King Cake Pull-Apart Bread (Print)

A festive treat featuring cinnamon dough balls, colorful sugars, and luscious cream cheese icing.

# Ingredients:

→ Dough

01 - 2 cans (16 oz each) refrigerated biscuit dough
02 - 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
03 - 3/4 cup granulated sugar
04 - 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

→ Filling

05 - 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
06 - 1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional

→ Cream Cheese Icing

07 - 4 oz cream cheese, softened
08 - 1 cup powdered sugar
09 - 2 tablespoons milk
10 - 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

→ Decorations

11 - Purple, green, and gold sanding sugars or colored sugar sprinkles

# Directions:

01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan with nonstick spray or butter.
02 - In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and ground cinnamon and mix thoroughly.
03 - Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
04 - Dip each dough ball in melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until fully coated.
05 - Arrange half of the coated dough balls in the prepared Bundt pan. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar and half of the pecans over the dough balls.
06 - Layer remaining dough balls, brown sugar, and pecans over the first layer.
07 - Pour any remaining melted butter evenly over the assembled dough balls.
08 - Bake for 32 to 38 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate. Cool slightly before icing.
09 - Beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until creamy and pourable.
10 - Drizzle cream cheese icing over warm monkey bread. Immediately sprinkle with purple, green, and gold sanding sugars in sections to mimic traditional King Cake colors.
11 - Serve warm, pulling apart pieces to enjoy.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • It looks showstopping when you unmold it, but honestly, it's mostly just canned biscuits doing the heavy lifting.
  • That cream cheese icing pools into every nook and cranny, making each bite a little different from the last.
  • You can make it ahead of time and reheat it gently—perfect for when you want to look like you woke up at dawn but absolutely did not.
02 -
  • Don't skip the 10-minute cooling step in the pan—it's the crucial window where the bread sets just enough to unmold cleanly without becoming so cool that it sticks.
  • The cream cheese icing only stays pourable for a few minutes, so have your sugars measured and ready before you start drizzling, or it'll set up and become impossible to work with.
  • If you're hiding that plastic baby (the King Cake tradition), do it after baking but before icing, and warn your guests loudly and repeatedly.
03 -
  • Keep your cream cheese icing on the thinner side—it should pool slightly rather than stay in perfect peaks, so it flows into all those wonderful crevices.
  • The moment you invert the bread, don't second-guess yourself; confidence is 90% of the battle, and hesitation is what causes the whole thing to slip.
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