Who doesn’t love enjoying a delicious piece of King Cake to celebrate Mardi Gras! With our healthy king cake recipe, now you can have your cake and eat it too, without any of the guilt!  This is sure to be a crowd pleaser at your Mardi Gras celebrations, so go ahead and take another piece.

INGREDIENTS

For the dough:

• 1 package active dry yeast
• ¼ warm water
• 1 tablespoon date syrup
• 7 tablespoons ground flax seed meal
• 2 ½ cups of all purple flour (Plus extra for kneading/rolling the dough)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 6 tablespoons vegan butter
• ¼ cup coconut milk, plus extra for brushing the bread before baking

For the filling:

• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup vegan butter
• ½ cup finely chopped roasted pecans
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon flour

For the frosting:

• 5 oz vegan cream cheese 
• 3 oz vegan butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• Purple food coloring

STEPS:

Make the Cake:

• In a small bowl combine the ground flaxseed meal and the ¾ cup + 3 tablespoons of water. Let set for at least 5 minutes.
• In a medium size bowl add in yeast, date syrup and warm water. Stir gently until the yeast begins to dissolve and bubbles form. Let set until yeast becomes frothy for about 5 minutes.
• In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, nutmeg and vegan butter. Process until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.Add the flax egg mixture and the flour to the bowl with the bloomed yeast. Mix with a spatula until dough begins to come together. Then knead with your heads until a soft dough forms, adding extra flour as needed.
• Place the dough in a well oiled bowl and cover with saran wrap. Let rise for an hour until the dough doubles in size.

• Meanwhile, make the filling. In a small mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, softened butter, chopped pecans, cinnamon and a tablespoon of flour. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
• Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out dough into a large rectangle about ⅛ inch thick.
• Using a floured knife, slice the dough in half lengthwise and then proceed to cut each strip into triangles, following a zigzag pattern.

• With the tips of the triangles pointed inward, arrange the triangles in a circle on the prepared sheet, overlapping one triangle over the other.
• Spoon the filling in an even circle around the interior of the triangles.

• Fold the outsides of the triangles over the filling in the center, then fold the triangle tips over, pressing slightly to adhere the tips to the outside of the ring.
• Cover the ring lightly with a clean dish towel, and let rise for 20 minutes more.
• Brush cake with extra coconut milk and bake in preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Let cool completely.

Make the Frosting:

• Combine softened vegan butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in a bowl. Whisk until the frosting becomes smooth. Add in a couple drops of purple food coloring and mix to combine.
• Mixture will be the consistency of a glaze.
• Transfer cake to a large serving platter.
• Using a medium size spoon or ladle, drizzle the vegan frosting over the top of the cake. Add yellow, green and purple sprinkles to top.
• Cut it into slices and enjoy!