Superdooper Phat Tuesday

How cool is it that not only is it going to be Super Tuesday but also Fat Tuesday on February 5th? And what does that mean? Well, I suppose it might mean that the primary process is almost over...or it could mean that Lent is just about to start. It all comes down to food for me! Either I am going to embrace my Catholic upbringing and gorge on a King Cake to celebrate Fat Tuesday or I'm going to get all American on your ass and slice me some apple pie to celebrate Super Tuesday before I go to the caucus and exercise my 19th amendment right thank you very much Susan B. Anthony!

To join the party (now when I say party I mean like balloons and hootin and hollerin', not like "political party") all you have to do is copy down one of these recipes and serve it up real nice to the family. They'll love ya for it!

If this apple pie looks good, click here for this recipe!

And now for the King Cake recipe!

Louisiana-to-Denver King Cake
Originally posted in The Denver Post

(by the way, this recipe leaves out the baby! Don't forget to squish the baby in there somplace...the kids love that part!)

Tested at high altitude. From Sheryl Butterfield, makes 2 cakes. No matter how big the cake is, it is to be cut into pieces to fit the size of the crowd. That said, each of these cakes can feed between 12 and 14 because it's so rich.

Ingredients
1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup lukewarm water

1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, divided

1 cup milk, scalded

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or ground mace

4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

TOPPING
3/4 cup sugar, divided into 1/4 cups

Green, yellow and purple food coloring

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Water

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in lukewarm water. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining sugar, salt, 1/4 cup butter (in chunks), and scalded milk. Mix with electric mixer on low speed until well-blended. Cool to lukewarm. Beat in 2 eggs. Add yeast mixture, vanilla extract, cinnamon and 3 cups flour. Mix until smooth. Stir in remaining flour (1 cup) by hand. Add up to a half- cup more if sticky. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a square 1/3-inch thick. Dot with half the remaining butter and fold in half. Repeat. Roll again into a rectangle 1/3-inch thick and repeat folding process. Place in greased bowl, cover with towel and let stand 25 minutes. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Remove from refrigerator and roll onto lightly floured surface into a rectangle 1/3-inch thick. Cut rectangle into 12 1-inch strips.

Braid strips in sets of 3; pinch together 2 braids to form an oval, then the other 2 braids to form another oval, making 2 cakes.

Place ovals on heavy baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Cover with a towel and allow to rise until slightly less than doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
Beat remaining egg and brush on cakes. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden; let cool.

While cake is baking, make topping: Color each 1/4 cup sugar with a couple of drops of food coloring and set aside. Combine powdered sugar, vanilla and enough water to form a paste. Spread icing on cake tops using a butter knife. Before the icing dries, sprinkle three colors of sugar in bands alternately around cake tops.