Lighter King Cake
- Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 1 1/2cups all-purpose flour
- 1cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2cup sugar or brown sugar
- 2 1/2teaspoons dry active yeast
- 1/2cup skim or low-fat milk
- 1/4teaspoon sea salt
- 3tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2teaspoon allspice
- 1/2teaspoon ground ginger
- 1tablespoon canola oil
- 3large eggs room temperature
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8ounces low-fat cream cheese
- 4tablespoons sugar
- 1teaspoon vanilla or brandy
- 4tablespoons toasted flaked coconut
- 1/2-- of a lemon, squeezed
- 1/2cup powdered sugar
- 1tablespoon lemon zest
- 3packets gold, purple, green sprinkles ea.
Instructions
Directions:
1. Grease a 6-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray and dust with flour on the inside.
2. In a large bowl, mix 3/4 cup of the flours, and sugar, applesauce and oil. Using a handheld mixer, beat in eggs, one a time. Be sure each egg has been fully incorporated before you add the next one in. Stir in vanilla.
Now- what I also did was: in a separate microwaveable glass bowl- put in the 1/2 cup of milk, with a good tablespoon of sugar from that 1/2 cup of sugar meant for the cake. Just stir the milk and sugar, and microwave it FOR ONE MINUTE ONLY.
Then just put in ONE packet of that self-rising yeast and let it sit for five minutes… until it gets good and frothy- and THEN you can throw it into the mix!!!
3. Sift in the rest of the flours and mix using the mixer for about two minutes. Make sure you incorporate all of the flours folks, it can still get good and 'dusty' at the bottom if you're not careful! Then once mixed- cover with plastic and let sit for at least 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, mix filling by beating cream cheese, coconut, vanilla (or brandy) and sugar until creamy.
5. Once batter has set, pour 1/2 into the Bundt pan. Using a tablespoon, scoop filling onto the top of the batter until filling is gone. Pour the rest of the batter over the filling and smooth out with a spatula. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise for at least 1-1/2 hours.
6. Once batter has risen to double its size, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once preheated, bake cake for at least 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on a wire cooling rack for at least 30 minutes.
7. While cake cools, make icing by mixing the sugar, lemon juice and zest together. You can always add an extra teaspoon (or two) of powdered sugar to get it to your desired thickness. When cake is completely cooled, frost by drizzling the icing all over the cake to cover it liberally. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cake in yellow sprinkles, 1/3 in purple sprinkles and the remaining 1/3 in green sprinkles. Serve immediately and enjoy!
OR- before you serve- since it is tradition- push a little plastic baby (which you can get at a Party store or something)- and put it in some part of the cake…whoever finds it, of course, is destined to have kids/luck !