King Cake Monkey Bread

Course Appetizer, Bread, Dessert

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword easy-monkey-bread, king-cake-monkey-bread, king-cake-recipes

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1

Servings servings

Calories 332kcal

3 13 oz cans cinnamon rolls (i.e. Grands Flaky Cinnamon Rolls 8-count) each cut into 4 pieces, reserve cream cheese icing
1 8 oz block cream cheese softened and divided
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 Tbsp butter melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup half and half
2 large eggs
purple, green and yellow edible glitter or sanding sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a bundt pan or tube pan with baking spray or nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer whip together 6 oz cream cheese, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and vanilla until combined. Add eggs. Beat in half and half until blended. (Small bits of cream cheese may remain)
Cut each cinnamon roll into 4 quarters. Arrange evenly in pan. Drizzle evenly with sauce ingredients.
Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and puffed. Check at 30 minutes and lay foil on top to prevent over browning, if needed. Let stand for 10 minutes then turn onto a serving platter.
Topping: Using an electric mixer, whip together remaining 2 oz cream cheese with cream cheese frosting from cinnamon rolls until smooth. May add additional half and half to make easier to drizzle.
Drizzle glaze over monkey bread. Decorate with purple, green and yellow edible glitter or sanding sugar.
Serve immediately.

Use Classic Cinnamon Rolls - This recipe uses regular, not jumbo, cinnamon rolls in place of canned biscuit dough used in classic monkey bread.
Use a Bundt Pan or an Angel Food Pan - I make this king cake monkey bread in a large bundt pan without issue. Be aware that it puffs up considerably while baking, and if the liquid isn't evenly distributed it could cook over a bit. A tube pan gives plenty of room for the monkey bread to grow.
Easy Serving - This variation of monkey bread isn't made in the normal fashion of coating the biscuit pieces in a cinnamon sugar mixture. Due to this, it can also be sliced into beautiful pieces just like a cake.
Alternative to a Baby - Placing a baby into this King Cake monkey bread is completely optional. In a pinch, a pecan half will work and could be baked right along with the bread.
No Extra Sugar Needed for the Glaze - The cream cheese glaze that comes with the cinnamon rolls is sweet, and it's really not necessary to add more sugar. You may adjust to your taste.
Half and Half - You can use heavy cream in place of half and half.
Glaze - You can simply drizzle the top with the glaze that comes with the cinnamon rolls. The cream cheese does transform the flavor and makes it super creamy.
Butter - You can use salted butter or unsalted butter.