Mini King Cakes

So for the unfamiliar...King Cakes are a Mardi Gras tradition. They symbolize a number of things that I'm not going to bother getting into. But the physical idea is essentially a ring of cinnamon roll with colored icing. Sometimes they have filling (cream cheese, praline, or fruit-filled are most popular). They have purple, gold, and green icing (a lot of places do the colored sugar crystals too, but I'm not a fan). There's a plastic baby inside somewhere (or these days, it's sitting on the side and you put it in yourself...to avoid lawsuits). Whoever gets the piece with the baby has to bring the next King Cake.

A king cake is just going to be cut into pieces, right? So why not just start out with individual cakes?



I start with a can of cinnamon rolls, usually it's an 8 pack (and if I've got a crowd, I start with two cans). You'll also need a can of vanilla frosting, and some food coloring.

I split each roll in two, so there are more servings...or you could argue it makes it easier to eat more of them. Just bake as directed, and then remove from the pan when they are done.


Use the tiny white icing packs that come with them, trying to divide it up evenly. (Why do they think this is enough icing?)


Take your can of frosting and divide it into three bowls. Use your food coloring to make green, yellow, and purple icing (red + blue make purple!).

You'll want to melt the icing for a few seconds in the microwave (keep an eye on it, this will take less than 30 seconds). You don't want to turn it into liquid, you just want to make it a little runnier, so you can pour it all over your cinnamon rolls. It's very easy to do this if you have a measuring cup with a pour spout.


Then take them to school/work/party and prepare to become everyone's favorite person.


If you have a little plastic baby, feel free to shove it into the bottom of one. If not, just put a sign that says they're vegetarian :D