King Cake Cupcakes

So I lied to you.

Valentine’s Day isn’t my favorite holiday after all. Mardi Gras is! I guess living in Colorado made me completely forget about Mardi Gras because it didn’t even occur to me that Fat Tuesday is next week until I started seeing photos from Mardi Gras balls in my Facebook stream. But yeah, it’s definitely my favorite and the one I most looked forward to when I lived in Mobile.

Since we don’t really get the opportunity to celebrate in Colorado, I had to make these super cute king cake cupcakes! (Please ignore the creepy babies. This should be the last year you have to look at them.) I used a box mix to make the cupcakes but made my cinnamon buttercream that I love so much to make them a little more king cake-like. And then I topped them with the tiniest little king cakes made from vanilla wafers!

If you are celebrating Mardi Gras this year (I’m jealous) you should totally make these! Everyone who saw them went nuts over how cute they were.

Nicole made hurriances! One time, many years ago, a friend of mine caught her hair on fire from a flaming hurricane at a bar. It was arguably one of the best nights of my life.* So go make hurricanes! Throw beads at whoever you live with! And have a good time!

*She was fine. It was put out quickly and we laughed about it for days. I’m really not heartless.

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Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 24 minutes

Total Time: 54 minutes

adapted from The Virtuous Wife

Ingredients

2 tubes crescent rolls
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

For the filling:

1 8-ounce block cream cheese
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 - 2 tablespoons water
purple, green, and yellow sprinkles

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a muffin tin with baking spray.
In a small bowl, stir together ½ cup sugar and cinnamon.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until no lumps remain. Set aside.
Working on a sheet of parchment paper, unroll one tube of crescent rolls. Divide into 4 rectangles and press to seal the seam going diagonally through each rectangle. Repeat with remaining tube of crescent rolls.
Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of each one. Spread a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture down one long side of each rectangle. Roll up each one as if rolling cinnamon rolls, sealing the ends. Then roll them up again so that they resemble cinnamon rolls. Transfer to prepared muffin tin.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 12 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 12 minutes. Let cool before glazing.
To make the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon water. Add more water as needed to make it a good spreadable consistency. Spread glaze on each cupcake and top with sprinkles. I find that you need to let the glaze set for a minute or 2 and then sprinkle. But don't wait too long because the sprinkles won't stick if it sets completely!

Comments

nicole says

February 07, 2013 at 6:59 am

okay, now I need to know what a flaming hurricane is. LET’S GO TO MARDI GRAS!!!!

Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says

February 07, 2013 at 7:56 am

These are gorgeous! I want to make a King Cake in a bad way – but these cupcakes look way better. :)

Katrina @ In Katrina's Kitchen says

February 07, 2013 at 8:07 am

baaahahahaa and I thought Halloween was your favorite too. :) These cups are cute!

Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says

February 07, 2013 at 8:23 am

Love these cupcakes! Mardi Gras tends to sneak up on me since it’s not the same date every year. Also I love that the gold baby kind of looks like C3P0

a farmer in the dell says

February 07, 2013 at 11:12 am

I need one of these cupcakes and a hurricane right about now. And yes, I am aware that it is only 10 a.m. :)

Anne-Marie Faiola says

February 08, 2013 at 12:08 pm

Those cupcakes are absolutely fabulous! =)

Tracey says

February 08, 2013 at 1:55 pm

Every year Mardi Gras sneaks up on me and I miss the opportunity to make something. Maybe this year I’ll break the streak… I love these king cupcakes, the little vanilla wafer king cake on top is just plain awesome! :)

Julie @ Table for Two says

February 10, 2013 at 8:47 pm

ok, so funny story about this baby in my king cake: my SIL who is born/raised in NOLA sends us a king cake every year and last year, i had the baby in one of my slices and i literally FREAKED OUT. I thought it was a spider. the baby was NOT gold, it was like brownish black or whatever. discolored. I almost threw my plate on the floor.

I love how festive these cupcakes are, though, discolored baby or not haha :)

Alyson says

February 21, 2013 at 11:50 am

Ok, we’ll at least I’m not the only one who thought the babies looked like lil c3po’s! Lol! Ps the cupcakes look yummy!!!

King Cake Cupcakes