, and almost every bakery comes up with their own version. You can expect to find tables of king cakes at Carnival celebrations, and some people eat dozens of different king cakes each year!
The French brought the king cake tradition to New Orleans in the 1800s. They have been serving up galette des rois, which literally translates to “king cake,” for over 500 years. The most popular galette de rois, which is served in Paris and northern France, is made of frangipane sandwiched between two layers of puff pastry. Frangipane is a sweet almond filling. And the top always has an intricate design. Also, instead of baking a tiny baby in the cake, the French hide a fava bean. Whomever finds the bean is king for the day and gets to wear a gold crown.
The tradition of eating galette de rois was once reserved for Epiphany, but that’s expanded. Now you can find them in bakeries throughout the entire Carnival season with flavors ranging from chocolate to caramel and even rice pudding!
Today, I’m sharing a recipe for galette des rois with the traditional frangipane filling, but I’m adding a little orange flavor to brighten it up.
The recipe starts with puff pastry. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can certainly make your own, but I’m using store-bought puff pastry. My favorite store-bought puff pastry is from Trader Joe’s, but unfortunately, it’s seasonal. I always stock up when it’s available in November and December. My second favorite store-bought puff pastry is from Wewalka. It’s refrigerated, not frozen, so you can find it in the refrigerated dough section of your grocery store.
Once you’ve made or obtained the puff pastry, it’s time to make the frangipane. You can either start with whole almonds, almond meal, or almond flour. Whole almonds become almond meal when you blend them in a food processor. Almond flour is almost always interchangeable with almond meal. Almond flour is just blanched, peeled almonds ground into a fine powder. I am using almond flour because that’s what I have in my pantry. My frangipane recipe is adapted from the Tartine cookbook. It’s made with equal parts almonds, sugar, and butter, and it produces a slightly “cakey” filling.
It’s important to use good quality butter in your recipe because it makes a tremendous difference in your final product. I use Challenge European Style Butter. It’s churned slower and longer, in the tradition of fine European butters, to produce a more flavorful butter with less moisture and higher butterfat.
In the tradition of galette de rois, it’s important to hide a fava bean in the filling before encasing it with the top layer of puff pastry. If you don’t have a fava bean, use a whole almond (that’s what I did).
After building the galette, you can create a scalloped edge by making tiny indents around the edge of the pastry with the non-sharp edge of a knife.
Once you’ve done that, I recommend chilling the galette for at least a half hour before scoring a design on top because the puff pastry will be a little firmer and you’ll be less likely to cut through it. When you’re ready, you can create any design you want. Then you’ll want to brush egg wash over it so it bakes shiny and golden brown. Make sure you don’t brush the edges with egg wash because it will prevent the layers from puffing up. Before placing it in the oven, make a few little cuts in the top layer of puff pastry to allow steam to escape.
After you’ve finished baking your galette de rois, brush it with simple syrup for a shiny finish and adorn it with a golden paper crown before serving. Whomever receives the slice of cake with the whole almond gets to wear the crown!
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