King Cake Cocktail

Name the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words 'Mardi Gras'.
Beads?
Boobs?
Parades?
Drinking?
How about a King Cake? To many, this delectable dessert is the epitome of the yearly carnival celebration. In many countries a kings cake is associated with the Christmas holiday season. In the Southeastern region of the United States however, the king cake is available during the pre-Lenten celebrations of the Mardi Gras Carnival.

What does the King Cake taste like? Think warm gooey coffee cake meets cinnamon roll, pastry-like cake covered in sweet icing and topped off with green, purple and yellow colored sugar. The important question is why did I want to turn the king cake into drink? I can only answer "why not??"

Many variations of this drink were selflessly consumed and they all worked out fairly well. The winning combination won because on top of it being a drink,  it can also be served with a spoon to enjoy the foamy 'dessert' topping that forms after mixing in the whipped cream with the champagne.

Mardi Gras is upon us people! Gather your best beads, locate the nearest parade and get your drink on starting with this Fat and Happy King Cake Cocktail.


Fat and Happy food blog tips and techniques:  

 Don't overlook the importance of the trinket; this is often a small plastic baby which is hidden in or under the cake. The belief is that the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations (like throwing the next Mardi Gras party!) I didn't have any tiny plastic babies but I did have tiny plastic monkeys! Set a trinket on top of the whipped cream or hanging from the edge of one of the drinks; be sure to let your guest know that the trinket recipient will have upcoming obligations after being hailed as lucky-one!

King Cake Cocktail

 

2 ounces brown sugar simple syrup

2 ounces spiced rum

3 ounces grapefruit juice

4 ounces champagne

Alcoholic Whipped Cream*

Colored sugar (optional)

Amaretto icing (optional)

Trinkets (optional)

Make the simple syrup (recipe below) and allow to cool. Ready the glasses by dipping the rim of each drink into the Amaretto icing, then lightly roll the iced rim into the three colored sugars, set aside.

Shake the simple syrup, rum and grapefruit juice together with ice; pour into a sugar coated glass.


Add the champagne and then decorate with a good dollop of the alcoholic whipped cream. Stir the drink together and serve with spoon so your guest can enjoy the drink and the dessert foam.


If you can't find the Alcoholic Whipped Cream, substitute regular whipped cream or homemade whipped cream, whipped with a hint of vanilla. 

Brown Sugar Simple Syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

Combine the brown sugar and water over medium heat, simmer just until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool.

  

Colored Sugar

 3/4 cup white sugar

Green, blue, red and yellow food coloring

Small glass jar with a seal-able lid

Place 1/4 cup sugar in the jar, add 2 drops of green food coloring. Seal the jar and shake for about 30 seconds or until the sugar is well coated and colored, pour into a shallow container. Wipe out the jar with a paper towel, then repeat with the yellow coloring. Use one drop each of the red and blue coloring to create the purple sugar. Dip the icing coated glass rims in each colored sugar as noted above.

For the jar, try using a small jelly jar or a small Tupperware container.

Amaretto Icing

1 heaping tbls Amaretto

1/4 cup powder sugar

Whip together the Amaretto and the powder sugar using a wire whisk. Dip the rim of the glasses into the icing as noted above. If you don't have amaretto, use water, rum or cream instead.