Name: New Orleans King Cake
Yield: Makes one oval cake
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: ½ cup [115 g] whole milk, room temperature; 1 tsp instant yeast; ½ cup [110 g] unsalted butter, room temperature; 1 cup plus 3 Tbsp [170 g] all-purpose flour; Small plastic baby or uncooked bean (optional); 1 large egg, room temperature; ¼ cup [60 g] purple sanding sugar; 1 egg yolk, room temperature; 1½ tsp fine sea salt; ¼ cup [50 g] granulated sugar; ¼ cup [60 g] green sanding sugar; ¼ cup [60 g] gold or yellow sanding sugar; 2 to 3 Tbsp water, warm; 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon; ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp [80 g] brown sugar, packed; 1 cup plus 3 Tbsp [170 g] all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting; 1 tsp lemon zest or almond extract (optional, if you’d like a little more flavor in your glaze); ½ Tbsp corn syrup; 2 cups [220 g] powdered sugar

Get ready for a Mardi Gras celebration with this festive, colorful King Cake. While the French King Cake we make for Epiphany also joins the Fat Tuesday fun to close out the Carnival season, this New Orleans style of King Cake is probably the more recognized version here in the United States. If you’d like, add a small trinket to the cake after it’s baked, like a plastic baby or an uncooked bean; tradition has it that you’ll have good fortune if you find i