Any Kitchen Will Do

Unholy King Cake

For the past few years, since moving away from N’Awlins, we’ve made our own King Cakes as part of our Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday celebration. We party on Fat Tuesday wherever we are, regardless of the location. This year I was hard pressed to find acceptable decorations in our Alaska town, having to resort to mail order for beads and masks and shiny purple/gold/green curtains for out doorways. Our little place looks cheery and ready for fun. Again this year I made a King Cake, and again it is a version different from previous years. I seem to experiment with a new recipe each year instead of just going with what I did the previous year. One reason for the annual variation is because I like trying new things, and another is because of our evolving diet – from sugar and wheat and carbs to less or none of all three. The first cake was traditional, made with wheat flour, another was gluten free version but with sugar and not much nutritional value. A third version was a concoction of low carb sugar free cinnamony cakelettes, with a very sticky icing. This year it is an unholy cake, absent the traditional hole in the middle, as well as absent of sugar and wheat. I guess I could have made it holy, but then where would all the frosting go?!  I guess if you want to cut a hole in the middle you could, but I am not as holy as I used to be, so don’t miss the ring-ness of this cake. It looks very different from a traditional rolled cake, but I think it definitely carries the spirit of the original, and we can eat it without worry of allergic reactions or sugar buzzes. It was fun to make and everybody helped splatter the frosting, although the first batch of purple turned too gray to use. Try, try again I say. Now I wonder who will find the baby this year? Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Cake
1 cup finely chopped coconut
1 cup almond meal
6 eggs
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp Stevita
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Topping
1 cup raw pecans
1 cup raw walnuts
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp Stevita
½ cup butter, melted
¼ tsp sea salt

Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese
3 ounces butter
1 Tbsp Stevita
Food coloring (green, yellow, purple – made with one part blue and three parts red)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor grind the coconut into very small pieces, about the same size as the almond meal. In a medium bowl combine coconut, almond meal, nutmeg, cinnamon, Stevita, salt and baking powder. Add eggs, whipping cream, vanilla and lime juice. When well combined, pour mixture into 9” round cake pan lined with parchment paper. In a food processor combine pecans, walnuts, cinnamon, Stevita, butter and salt. Pulse until combined and nuts are a uniform size. Drop the nut mixture by spoonfuls until mixture is covering most of cake batter in pan. If you want to give the impression of a hole in the middle, drop the spoonfuls so batter in the middle of the cake is not covered with nut mixture. Place in preheated oven and bake for 30 – 40 minutes, until middle is firm and edges are pulling away from pan. When cake is cooled, flip out of baking dish onto cooling rack, removing parchment paper. Flip over again so cinnamon/nut filling is face up. In microwave safe dish warm the cream cheese and butter until softened, but not completely melted. Add sweetener and whisk together until smooth. Divide frosting into three separate bowls. Add yellow food coloring to one, green coloring to another, then 3 parts red and 1 part blue to the third to make purple. Add more coloring as desired so they are bright and a similar tone. With small spoons drop the frosting with a slashing motion until the top of the cake is covered with spatters. Store in the fridge until about an hour before serving, allowing it to soften and come to room temperature.