Mardi Grass KING CAKE (TWELFTH NIGHT CAKE)The New Orleans Cookbook

Dough of your choice for one large coffee cake.
1 dried bean or tiny (3/4-inch) china baby doll
1 cup sugar
5 or more small bottles assorted food coloring
1 cup candied fruit pieces, 60% citron

After mixing the dough (adding the bean or doll now, if desired) and letting it rise, shape it into an oval ring, following the description given above for the approximate dimensions. Sprinkle the top of the cake evenly with sugar and make swirls with food coloring all over the top, with the swirl of one color slightly overlapping the next. Imbed the pieces of candied fruit in the top of the cake, concentrating most of them in a band about 1-1/4 inches wide all the way around. If you wish, make a rosette shape with a piece of fruit of one color surrounded by a circle made with alternating pieces of two other colors, to give the impression of a lavishly bejeweled crown. Set the cake on a baking sheet and bake according to instructions in the dough recipe you use. The finished cake should be lightly browned wherever the dough shows through; the parts covered with colored sugar should appear slightly crusty.