King Cake

• 1/4 cup butter/margarine
• 16 ounces sour cream
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4-ounce envelopes active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water (100º-110º F)
• 2 large eggs
• 6 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter/margarine, soft
• Colored frostings
• Colored sugars

Instructions:

Cook the butter, sour cream, 1/3 cup sugar, and the salt in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter melts. Dissolve the 1 tablespoon of sugar in the warm water and dump in the yeast. Let it stand 5 minutes. When it's dissolved, add the butter mix, eggs, and 2 cups of the flour. Beat it with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes on medium until it's smooth. Then stir in approximately the amount of flour shown in the ingredients section; it should make a soft, kneadable dough, and if it doesn't you need more flour. Divide it in half and work with only one side at a time.

Knead the ball being prepared for 10 minutes on a floured surface. Then grease your bowl, throw the dough in there, and turn it over once so both sides got grease. Then cover it and let it rise in a warm spot for one hour or until doubled. When it's ready, stir together the sugar and the cinnamon for the filling. Punch down the dough and roll it out to the dimension of 28 x 10 inches. (It sounds weird, but it's right.) Once you've got this thin sheet of dough, spread the third cup of butter on it and dust it with the cinnamon-sugar mix. Then roll it up (so it's thinner rather than longer) and place it in a ring shape on a greased baking sheet with the seam on the bottom. Try to seal up the joined-together parts as much as possible. Repeat this process with the other half of the dough.

Bake the cakes at 375º F for 15 minutes. Let cakes cool completely before icing. (Traditionally, this cake recipe is decorated by colored sugar and purple, green, and yellow icing.)