King Cake Scones Recipe Perfect for Mardi Gras!

Homemade King Cake scones are similar to traditional king cake and perfect for Mardi Gras celebrations! This recipe has a bit of cream cheese and fresh orange zest and is topped with the traditional green, gold, and purple sprinkles! Bring a bit of New Orleans and good luck to your table this Fat Tuesday with these delicious scone treats! 

To celebrate carnival season, we made our version of the famous Mardi Gras King Cake only in a scone! We did not hide a tiny plastic baby in the scone wedges, but if you wanted to celebrate, you could bake in a chocolate chip for good luck in the coming year for a lucky taste-tester! So, let's let the good times roll and get baking our Mardi Gras scones! 

If this is your first time making scones don't be nervous. Check out my Master Scone Recipe to get started. It has helpful tips for making any scone recipe whether sweet or savory! Scones are easy to make and I will walk you through them step by step so you will have a nice, fluffy, and tender scone, one that will rival any coffee shop!

Tools for Baking

Before we start to make our homemade scones, it is a great idea to prep our work surface with the ingredients and items we will be using. Here are my go-to baking tools I use for every batch of the best scones.

• Pastry blender we mention this item with every single recipe because it is THE item that will ensure a fluffy outcome for your scones. You can use 2 knives or your hands, but a pastry blender or pastry cutter is best.
• Parchment paper a baking sheet lined with parchment paper is not only great for non-stick baking, but it is also awesome for easy cleanup! No pan scrubbing is needed!
• Mixing bowl should be a large mixing bowl if you want to make this a one-bowl recipe! I mix and also knead the scone dough right in the bowl before turning it out onto a floured surface. 

Secret to Making Good Scones

First, let's go over THREE VERY IMPORTANT THINGS you MUST DO to ensure a perfect flaky scone:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees for at least 20 minutes before baking. A hot oven will help your scones rise tall instead of being flat.
2. Make sure you're using COLD butter. It does not matter if you use cold unsalted butter or salted butter, but it MUST BE COLD. As the butter melts it will allow for air to create flaky scones
3. Minimal handling of the dough. The more you knead the scone dough, the tougher it becomes and you will end up with a flat, hard scone.

Scone ingredients

• All-purpose flour
• Granulated sugar
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Vanilla extract
• Chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• Cream cheese, room temperature
• Greek yogurt
• Half and Half (or milk)
• Orange zest
• Orange juice
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Powdered sugar
• Sanding sugar in green, gold, and purple
• Eggs

How to Make King Cake scones recipe

Grab your cup of coffee or tea and let's get this Mardi Gras party started! This scone recipe is like a batch of cinnamon rolls met an orange zest cheesecake that gets topped with glaze and colored sprinkles! It's one of my fabulous creations that truly taste as good as they look! If you want to make a King Cake cupcake version, check out this recipe too!

As I mentioned above in the Baking tips section, it is important to preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Be sure to do this at least 20 minutes before you intend to bake. This will give enough time to also complete some steps before baing scones. 

Step 1:

We are going to make the cream cheese topping first. 

In a medium bowl, beat together until smooth: 

• 4 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 Tablespoon milk

Set aside. This will be the topping before baking.

Step 2:

Now, we are going to mix our dry ingredients first. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, orange zest, and salt. 

In the flour mixture, we are going to cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender or two knives until it resembles coarse crumbs. You should see lumps of butter and that is exactly what you want.

Step 3:

In a small bowl, combine the following: 

• 4 oz. softened cream cheese
• 2 large egg
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add wet ingredients to the dry flour mixture. Stir until a shaggy dough forms.

On a lightly floured surface, knead dough gently 5 to 10 times and pat into a 1-inch thick round disc shape.

Step 4: 

Using a knife or the back of a spoon, take the cream cheese mixture (from Step 1) and spread it carefully over the top of the scone dough disc. 

With a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut into 8 wedges and transfer dough triangles onto a prepared baking tray 2- inches apart. I can usually fit all eight on a large rimmed baking sheet.

Step 5: 

Place scones in the oven on the middle rack.

Bake until golden brown, which is about 12 to 15 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

As the scones are cooling, make the glaze: 

• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 Tablespoon orange juice
• 1 Tablespoon milk

Step 6:

Once the scones have cooled, dip the entire top in the glaze or drizzle the glaze with a spoon over the tops of the scones. Add a line of purple sugar sprinkles, green sugar sprinkles, and gold sugar sprinkles. 

Let scones set for a few minutes before serving.

If you have any leftovers, store scones in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months, or you can keep them on the counter at room temperature loosely covered with a sheet of plastic wrap.

Other scone recipes you should try: lemon blueberry scones, chocolate scones, fresh peach scones, fresh strawberry scones, cinnamon chip scones, carrot cake scones

King Cake Scone Recipe

The combination of nutmeg and cinnamon filling, topped with a gooey orange zest cream cheese topping, and drizzled with orange glaze and colored sugar sprinkles create scones that look and taste like a real King Cake! It's the best way to celebrate this joyous occasion! Happy Mardi Gras!