Make this recipe for gluten free king cake and celebrate Mardi Gras with all your old favorites. The rich, tender bread with the fragrant filling and the beautiful colored decorations is back!
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What makes this recipe for gluten free king cake so good
If you're missing the rich, tender, and perfectly sweet taste of king cake, it's time to bring it all back! Baking any king cake is something of a labor of love, since it's a shaped, enriched bread that must be filled, shaped, and then decorated—but it's worth it!
This dough is similar to our recipe for Gluten Free Chocolate Pull-Apart Bread, but the dough is made with sour cream, which makes the dough truly lovely to work with. It also makes the finished bread tender and fabulous.
About food coloring, and plastic babies!
I know many of you are very, very anti-food coloring. You can leave the food coloring out of the equation, of course. I have no problem with some food coloring in my life, here and there, plus I couldn't very well show you a gluten free King Cake that didn't have the traditional Mardi Gras colors of green, purple and gold, now could I!
I didn't bury a plastic baby doll in this King Cake. I am terrified of even the prospect of a melting plastic baby doll in my oven.
I've already done enough damage to house and home in my kitchen over the years. If anyone knows how to pull this sort of stunt without melting the baby, let us know in the comments!
FAQs
Can I use any gluten free flour blend I like to make this gf king cake?
No! This gf bread dough recipe is specifically designed to be made with our gluten free bread flour blend. This is a highly specialized flour blend, made with a combination of Better Batter classic blend gf all purpose flour, Expandex modified tapioca starch, and whey protein isolate. Please click through for full details!
Can I make gf king cake with another gluten free bread dough?
I think so! I would recommend trying the raw dough from our recipe for gluten free hot dog buns. It's also an enriched gluten free bread dough that holds a shape during baking without rising too much.
Can I make this gf king cake recipe dairy-free?
Maybe! If you use the alternate gluten free bread dough referenced above, follow the suggestions in that recipe for replacing the dairy ingredients. The dairy in the gluten free bread flour just cannot be successfully replaced, especially in shaped bread like this gluten free king cake.
The butter in the filling for this recipe can easily be replaced with vegan butter. My favorite brands are Melt and Miyoko's Kitchen. The milk in the glaze can be replaced with water, or a nondairy milk.
How to make gluten free king cake for Mardi Gras
Gluten Free King Cake for Mardi Gras!
Equipment
- Stand mixer or hand mixer fitted with dough attachment
Ingredients
For the bread
- 3 ¼ cups (455 g) gluten free bread flour blend (you must use this specific blend of flour; please click through) plus more for sprinkling
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) instant yeast
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon (3 g) kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 8 ounces sour cream at room temperature
- 1 (50 g (weighed out of shell)) egg at room temperature, beaten
- 3 ounces warm water about 95°F, plus more as necessary
For the filling
- 4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
For the toppings
- 2 cups (230 g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon (14 g) unsalted butter at warm room temperature
- 2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) milk at room temperature, plus more by the 1/4 teaspoon if necessary
- ¾ cup (150 g) superfine sugar (or granulated sugar, pulsed a few times in a blender or food processor)
- Green, Yellow, Blue and Red liquid food colorings
Instructions
Making the bread dough.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, place the flour blend, cream of tartar, instant yeast and sugar, and use a handheld whisk to combine well. Add the salt and whisk to combine well.
- Add the butter, sour cream, egg and 3 ounces water, and mix on low speed with the dough hook until combined. Raise the mixer speed to medium and knead for about 5 minutes.
- The dough should be a lovely, smooth, enriched dough. If necessary to achieve the desired texture, add the remaining 1 ounce of water and knead again until smooth. The dough should climb up the dough hook during kneading but remain intact and smooth.
- Spray a silicone spatula lightly with cooking oil spray, and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl or proofing bucket large enough for the dough to rise to double its size, spray the top of the dough with cooking oil spray, and cover with an oiled piece of plastic wrap (or the oiled top to your proofing bucket).
- Place the dough in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours and up to 3 days.
Preparing the dough for shaping.
- On baking day, turn out the chilled dough onto a lightly floured surface and, using the scrape and fold kneading method: Using a very light touch, sprinkle the dough with more flour and knead it lightly, sprinkling with flour when necessary to prevent it from sticking, scrape the dough off the floured surface with a floured bench scraper, then fold it over on itself.
- Repeat scraping and folding until the dough has become smoother. This dough should not need much work to become smooth. Do not overwork the dough or you will incorporate too much flour and it will not rise properly.
Shaping, filling and assembling the dough.
- Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside. On a lightly greased piece of unbleached parchment paper, using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle that is about 18-inches by 14-inches, and about 1/4-inch thick.
- In a small bowl, place all the filling ingredients and mix to combine well.
- With a large, dull knife or offset spatula, spread the filling evenly over the entire surface of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border clean all around the perimeter. Using the parchment paper to aid you, beginning at one of the long sides, roll the dough tightly into a cylinder and pinch the seam and the ends closed securely.
- Transfer to the prepared baking sheet, seam side down, join the ends together and pinch them closed securely. Sprinkle the top and sides of the dough generously with bread flour to provide the dough a cloak to rise into.
- Cover with greased plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free location to rise for about 40 minutes, or until it reaches about 150% of its original size. Do not overproof.
- As the dough is nearing the end of its rise, preheat your oven to 350°F.
Baking the bread.
- Once the dough has finished rising, remove the plastic wrap and place the pan in the center of the preheated oven.
- Bake until lightly golden brown all over (about 30 minutes). Allow to cool for about 10 minutes on the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Glazing and decorating.
- While the bread is cooling, make the glaze and colored sugars.
- To make the glaze, mix the confectioners’ sugar, butter and 1 tablespoon milk into a thick paste. Add the remaining tablespoon milk one teaspoon at a time, mixing well, until you have a glaze that is smooth and thickly pourable.
- If it is very hard to stir, it needs another drop or two of milk. Set the glaze aside briefly.
- To make the colored sugars, divide the superfine sugar into 3 separate small bowls.
- To one bowl, add about 5 drops of yellow food coloring, and mix well, pressing the food coloring into the sugar with the back of a small spoon until the sugar is a uniform yellow color.
- To a second bowl, repeat the process with about 5 drops of green food coloring.
- To the final bowl, repeat the process with about 3 drops each of the red and blue food colorings (red + blue = purple).
- Once the bread is cool, mix the glaze (adding a few more drops of milk if necessary to return to the proper consistency).
- Pour the glaze over the top of the bread, allowing it to drizzle, and immediately decorate with the 3 different colored sugars in alternating bands.
- I used a small mesh sieve to distribute the sugars without their clumping.
- Slice and serve.
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Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Joseph Amendolea says
I was introduced to your blog when I came across your gluten-free cornbread recipe. But the recipe for this king cake doesn’t seem conducive to a shoestring budget since gluten-free flours tend to be rather pricey….at least in my neck of the woods LOL! And I see you hail from upstate NY which is where I live (in the Buffalo area). I did enjoy the cornbread recipe though, using all cornmeal instead of a mixture of cornmeal and flour like most recipes was pure genius :D….though when I made it recently it was a little bland because I forgot the salt LOL. I’m gonna take a look at your other recipes and see if I find anything that tickles my fancy :)
Nicole Hunn says
I don’t live in Upstate New York, Joseph. If you would like to see where I order the products in my gluten free pantry: https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/stock-your-gluten-free-pantry-baking/ It isn’t possible to bake gluten free at all without using gluten free flours.
Joseph Amendolea says
I don’t have an intolerance to gluten myself but when I make things for events such as pot lucks and bake sales I try to satisfy as many of the major diets I possibly can on my limited budget, vegan, nut-free, and gluten-free usually being the top diets I try to satisfy, I’ll try to make it soy-free too. And I did find your blend to make a gluten-free all-purpose flour and I do have the equipment for grinding my own rice flour (I have a grain mill attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer). But when I want to make something gluten-free I try to find recipes for the baked good in question that don’t take any flour at all (like for example for a gluten-free chocolate cake I’ll try to find a recipe for flourless chocolate cake and I do have a couple recipes that I haven’t tried yet and I also found a recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies
Nicole Hunn says
Joseph, you commented on a recipe for Gluten Free King Cake. You cannot make a yeasted gluten free bread without gluten free flours. I have a few flourless baking recipes on the site (just search “flourless”), but naturally gluten free foods are not the focus of this blog.
Joseph Amendolea says
I know. Sorry about the dissertation. It was just my natural verbosity and active mind at work. I didn’t mean to make it sound like a criticism. You do have some interesting recipes from what I can see. And as I said I do have a kitchen aid mixer along with a grain mill attachment for it so I could grind my own rice flour and thus the recipe that I did eventually find on your blog for high quality gluten-free all-purpose flour shouldn’t be as expensive to make as it would be if I had to buy rice flour. I’d probably have to buy the other starches and flours and gums but since the percentages of those other things in the flour blend aren’t as high the supply I buy should last awhile.
Nicole Hunn says
I think you should just use my recipe, Laura!
Leah says
The baby is placed under the king cake after the cake is cooled and decorated. Whoever gets the baby brings the next king cake.
Note: the baby represents Jesus, which is what makes ita King cake.
Katherine says
I am so unbelievably excited about this recipe! I thought about emailing you several weeks ago asking if you’d take a stab at king cake, since gf king cakes run like $35 here in NOLA, but I thought there might not be that much interest. I am so excited to try it!!! No more ruefully watching everyone else enjoy without me! Ahhhh this is why I love your blog! I don’t even have to ask :)
karen says
Am I missing something or have i had too much wine? what is the greased loaf pan for if you bake this on a baking sheet?
Nicole Hunn says
However much wine you’ve had, Karen, it’s the perfect amount, ’cause you caught my error. Sorry about that! No loaf pan. Just the baking sheet in the next step. :) Fixed.
karen says
oh thank heavens, for I feared that i was becoming a bit drunk! That must mean that i can have one more glass………
Laura H. says
Lol, yup, the person who buys our makes the king cake hides the baby in it before serving. Than whoever gets the piece with the baby in it has to throw the party next weekend! I’m from Slidell, LA which is just across Lake Ponchitrain from NewOrleans. I currently live in central Arkansas and have been here for about 9 years. This time of year really makes me home sick. I have a great recipe for king cake. I tried making it GF last year and the taste was spot on, but it was very dense. I’m going to try it again this year, now armed with your kick butt bread flour!! Have a look at it? Maybe some hints for me? If not, that’s okay, I still love you and will be back every morning!! <3 And if you have any New Orleans questions, I'm here. :-)
http://mardigrasday.com/mardigras/kcrecip.php
You are my GF superhero!!
Simone says
Do you have a good gf roll cake recipe that doesn’t take egg?
Abby says
Looks amazing. I need you to come move in and cook all these GF goodies for me.
Nicole Hunn says
:)
cnoellec says
Wondering if there is a good sub for sour cream? I, like many others, have the lovely casein intolerance along with gluten : ( what about coconut cream? Should i even try it or have you already? I loooove your books and recipes that you so much!!
Nicole Hunn says
Coconut cream is not a good substitute for sour cream, cnoellec. I would try a nondairy sour cream substitute (I think maybe Tofutti makes a good one?) or strained coconut milk yogurt, by weight.
Mare Masterson says
Oh wow, what a surprise to see the king cake! I thought beignets were today. Sad, sad, sad — the heating element in my oven cracked last night. I am lucky I have nothing proofing at the moment because work has been totally insane. I was going to make English Muffin bread though. Heavy sigh.
Nicole Hunn says
I know, Mare! Beignets were meant to be today, but since I finished the King Cake … I went with it! I thought everyone might like a little lead time on the King Cake. The beignets are still coming! Hope your oven gets fixed soon!
Donia Robinson says
Yes, but is the baby gluten free? Do we know where the baby has been?? ;)
Nicole Hunn says
I barely know where I’ve been, Donia. Definitely pat down that baby.
Jennifer S. says
Some day my friend, I’m going to make it to the ‘real’ action – want to go? or are you road tripped out? :)
Nicole Hunn says
Next time, Jennifer, I think I’ll fly. :)
ChezGA says
Be prepared to pay big $$$ for a flight to NOLA at Mardi Gras!
Nicole Hunn says
Oh, I’m not going anywhere, ChezGA. I’ll celebrate right here at home.
Irene says
From what I was taught from my Mexican Mother in Law about the baby, you turn the cake upside down after its been completely cooled, and you put the baby in this way, you can put a little frosting to seal the baby in…. Now it is written whomever gets the baby, they have to cook a meal for all people involved in the eating of the cake…I have always loved this having friends and family around…
Jennifer S. says
thanks Irene for the tip – because a melted baby is way yucky!
ChezGA says
I grew up in NOLA and it’s always been the tradition that the person who gets the baby has to bring a king cake to the next gathering/meeting/etc. I’m not familiar with cooking a meal for people eating the king cake if you get the baby.