Instructions: Heat 1/2 cup milk until warm (105 to 115F ). In a large mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Stir in sugar and salt and mix well. Let stand a few minutes, or until bubbly. Add 2 cups of the bread flour, the butter, beaten eggs, lemon peel and nutmeg. With an electric mixer, beat on slow speed until all ingredients are moistened. Beat 3 minutes on medium speed. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.

On a lightly floured surface knead dough until smooth and elastic, adding more bread flour if needed, about 5 minutes. Place dough in well-buttered bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a warm place (80 to 85F ) about 1 1/2 hours, or until dough doubles in volume.

Punch down dough several times to remove air bubbles. Shape into a rope 24 inches long and place on a buttered baking sheet. Pinch the ends together to form a ring. Cover dough with a cloth and let it rise in a warm place until it again doubles in volume, about 1 1/4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350F .

Whisk together the remaining egg and 1 Tablespoon milk; gently brush over the top of the dough. Bake 22 to 27 minutes or until golden and cake sounds hollow when lightly tapped. [Internal temperature should read 190F on an instant-read therm.]

Remove from baking sheet and cool completely on a wire rack. Once the cake is cool, press the doll, dried bean or nut gently into the bottom of the cake so that it is hidden.

Frosting:
Combine confectioners sugar, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon milk. Stir with a wire whisk until smooth. If icing is too thick, stir in another 1 tablespoon milk. Spoon icing over top of ring, allowing it to run down the sides. Sprinkle with colored sugar, creating rows of each color about 1 1/2 inches wide. Repeat all around the ring.

YIELD: Makes 14 servings.

King Cake is made during Mardi Gras season (January 6 through the day before Ash Wednesday) in Louisiana and other parts of the south that celebrate Mardi Gras. It is basically a coffee cake, made in a ring, and can be plain (usually a mildly sweet egg/butter yeast dough) or filled in any number of ways - fruit fillings, sweetened cream cheese, almond paste, etc. It is topped with a powdered sugar glaze which is sprinkled with three colors of sugar - green, yellow and purple, the Mardi Gras colors. The plastic baby is inserted before baking, but it doesnt melt. The person who gets the baby is supposed to supply the next king cake, or have the next party at which the king cake is served.

*The person who found the treasurer in the cake last year must bake the cake for this years "fat Tuesday" or Mardi Gras.

* Alexis Romanov of the Russian royal family visited Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 1872 and from hence forth, it is said, the celebration took on the royal colors signifying justice, faith and power.

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