Now that I am not on a Whole30, I am sprinkling in homemade sweet treats at home! My husband is from New Orleans and in homage to his roots I am starting a king cake series. I would be remiss without shouting out to all my king cake inspiration!
This first recipe is inspired by the amazing Beth Biundo Sweets… Beth’s amazing shop on Baronne turns out the most delightful Mardi Gras treats, including a her king cake cookies, which I was so lucky to devour on multiple occasions last Mardi Gras.
Baking is such a fun thing to share with your children, I made this Mardi Gras Pound Cake with my daughter who loved helping me sprinkle the colored sugar on top and loved eating the cake even more!
Even though our purple sprinkles were too dark because of the gel dye I used, it still tasted great and most importantly my son and daughter loved it!
Gabbie’s Mardi Gras Pound Cake
Vanilla pound cake adapted from Martha Stewart
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 c. sugar
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 2 c. flour
- 2 tsp. good vanilla, I use this
- 1/4 tsp. lemon zest
- 1/4 tsp. orange zest
- 1 tbsp. Disaronno
The trick to this recipe is beating the butter and sugar until very fluffy and making sure the eggs are well incorporated with lots of extra batter beating time between eggs. There is no leavening agent in this cake, so be patient and let that mixer do all the work!
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degree oven.
Beat butter and sugar together on high speed until bright white and fluffy (max speed for about 4 minutes). Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of bowl so everything is mixed together and beating after each egg for a minute.
Add vanilla, citrus zest and Disaronno, mix for another minute.
Add flour slowly and mix until just combined. Scrape into a buttered 8.5×4.5 loaf pan (I did not flour the pan) and level. Mine cooked for 64 minutes in a heavy porcelain loaf pan on the bottom rack and was perfect. The toothpick came out perfectly clean, so I did something right!
Start the icing the minute you pull the loaf out of the oven. I let it cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack and then I inverted onto a plate and cooled it further on the wire rack before transferring to a cake plate.
Gabbie’s INSANE Citrus Almond Icing
I have been making this on and off for a few months and it is not to be missed
- 5 tbsp. Kerrygold butter
- 1/4 c. Disaronno
- 1.5 c. powdered sugar
- 1/4 c. half and half
- zest of 1/2 and orange and 1/2 a lemon
Directions:
Zest 1/2 and orange and 1/2 a lemon. Set aside in a heat-safe bowl. You will later pour the syrup over the zest.
Brown the butter, I like to lightly brown mine by whisking it for 5 minutes in a nonstick sauce pan on medium heat. Then I add the Disaronno and let it bubble even further. At this point it should be thickening into a syrup and almost look like caramel.
Pour the hot mixture of syrup over the zest and let it cool for 5 minutes. In my Kitchenaid mixer with the whisk attachment, I combined the syrup and 1.5 c of powdered sugar. The mixture combined and was crumbly. I kept mixing until it was as combined as possible and then slowly started adding half and half until smooth. The icing is thick but melts nicely down the side. If you would like it to stay nestled thick on top, do not ice until the cake is cool. If you would like it to melt down the sides, pour the icing on the cake when it has been out of the oven for 30-45 minutes and it’s still warm.
ENJOY!
