A Guide to Making an Easy, Traditional Mardi Gras King Cake

For many people who celebrate Mardi Gras, the traditional King Cake is an integral part of the celebration's feast. The cake is in reality, a large cinnamon roll that has been frosted and sprinkled. There is also a small trinket, which is usually a toy, plastic baby that is placed inside. Thanks to modern day conveniences, with a few pre-made ingredients, this cake can be prepared, baked, and assembled in no time.

Supplies Needed

First, you will need the following supplies: cooking spray, (1) large, tall, round cake pan, (1) can of cream-cheese frosting, (2-3) cans of refrigerated cinnamon rolls, (1) package of sprinkles in yellow, green and purple, (1) trinket or small toy to be placed inside of the cake.

Directions

Before placing anything in the pan, spray it well with cooking spray. Next, open the cinnamon roll cans and place the rolls in a circular path. Once the bottom of the pan is covered, place the second row on top of the first; making sure to cover any spaces of the pan that may be visible from when the first row was applied. When this row is finished, depending on depth of pan, a third row may be needed. Remember not to place the rolls all of the way to the top of the pan, as they will rise. When placement of the rolls has been completed, bake the pan per the instructions located on the can's wrapper.

After the cake has cooled, remove it from the pan. Create a tiny hole in the cake and remove the opening. Now, insert the trinket into the cake and cover it with the small piece of cake that was just removed. It works best to make the hole at the top, as that way it can be covered with frosting and sprinkles. When finished, frost the top of the cake using the cream cheese frosting. Note: while cream cheese frosting is traditionally used with cinnamon rolls, for those that do not care for it, vanilla will make a fine alternative.

Finally, sprinkle the frosted section with the yellow, green, and purple sprinkles. Remind guests that there is a trinket in it when served, so they do not bite down on anything inedible.