Mardi Gras Mini King Cake

Fat Tuesday aka Mardi Gras is right around the corner on Tuesday, March 4th. I have to tell you I love New Orleans, the food. The FOOD! And since I have never been there to celebrate Mardi Gras I think it’d be wonderful. However, I have no such luck and given that I am really working on clean eating, visiting New Orleans would not be the right thing for me to do at this point in time! However, that does not prevent me from doing some things in the spirit of Mardi Gras right here in my own home!

I found a very simple recipe for a King Cake, traditionally a baby is in a king cake but I couldn’t find a baby so I just made the cake. I was going to make one from scratch but decided against it because I REALLY didn’t want the cake taunting me as I personally try to stay away from sugar. The king cakes that I made were just the thing because they are individual cakes so everyone can have just one and be done!

To make the cakes I used Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls  and Wilton colored sprinkles. Two ingredients and you have mini king cakes! I know, simple right?

I separated each cinnamon roll and unrolled it.

Next I twisted each one up and placed it in a circle on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

I baked the cakes for 25-30 minutes.

After removing them from the oven but while they were still hot I glazed them with the icing included in the package.

The final step was to decorate with the colored crystals. And of course, in keeping with tradition, I used purple, gold and green crystals. My son helped out with this part and had a ball decorating.

Overall I am very happy with the results and it was very inexpensive! The Pillsbury Grands were only $3.58 and although I had the sprinkles in my cupboard they are $4.49 and a little goes a long way!

Happy Mardi Gras!