Happy Mardi Gras! A King Cake even my gluten-free friends can enjoy!

Today is Mardi Gras, aka Fat Tuesday, a day where everybody is supposed to indulge in all things delicious and guilt-inducing!  The King Cake is the traditional Mardi Gras treat of choice.  It’s a brioche shaped into a ring and stuffed with deliciousness like cinnamon or strawberries and cream cheese, then covered in glaze and sprinkled with purple, green, and gold sugar.  Here's some info on the history of King Cakes:  http://www.mardigrasunmasked.com/LocalColorCustoms/KingCakeHistoryARichTradition.aspx

Unfortunately, one of my family members has to maintain a gluten-free diet and can’t enjoy a traditional King Cake!  Luckily, I recently found a gluten-free cookbook that I’m actually a fan of – The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free (http://www.amazon.com/Cake-Mix-Doctor-Bakes-Gluten-Free/dp/0761160981/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299467454&sr=8-1).  I have been a huge fan of Anne Byrn and her Cake Mix Doctor cookbook for many years now, so when she came out with recipes for adapted gluten-free cake mixes, I had to check it out.  (View the website at http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/).  I usually hate (hate, hate, hate) gluten-free recipes, but I figured that Anne probably knew what she was doing, and boy was I right!  I adapted the recipe for her “Kathy’s Cinnamon Breakfast Cake” into a gluten-free version of King Cake.  Alright, fine, it’s more of a coffee cake than a brioche, but it was actually good!  I think the trick is in adding instant pudding mix to the gluten-free cake mix.  Good-bye to mealy, dry gluten-free "cake"; hello to delicious, moist, I-can’t-believe-it’s-gluten-free dessert!  Here’s the recipe:

For the cinnamon streusel

1/3 cup lightly packed light brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup finely chopped pecans

For the cake

1 Tbsp cinnamon sugar (to make cinnamon sugar, combine ¼ c. sugar and 1 Tbsp cinnamon; save extra sugar for cinnamon toast or to sprinkle on baked apples)

1 pkg vanilla gluten-free cake mix

¼ c vanilla instant pudding mix

1 c milk

½ c vegetable oil

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

For the glaze

½ c powdered sugar

1-2 Tbsp milk

Dash of vanilla extract

For decoration

Purple, green, and gold sugar sprinkles

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans and set aside.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease bundt pan and dust with cinnamon sugar.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, 1 c milk, oil, eggs, and 2 tsp vanilla.  Beat with electric mixer at low speed for 30 seconds, then beat at medium speed for 2 minutes more.  Pour 1/3 of the batter into the prepared bundt pan.  Add half of the streusel mixture on top of the batter.  Pour half of the remaining cake batter on top of the streusel.  Top with the remaining streusel, then top with the remaining batter.  Bake for 35-40 minutes.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert cake onto plate.  Cool completely.  In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla to create glaze.  Pour over the top of the cake.  Sprinkle in sections using purple, green, and gold sugar sprinkles.  Enjoy!