Tasting just like the REAL THING, my blueberry cream cheese gluten free king cake shaves time off of the traditional preparation without sacrificing flavor or texture. Then, an oh sooo easy icing and sprinkles topping makes this version of the Mardi Gras staple available for your dessert delight enjoyment any time of the year. Yep and yay...
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This Blueberry Cream Cheese Gluten Free King Cake Came From This Local...Yep...
To people who are not from Louisiana, Mardi Gras usually conjures up images of non-stop drunken revelry. Of people running wild in the streets, doing things they would never do sober, or near their out-of-state homes. Wearing mask and costumes and hoping that they never, ever end up on Youtube. Yep.
All of this is very, very true, I admit, but there's another side to Mardi Gras when you're from an old south Louisiana family like I am.
First of all, families that have been in the New Orleans area for centuries almost never say Mardi Gras. Nope. Our families call it Carnival among ourselves, reserving the more formal term for non-locals and tourists who come here just for the celebration.
With that said, there are just as many south Louisiana natives and locals who go to parades without drinking a drop of alcohol. They take their kids, pile up in cars, and go 'catch' the parade family-style.
Aunt Betty, This Blueberry Cream Cheese Gluten Free King Cake is For You...Yep...
Well, one of my earliest memories of Carnival was of one of these sober family days. My beloved aunt Betty, my second mom during the early years of my life, took me to the parades on Carnival day.
We got up at stupid o'clock in the morning, because the first parade, Zulu, starts at like 8 a.m. I remember getting into the car, but I honestly can't remember if anyone else was with us. Aunt Betty had six kids of her own, so I'm sure that some of them were probably with us.
But, I just don't know because when I was with my aunt Betty, it always felt like we were the only two people in the world. She was married to my dad's brother, my Parrain Adam. And she was also my mom's cousin. I think that they met through my parents, but' s that's another story.
Anyway, my aunt Betty was double family to me. She was a glowing, vivacious woman who took me everywhere with her when I was little, including the bowling alley and making groceries at Schwegmann's each week.
So, that particular Carnival morning, I got up early like usual to spend time with her before anyone else got up. I loved being around her in the morning, right after she showered. She smelled like Noxzema and Aqua Net hairspray and loose face powder. And I loved those grown up smells!!
And her red lipstick, y'all!! I couldn't wait to grow up and wear my own red lipstick. And leave a red ring around the top of my own coffee cup like she did, too!! Yep.
Well, I remember leaving for Carnival, and Aunt Betty parking near the Zulu parade route. And then us finding a good spot to stand for the parade. I don't remember how long we stood there watching the parade go by. But, I do remember that it was enough time for me to get my very first Zulu coconut!! It was white and gold with a few red specks. And the only reason that I got it is because my aunt Betty was pointing down at me every time a Zulu member teased the crowd with a dangling painted coconut in a clear plastic bag.
She was relentless, y'all, and it worked, and I got a prized Zulu coconut all my own!! Since she knew the streets of New Orleans like the hair on the back of her kid's heads, we ended up leaving our first spot, and catching Zulu at another point along the parade route. We also caught the Rex, King of Carnival parade twice, too.
It was an exhilarating, breathtaking day that I will never, ever forget. And since I'm all grown up, and way, way, way over the crowds at the parades, developing and eating this gluten free king cake is all the celebrating I'm doing for this Carnival season. And I'm not sad about that at all. Nope.
I created this blueberry cream cheese gluten free king cake bundt cake in honor of my aunt Betty's memory because some days are just too precious to ever, ever be forgotten. And that Carnival day all those years ago is one of them.
So, here's to you, my sweet, sweet Aunt Betty. Thanks for teaching me that south Louisiana tradition is just as amazing and unforgettable when you're stone cold sober. And thanks just for being the incredibly awesome person that you were. And every time that I make and eat this blueberry cream cheese gluten free king cake, you'll be right here with me in my heart...Yep...
Blueberry Cream Cheese Gluten Free King Cake Tastes Just Like Carnival, Y'all....
To be perfectly honest, it took me a while to develop this blueberry cream cheese gluten free king cake recipe. This one's a 'Louisiana represent' recipe. So, putting out anything less than my very, very best just wasn't an option.
I used a gluten free rice flour blend, and injected the dough with a whole lot of TLC to make it authentic New Orleans Mardi Gras king cake-worthy. The blueberry cream cheese filling lightens and intensifies the flavors of the king cake. And the icing and colored sugared sprinkles give the soft, moist cake a playful finish that you can customize based upon your individual liking.
Share this blueberry cream cheese gluten free king cake bundt cake with those that you want to take on a spontaneous daytime adventure. And see ya'll on the yum side..
Blueberry Cream Cheese Gluten Free King Cake Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the King Cake
- 1 ¼ ounce package Fleischmann's RapidRise instant yeast
- ½ cup warm water
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 eggs room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons butter room temperature
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 cups sifted Betty Crocker gluten free rice flour blend
For the Blueberry Cream Cheese Filling
- 1 8- ounce block cream cheese room temperature
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 ½ cups blueberry preserves
- For the Icing
- 2 to 4 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 2 to 4 teaspoons milk
- 2 to 4 teaspoons hot water
For the Colored Sugar Sprinkles
- 1 ½ cups sugar divided
- yellow food coloring
- green food coloring
- red and blue food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees F, and set a timer for 10 minutes.
- When the 10-minute timer goes off, turn off the oven, leaving the door closed.
- Next, pour the quick rise instant dry yeast into a bowl with the warm water. Stir to incorporate, and set aside.
- Heat the milk in a small pot or microwave until just heated through.
- Remove from heat, and add the vinegar and lemon juice.
- Pour into the milk/vinegar/lemon juice bowl, and the yeast/water bowl into a Kitchenaid stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the eggs, sour cream, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract and sugar to the bowl.
- Then, add the rice flour blend, one half cup at a time, to the bowl.
- Process over medium speed for 1 minute, then on high speed for one minute.
- Remove the paddle attachment from the bowl, and replace it with the dough hook.
- Knead on Kitchenaid speed setting 2 for 8 minutes. (This is the most important step of the process. You are kneading the dough for texture, so it will taste just like a traditional King cake. But, you have to knead it exactly at setting 2 or the texture will be off.)
- After kneading, remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Place plastic wrap loosely over the bowl.
- Make sure that the heating element in your oven is not red anymore. The oven should still be warm but not hot.
- Place the covered stand mixer bowl in the oven.
- Let rest for 1 ½ hours.
- Remove the bowl, and pour the batter into a large glass measuring cup.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- You should have about 4 cups of batter.
- Clean the stand mixer bowl, and add all of the filling ingredients into the bowl, except for the blueberry preserves.
- Process on medium speed for about 1 minute, or until all of the ingredients combine, and the cream cheese is slightly whipped.
- Grease, and use more of the gluten free rice flour blend to flour a bundt cake pan. (Be very liberal with the oil or butter and flour, so that the cake will slide right out of the pan after it cools.)
- Pour half of the batter into the bottom of the pan. Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the batter.
- Next, pour the blueberry preserves on top of the cream cheese mixture. Keep the filling as close to the middle of the cake as possible throughout the process.
- Pour the rest of the batter on top of the filling, making sure that the batter completely covers the filling.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked through. You can use a knife or cake tester to make sure that the very edge of the cake, or the very inside of the cake around the bundt cake hole, is cooked all the way through.
- Cool in cake pan for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then place a large cooling rack over the exposed cake. Very, very carefully flip the cake over so that the bottom is resting on the cooling rack.
- Make the icing by whisking the butter, 2 tablespoons of milk, and 2 cups of confectioner's sugar together in a large bowl. This will make a thin icing. If you want a thicker icing to use less colored sugar sprinkles, then add the other 2 cups of confectioner's sugar to the mixture. Pour 2 tablespoons of the hot water into the mixture, adding more as necessary, to achieve the consistency you desire.
- Pour the icing in circles around the top of the cake. Shake the plate slightly to encourage the icing to fall down the sides of the cake.
- Finish with the purple, green, and gold colored sugar sprinkles. To make the sprinkles yourself, add about 3 drops of yellow food coloring to ½ cup sugar, then stir to combine. Do the same with the green food coloring for the green sprinkles. Make the purple sprinkles by combining 2 to 3 drops red food coloring with 1 to 2 drops blue food coloring. Stir well, then use a spoon to incorporate into the sugar.
- Serve or refrigerate the gluten free king cake immediately.
The information shown is an estimate provided by a third-party, online computer-generated nutrition calculator, not a registered dietitian or certified nutritionist. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods and individual portion sizes, along with other factors.
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