Easy King Cake

Have you had this tri-colored Mardi Gras dessert? Traditional King Cake has a little plastic toy king baked into the cake, and whoever gets the king has to host the next party! Instead of that, we have an edible option!

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 gumdrop, any flavor (see Notes)
• 1 (18.25-ounce) package yellow cake mix, batter prepared according to package directions
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon water
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
• Red, blue, yellow and green food color

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9" x 13" baking pan with cooking spray.
    
2. Add lemon peel, nutmeg, and gumdrop to cake batter and bake in prepared pan according to package directions. Cool completely on wire rack.
    
3. In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and water until mixture forms a creamy glaze. Spread glaze over top of cooled cake.
    
4. Place 1 tablespoon granulated sugar into each of 3 small resealable plastic storage bags. Add 1 drop red and 1 drop blue food color to one bag to create purple sugar; mix well. Add 2 drops yellow food color to another bag; mix well. Add 2 drops green food color to remaining bag; mix well. Sprinkle colored sugars over glaze to decorate cake as desired for Mardi Gras or any other occasion (see Notes).

Notes

• Instead of baking a toy king into this traditional Mardi Gras dessert, we suggest a gumdrop, since it's edible. The Mardi Gras tradition is that the person who gets the king (or, in this case, the gumdrop) in their piece of cake is supposed to host the next year's Mardi Gras party.
   
• You'll often find King Cake as a braided, more yeasty type of cake. Ours is a simplified version, so it's more cakey and isn't braided, but it still has the traditional colors decorating the top. And what do they signify? Purple stands for Justice, green is for Faith, and gold is for Power! You see, King Cake is no ordinary cake!