Joyeaux Mardi Gras! This recipe is perfect for “non-bakers” because it uses ready-made crescent roll dough, making it quick and approachable. Cupcake-style king cakes are a great shortcut when you want the festive flavors without waiting for yeast to rise. They’re small, convenient, and ready when you need them.
Last year at the bakery I made several king cakes with different fillings — pecan cinnamon sugar, lemon curd, and apple pie filling. The pecan cinnamon sugar was the crowd favorite, and it’s the flavor requested for the office this year. You can easily swap in other fillings as long as they tolerate baking: chocolate ganache, cream cheese with jam, peanut butter with cinnamon, chocolate-hazelnut spread, or fruit curd all work well.
King Cakes are a Mardi Gras tradition with roots traced to France in the late 1800s. They’re typically enjoyed on Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent begins, which changes each year but always falls 46 days before Easter. Traditional king cake decorations use green, purple, and gold: symbols of faith, justice, and power. These colors are also associated with the three crowns of the Wise Men in the Nativity story.
Traditionally a small trinket — often a plastic baby — is hidden inside a king cake. Finding the trinket is thought to bring luck and responsibility: the finder is said to buy next year’s king cake and host the related celebration. For cupcakes, choose a small object that’s easy to hide and safe to bake, such as a coin, shelled pecan, or large dry bean.
Easy King Cake “Cupcakes”
9 “cupcakes”
5 minutes
15 minutes
20 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 8 oz package of crescent roll dough
- 1/3 c lightly packed brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
- Trinket (plastic baby, shelled pecan, dry bean, plastic coin*)
Topping
- 2 oz softened cream cheese
- 3/4 c powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- purple, yellow, green sanding sugar or sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- Lightly flour your work surface and unroll the crescent dough. Pinch seams together to form a rectangle, then roll slightly thinner so the dough is about 1/4″ wider and longer. Position the rectangle with one long side facing you.
- Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter. Spread the mixture over the dough, leaving a 1/2″ margin at the far edge. Sprinkle chopped pecans evenly, and place the chosen trinket toward the near edge of the rectangle.
- Starting from the near edge, roll the dough tightly like a cinnamon roll. Pinch the seam closed so rolls don’t unravel. Cut the log into nine equal pieces and place each into a cupcake liner.
- Bake 12–14 minutes, until tops are lightly browned and dough is cooked through. Remove from the oven and prepare the frosting while the cupcakes are still warm.
- For the frosting, beat the softened cream cheese with vanilla and powdered sugar. Add heavy cream a teaspoon at a time until you reach a spreadable consistency.
- Spread frosting on the warm cupcakes and finish with purple, green, and gold sanding sugar or sprinkles.
Did this recipe inspire you?
Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram