Cookbook Showdown: The Best King Cake Recipes, Tested

What is King Cake?

I’ve ever associated king barroom with New Orleans, truthful to me, it’s a yeasted dough with a filling, usually brownish sugar, cinnamon, and/or nuts, shaped into a ellipse and baked, past topped with a glaze and sprinkled with purple, green, and yellowish sugar. There’s besides usually immoderate benignant of token similar a tiny integrative babe tucked inside. What I conscionable described is commonly recognized arsenic a modern New Orleans king cake, but it turns retired the explanation of king barroom is overmuch broader than I realized.

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Anne Byrn’s New Orleans King Cake

This recipe’s yeasted, enriched dough came retired precise brushed and sticky. I added a small other flour, but didn’t privation to stray excessively acold from the recipe. After proving, the dough is rolled retired into a rectangle, brushed with butter, and topped with brownish sweetener and cinnamon. It’s past rolled into a log and the ends are connected to marque a circle. After baking, it’s topped with a powdered sweetener glaze tinted with nutrient coloring. Byrn’s look shares ideas for further ingredients that could beryllium added to the filling similar dried fruit, nuts, oregon citrus. That’s thing I would emotion to research adjacent time, but for this experiment, I kept it classic.

This cook went precisely according to program and came retired looking and smelling delicious. The barroom collapsed a spot upon cooling, possibly due to the fact that of the other brushed dough. While I see colored sweetener a much classical look, the dyed glaze was agleam and eye-catching. The sensation was conscionable arsenic lovely, reminiscent of a cinnamon roll.

Image from Susie Dumond

Anne Byrn’s King Cake Scores

Looks: 4/5 — The barroom kept its circular signifier and browned nicely, and the dyed glaze has a bully ocular impact. Besides collapsing a spot portion cooling, it looks celebratory.
Taste: 4/5 — This barroom has the classical cinnamon and brownish sweetener spirit I expect from a king cake, and the interaction of nutmeg successful the dough stood out.
Texture: 5/5 — The finished barroom was delightfully brushed and fluffy, determination betwixt a barroom and bread.
Difficulty: Moderate — For a yeasted dough cake, this is simply a precise approachable recipe, but it’s adjuvant to person immoderate acquisition making bread.
Overall: 4/5 — This look is simply a large basal upon which to adhd your favourite flavors and twists.

Nadiya Bakes: Over 100 Must-Try Recipes for Breads, Cakes, Biscuits, Pies, and More by Nadiya Hussain

Since winning her play of the Great British Baking Show, Nadiya Hussain has dispersed her emotion of cooking and baking crossed the globe and adjacent been recognized arsenic a British nationalist treasure. This cookbook includes tons of recipes for flavorful and festive baked goods, immoderate of which are besides featured connected her BBC and Netflix amusement Nadiya Bakes. Savory and sweet, casual and complex, she’s got plentifulness of dishes to whet your appetite and assistance you get much originative successful the kitchen.

Nadiya Hussain’s Praline King Cake

Hussain’s yeasted dough went according to plan. The filling was the trickier part. Her look involves making homemade pralines with caramelized sugar, past moving the pralines done a nutrient processor and mixing the crumbs into pick cheese. After the dough proves, the pick food filling is rolled successful and the full happening goes into a bundt cookware to bake. After cooling completely, it’s topped with a glaze and yellowish and greenish shredded coconut.

The bundt cookware was really a bully mode to springiness the barroom a perfectly rounded shape, though I’ve ne'er made a king barroom successful 1 before. I took a sensation of the praline pick food filling and it was delicious, but it didn’t person arsenic overmuch of a spirit interaction successful the last cake, which lacked sweetness overall. And portion I truly enjoyed the shredded coconut topping alternatively of sprinkled sugar, it was polarizing for immoderate of my pickier sensation testers.

Image from Susie Dumond

Nadiya Hussain’s King Cake Scores

Looks: 5/5 — Absolutely gorgeous, if you inquire me! I enjoyed the coconut topping, though I would person added purple coconut arsenic good alternatively of leaving it astatine 2 colors.
Taste: 3/5 — I was amazed to find the praline pick food filling was reasonably flavorless by the clip the barroom was baked. I chopped the magnitude of almond extract called for successful the look by half, but it was inactive the astir salient flavor.
Texture: 3.5/5 — It ended up a small adust and dense by the clip it finished cooling, and it didn’t property good aft the archetypal day.
Difficulty: Advanced — Caramelizing sweetener to marque the praline filling requires much clip and method skill, but the bundt cookware did marque the shaping process much foolproof.
Overall: 3.5/5 — I liked the coconut topping and recovered the bundt cookware to beryllium a useful trick, but the spirit didn’t deliver. Some spices similar cinnamon oregon nutmeg would person gone a agelong way.

Life is What You Bake It: Recipes, Stories, and Inspiration to Bake Your Way to the Top by Vallery Lomas

After winning the Great American Baking Show — successful a play that was unluckily canceled — Vallery Lomas discontinue her occupation arsenic an lawyer to marque baking and nutrient her life. And though you can’t ticker her historical infinitesimal arsenic the archetypal Black victor crossed the Great British Baking Show franchise, you tin present find her everyplace from Food Network to Live with Kelly and Ryan to New York Times Cooking and beyond.

Vallery Lomas’s Blackberry Lemon King Cake

This king barroom utilizes the brioche breadstuff dough look from elsewhere successful the cookbook, which includes 3 lemons’ worthy of zest. Lemon foodstuff besides goes into the blackberry filling, which is cooked connected the stove. And though the colorful sweetener is simply a trademark of king cake, this is the lone look I tested that really had it. It’s besides the lone look I made that shaped the dough from aggregate rolled pieces twisted together, which is however I usually marque it astatine home.

The brioche dough turned retired well. But here’s wherever this recipe’s occupation mightiness person been idiosyncratic error: I poured the blackberry filling done a good mesh sieve. I’m not a instrumentality of blackberry seeds successful baked goods, and portion the look didn’t specifically telephone for that step, I didn’t deliberation it would marque excessively overmuch of a difference. But the filling ne'er truly acceptable up arsenic expected, which mightiness beryllium due to the fact that I removed the seeds. When I rolled the filling into the dough, it was acold excessively runny and made my room antagonistic look similar a execution scene. The remaining filling absorbed into the dough, leaving small to nary of the anticipated swirl erstwhile sliced. I besides deliberation the barroom was prettier earlier being topped with the glaze, which was delicious but other thick.

Image from Susie Dumond

Vallery Lomas’s King Cake Scores

Looks: 3.5/5 — I privation I’d gotten a representation of the barroom earlier I topped it with the gloppy glaze! It was beautifully risen and browned. In retrospect, I should person piped the glaze.
Taste: 3.5/5 — Was it delicious? Yes. Did it sensation similar king cake? To me, no. It tasted similar a bully citrus saccharine bread. And the blackberry spirit didn’t travel done astatine all.
Texture: 4/5 — The dough truly was the cleanable brushed brioche consistency, but I privation it had kept its filling swirl. Maybe it would person if I’d near successful the blackberry seeds.
Difficulty: Moderate — I urge leaving the seeds successful the blackberry filling and giving it doubly arsenic agelong to chill. But otherwise, this was a beauteous approachable recipe.
Overall: 3.5/5 — I thoroughly enjoyed eating this cake, but to me, it was a citrus bun disguised arsenic king cake.

Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano

For each its notoriety arsenic a highly analyzable and intricate baking culture, French desserts tin beryllium amazingly simple. At least, that’s the mentation enactment guardant by cookbook writer and nutrient writer Aleksandra Crapanzano. Gâteau includes recipes for 150 French bakes, some savory and sweet, made approachable for location bakers. With colorful illustrations and elemental but chic spirit combinations, it’s a delightful cookbook to explore.

Aleksandra Crapanzano’s Galette des Rois

Truly, this look couldn’t look simpler. I premix unneurotic a fewer elemental ingredients to marque an almond flavored filling. I instrumentality that betwixt 2 circles of store bought puff pastry, brushwood connected an ovum wash, and popular the full happening successful the oven. What could spell wrong?

I’ve seen immoderate existent merde during my assorted Cookbook Showdown experiments. But this baking catastrophe (which I’m inactive trying to cleanable up arsenic I constitute this) has surpassed the lemon meringue pie fiasco of 2022 to go my biggest Cookbook Showdown fail. Not lone was it messy and ugly; it besides tasted terrible. The bottommost of the pastry remained soggy, and hardly capable filling stayed successful the barroom to springiness it immoderate flavor. I tried a wound solely to study backmost to you, beloved readers, past threw the full happening successful the trash.

Image from Susie Dumond

Aleksandra Crapanzano’s King Cake Scores

Looks: 1/5 — And that’s generous. Where’s the puff? Where’s the filling? What happened here?
Taste: 1/5 — I’m not a immense frangipane fan, which turned retired to beryllium good due to the fact that astir of it ended up successful the bottommost of my oven anyway.
Texture: 0/5 — Offensively bad, but I don’t truly blasted Crapanzano for that truthful overmuch arsenic my ain mistakes.
Difficulty: Easy — Or is it? The instructions are simple, sure. If you effort this look astatine home, I privation you acold much occurrence than I had.
Overall: ?/5 — It doesn’t look just to people this look based connected my ain failed experiment. If I were to effort this again, I would marque my puff pastry from scratch (eliminating the “easy” constituent here), usage a metallic baking sheet, thoroughly seal the edges, and, though I’m not a spiritual type, pray. (Although possibly this barroom was God’s punishment for maine not being religious.)

Final Reflections

I learned a batch during this process astir king cake’s past and the scope of what it tin look and sensation like. I would emotion to effort immoderate of the different determination variations connected the crockery — hopefully with much occurrence than the galette des rois. But to me, king barroom is champion with a spirit illustration of cinnamon and different warming spices. After all, if you’re serving it successful January and February, a small warmth is conscionable what your tastebuds need.

Image from Susie Dumond

With that successful mind, it’s nary astonishment that the victor is…

Cookbook Showdown Winner: Anne Byrn’s New Orleans King Cake from American Cake

That’s right! The queen of American Cake won the crown connected this king barroom challenge. The barroom had a delightfully brushed texture close astatine the intersection of barroom and bread, and the brownish sweetener and cinnamon filling was accepted and delicious. Her notes successful the look springiness location bakers tons of country to research antithetic twists. This barroom is an all-around winner.

Honorable Mention: Vallery Lomas’s Blackberry Lemon King Cake from Life is What You Bake It

This crockery whitethorn person tasted much similar a summertime dessert than a crockery traditionally served successful January — and the off-season blackberries whitethorn person been astatine responsibility for the lackluster berry flavor. But the texture of the dough was top-notch, and the agleam citrus twist was refreshingly delightful.