King Cake for Easter?

I was thinking that the hazelnut praline-filled cake I made for Mardi Gras would work out well as an Easter (or other spring event) cake. Decorate the rich brioche ring with its sweet surprise filling by sprinkling the glazed cake with pastel colored sugars, or just before baking, place colored eggs around the top of the ring.

I used a combination of recipes, but this one from Emeril Lagasse (via The Gumbo Pages) is the closest to how I made the brioche cake. That version has a cream cheese filling. I used the filling recipe and forming techniques from Ms. Enplace. You can see those here. It relies on the wonderful hazelnut praline available from Love'N Bake. (One tip, make sure the rectangle of dough is evenly sized before you begin to fold and shape. That will result in a more even-looking ring in the end.)

You can make the cake with either the cream cheese or hazelnut filling, or just leave it out, which is probably more traditional but makes for a more bread-like cake.

I found that I got a better result from purchased colored sugar crystals than the homemade (it was really tough getting the food dyes I used to create purple, it came out more red-black), but there are lots of lovely colored sugar colors out there.

One warning, it is a yeast-raised dough and will need time to rise.

King Cake is a New Orleans tradition which some feel should be limited to only the Mardi Gras season. I say, let the good times roll any time.
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A disclaimer: I was once provided with several cans of Love'n Bake products at no charge.