Easy King Cake Recipe

Feeling festive but don’t want to spend hours kneading dough and waiting for it to rise? This easy King Cake recipe is for you! No dough proofing required when you use refrigerated crescent roll dough! This king cake recipe is so simple and so easy, yet so yummy!!

The King cake is such a fun traditional Mardi Gras dessert! From the beautiful colored sugars topping this cinnamon roll-like cake standing for justice, faith and power to the mystery of who will get the baby Jesus served in their slice signifying that they will now have to bake next year’s cake! This cake is a memorable experience!

But now let’s talk about how simple this easy king cake recipe is…

The only equipment you need:

• Baking Sheet
• Mixing bowl

You’re short shopping list:

• 12 oz Tube refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 4 oz Cream cheese
• Powdered sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Brown sugar
• Pecans chopped
• Colored sugars (traditionally purple, green and yellow)

Instructions for this easy king cake recipe:

For cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Line a baking sheet with Parchment paper.
3. Roll out crescent rolls onto Parchment paper and press the seams together to form one giant rectangle.
4. Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract together in a mixing bowl until smooth.
5. Spread mixture lengthwise down the center of the dough.
6. Sprinkle brown sugar and pecans onto cream cheese mixture.
7. Cut slits in dough on both sides of the filling roughly 2″ apart.
8. Fold flaps of dough over mixture in a “criss-cross” creating a braided look, pinching dough together to seal filling inside.
9. Gently form into a ring and seal the ends together.
10. Bake 15 minutes.

For Icing:

1. While cake is baking, mix together powdered sugar, vanilla extract and water until smooth. Mixture should still be quite thick (reduce water/add sugar if necessary).
2. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes.
3. If adding a baby, insert it into the bottom of the cake at this point!
4. Drizzle icing all over the top and sprinkle with sugar immediately so that it sticks before the icing hardens.
5. Serve! Then pass this recipe on to the person that gets the slice with the baby to make one next year!

Couple things to note:

1. If the “braided” method seems too complicated, you can also (after forming the one big rectangle of dough) spread the filling all over the entire dough and simply roll it up before forming it into a ring.
2. Raisins are also a fun add in to the filling mixture. 

Easy King Cake Recipe

Feeling festive but don't want to spend hours kneading dough and waiting for it to rise? This easy King Cake recipe is for you! No dough proofing required when you use refrigerated crescent roll dough! This king cake recipe is so simple and so easy, yet so yummy!!

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, French

Servings 8 people

Calories 321 kcal

Equipment

• Baking Sheet
• Mixing bowl

Ingredients

  

Cake

• 12 oz Tube refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 4 oz Cream cheese softened
• 1/3 c Powdered sugar
• 3/4 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/4 c Brown sugar
• 1/2 c Pecans chopped

Icing

• 3 c Powdered sugar
• 3/4 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/4 c Water or until reaches desired consistancy
• Colored sugars

Instructions

 

For cake:

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Line a baking sheet with Parchment paper.
• Roll out crescent rolls onto Parchment paper and press the seams together to form one giant rectangle.
• Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract together in a mixing bowl until smooth.
• Spread mixture lengthwise down the center of the dough.
• Sprinkle brown sugar and pecans onto cream cheese mixture.
• Cut slits in dough on both sides of the filling roughly 2" apart.
• Fold flaps of dough over mixture in a "criss-cross" creating a braided look, pinching dough together to seal filling inside.
• Gently form into a ring and seal the ends together.
• Bake 15 minutes.

For Icing:

• While cake is baking, mix together powdered sugar, vanilla extract and water until smooth. Mixture should still be quite thick (reduce water/add sugar if necessary).
• Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes.
• If adding a baby, insert it into the bottom of the cake at this point!
• Drizzle icing all over the top and sprinkle with sugar immediately so that it sticks before the icing hardens.
• Serve! Then pass this recipe on to the person that gets the slice with the baby to make one next year!

Notes

• If the “braided” method seems too complicated, you can also (after forming the one big rectangle of dough) spread the filling all over the entire dough and simply roll it up before forming it into a ring.
• Raisins are also a fun add in to the filling mixture. 

Keyword crescent rolls, king cake

If you enjoyed this easy king cake recipe, check out these other easy recipes from Struggle Shuttle:

Super Easy Pizza Dough

Easy Sticky Buns With Canned Biscuits

No Knead Overnight Bread

I want to hear from you! Please let me know what you think of this easy king cake recipe in the comments!

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