Get Your French Quarter Fix: Body SymmetryMD 's Paleo King Cake

What started out roughly 300 years ago as a dry French bread-type dough with sugar on top and a mashed bean interior has now evolved into a sweet, sugary iced Danish-type of dough that's braided and finished off with a small plastic doll hidden on the inside... 

We're talking about King Cake, which is especially popular during the Mardi Gras season (hundreds of thousands of them are eaten somewhere around the French Quarter during this time every year)!

King Cakes today are commonly made of a cinnamon-filled dough in the shape of a hollow circle. 

They're also adorned with a colorful glazed topping and sprinkled with colored sugar.

The cake often has a small plastic baby (said to represent Baby Jesus) inside, or underneath; and the person who incidentally gets the piece of cake with the toy trinket also supposedly receives several special privileges and/or obligations (depending on which legend you've heard).

As a special privilege to all you waistline watchers out there, our Body SymmetryMD wellness squad has a Paleo version of King Cake (with natural coloring from kale, tumeric & berries too!) you can enjoy at home...without all the guilt. Try baking up this decadent dessert as part of your N'arlins celebrations today:

Paleo King Cake

Ingredients

- Classic Vanilla Coconut Flour Paleo Cake (click here for the full recipe we used)
- Cashew Glaze (click here for the full recipe)
- 1½ cups shredded dried coconut
- 1 handful fresh kale
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- frozen berries (we used 3 blueberries and 1 blackberry)

Directions
After making the cake and glaze, divide the coconut into three bowls.

FOR THE GREEN: Add kale and ½ cup water to a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Strain through a nut milk bag, coffee filter or layered cheese cloth. Add strained kale juice 1 teaspoon at a time until the coconut is colored but not too wet.

FOR THE YELLOW: Add turmeric ½ teaspoon at a time until the coconut is colored. If using unsweetened coconut, you may have to lightly wet the coconut with water before adding turmeric.

FOR THE PURPLE: Microwave mixed berries for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Mash with a fork and add juice 1 teaspoon at a time until coconut is colored.

Sprinkle on cake, slice, serve and enjoy eating Paleo -friendly this Mardi Gras!

For more great health tips or to learn about our medically supervised weight loss programs and services CLICK HERE.

Here's to gettin' your French Quarter fix in a healthful way!
--Your Body SymmetryMD Wellness Squad

References:

http://ourfourforks.com/paleo-king-cake-natural-food-coloring/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake