Kid Friendly King Cake

This Kid-Friendly King Cake isn’t so much of a recipe as it’s an idea of an activity to share with your favorite small human. 

Kid-Friendly King Cake decorated with Mardi Gras beads, coins, and masks and placed on a Mardi Gras table runner.

Mardi Gras season is such a fun and happy time, why not celebrate it by making some of the iconic foods in a way that little hands can help with and create? Using refrigerated cinnamon rolls makes this activity easy enough for even the smallest hands! Plus, every kid loves to spread icing onto anything and then sprinkle colored sugar on it!

Small child in glasses smiling in front of a cinnamon roll decorated like a piece of king cake.

Look at this sweet little face! This precious small human is my great-niece, Paige. It is safe to say that she has me (along with the rest of the family) wrapped around her little finger. She is the happiest, sweetest, and funniest little girl. We had a blast making this kid-friendly king cake!

King Cake Facts

Kid-Friendly King Cake decorated with Mardi Gras beads, coins, and masks and placed on a Mardi Gras table runner.

But first, here are some fun facts about king cake.

  • A king cake is a mashup of coffee cake, a cinnamon roll, and French pastry and is shaped into an oval. The oval shape is thought to symbolize the unity of faith.
  • The colors of the king cake icing are the same as Mardi Gras colors. Gold represents power, purple represents justice, and green represents faith.
  • King cake is first seen on January 6th (The Epiphany) and throughout Carnival Season.
  • A baby is placed inside the king cake as a prize to find for a lucky eater. The person who finds it is the ‘king’ for the day and is responsible to buy the king cake the next year.

Ingredients Needed

This is almost laughable to call this an ingredient list, but this is what we used for our ‘project’.

  • Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon rolls
  • Canned cream cheese frosting
  • Colored sugar
Small child decorating a kid-friendly king cake.
Look at the attention to detail and precision!

Fun Decorations

A few simple things thrown onto the table just make the party seem more festive, right? Mardi Gras decor is very simple and inexpensive. The best part is that it’s small, so it can be easily saved for next year!

Steps To Make This ‘Recipe’

One of the reasons that Paige and I had so much fun doing this project together is that we didn’t focus on the end product. Paige had some trouble placing the rolls on their side, so as you can see in your photo, we placed the cinnamon rolls flat.  Just have fun with your kiddos and don’t worry about what the end product looks like. It will still taste amazing and y’all will have a blast!

Small child decorating a kid-friendly king cake.

So, here’s what to do:

  1. Pop open the rolls of cinnamon buns.
  2. Separate the rolls and pat them lightly to flatten them a little.
  3. Lie them down on their sides to form a wreath shape.
  4. Bake.
  5. Stir the frosting and then ice the cooled rolls.
  6. Sprinkle with the colored sugars.
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Kid Friendly King Cake

This Kid-Friendly King Cake isn’t so much of a recipe as it’s an idea of an activity to share with your favorite small human.

  • Author: Millie Brinkley
  • Prep Time: 25 minutes
  • Cooling time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 15 rolls 1x
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: New Orleans

Ingredients

Scale

3 cans refrigerated cinnamon rolls (I used Pillsbury Grands)

16-ounce can of cream cheese frosting (I used Pillsbury)

Purple, Gold, and Green colored sanding sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside.

Pop open the cans of cinnamon rolls and remove the rolls from the container.

Discard the icing at the bottom of the can.

Pat each roll to slightly flatten it and secure the cinnamon filling.

Place the rolls sideways on the cookie sheet in a circular pattern so that they form a wreath pattern.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-27 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown.

Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Use an offset spatula to stir and loosen the cream cheese icing.

Spread the icing generously all over the top of the rolls.

Sprinkle each roll with the colored sugars.

Serve immediately.

Keywords: Kid-friendly, King cake, Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras recipe, cinnamon rolls