AN EASTER LAMB CAKE RECIPE MADE WITH LOVE AND FULL OF MEMORIES!
An Easter Lamb Cake Recipe handed down for generations that is an Easter tradition.
This Easter dessert is adorable and delicious.
Easter time is just full of cuteness. You’ve got the adorable plush bunnies, pastel Easter eggs, colorful baskets and beautiful spring flowers. Even the Easter desserts are delightful. Seriously … is there any Easter dessert that’s more charming than a cute lamb cake? You’d be hard pressed to find one.
A BIT OF BACKGROUND …
After I got married, I discovered baking an Easter lamb cake is a huge Easter tradition to end Easter dinner on my husband’s side of the family. And for years, I thought about attempting to make my own Easter lamb cake. But somehow I always wound up saying, “next year.”
And that pattern went on for a couple of years. Well, maybe a few more than that, since we’ve been together for almost two decades and, as of last year, I had yet to bake a single lamb cake.
So last year, as the daffodils bloomed and the marshmallow Peeps began appearing in grocery stores, I realized putting this off another year wasn’t really in the spirit of Make Every Day an Event, right? With that mindset, I decided that now was the perfect time to try my hand at baking a traditional Easter lamb cake. And here’s a secret, it was so much fun! Why had I been avoiding this baking adventure for so long?
AN EASTER LAMB CAKE MADE WITH LOVE AND FULL OF MEMORIES!
If I was finally going to all the effort to bake a traditional Easter lamb cake, I wanted it to be family official. So I reached out to my husband’s Aunt Mar to get the actual lamb cake recipe that had been handed down in his family for generations. She is a just a gem and was so helpful and encouraging along the way.
Come to find out there wasn’t just one family recipe, but there were actually two. Dueling Easter lamb cake recipes from Matt’s grandmother and great aunt! A true family feud! Regardless of source, both of the vintage recipes for the Easter lamb cake were a basic lemon pound cake that I adapted a bit the first time I used it. I also incorporated a few suggestions from Aunt Mar, as she’s been baking these Easter Sunday delights for many years.
THE ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT YOU NEED …
The most important step of this entire project is acquiring the right mold. When we were cleaning out items at Matt’s parent’s house, I stumbled upon an antique, cast iron lamb cake mold pan. Matt’s mom loved antiques and had an incredible eye for finding great items. She actually used this lamb mold as a decorative piece. I can still see it resting on her sideboard in the dining room. I took the find as yet another subtle sign from the universe that this was the year for me to bake the perfect lamb cake.
However as I examined the mold, I noticed a few things. Mainly, there was quite a bit of rust that had developed on the inside of the mold. Obviously, rust is highly undesirable on any baking surface. In a valiant effort to keep my traditional lamb cake as, well, traditional as it could be, I used a variety of agents to clean the rust off of the antique lamb cake mold. Cleanser, steel wool, vinegar, and just plain old dish soap. Nothing really worked, especially since there were intricate grooves and indentations within the mold. I then realized this is why my mother-in-law likely used this lamb cake mold as a decorative item only.
SOMETIMES NEW IS ACTUALLY BETTER!
So instead of the antique version, I opted to purchase this new, Nordic Ware mold as my lamb cake pan. In the end, I think this decision was wise. I have to admit I was concerned about the cake sticking to all the crevices within the older, cast iron cake mold. Especially since the vintage recipe specifically stated, “a lot of grease and flour.” I believe the new lamb cake mold helped to eleviate that issue. And the cast iron mold truly is an adorable decorative piece. A win-win situation!
For most of these types of recipes, I’d usually just fudge and use a boxed cake mix. But you can’t use a box mix for this molded lamb cake, since it needs to be a denser cake. No worries. I’ve got the perfect pound cake recipe for you. This step-by-step recipe has literally been tested in Matt’s family for generations. And I hope it will be the start of a generational tradition in your family as well!
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THE BEST EASTER LAMB CAKE RECIPE INGREDIENTS
One cup butter
One cup sugar
Four eggs
Two cups sifted cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Zest of one lemon
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place a cookie sheet or baking sheet in the oven as it preheats. You’ll be putting your lamb mold on this sheet to bake and it’s ideal if it’s warm.
Combine the lemon zest and sugar. Cream butter, sugar-lemon mixture and vanilla together in a large bowl. Add the eggs, one by one, and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed. Fold in the flour mixture, as well as the baking powder and salt.
Generously grease and flour both the bottom and the top of the mold. Fill the bottom side with the cake batter. Tip: the face side of the mold is usually the bottom pan.
Depending on the age and size of your mold, you may not have enough batter to fill the entire mold and you may need to make extra batter.
The back side of the mold is the top and the one with the vent hole. Simply place it on top of the bottom or face side of the mold.
Tip: a lot of people like to place a wooden skewer in the lamb’s neck, to make the cake more stable. I did not do this and my cake turned out fine, however it is something to consider.
Put the lamb pan on cookie sheet or baking sheet and bake for one hour in preheated oven. The cake will be finished when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool. You may want to place it on a wire rack.
THE BEST PART OF THE EASTER LAMB CAKE RECIPE!
Decorating the cute lamb cake is definitely the most fun part of this project. When the cake cools to room temperature, you can begin this process. I recommend assembling the cake on a serving platter or a cake pedestal. This was especially useful since I wanted to use my Easter lamb cake as a great centerpiece on our Easter table.
First, you need to frost the cake white. If you have a buttercream frosting recipe you like, you can use that. Otherwise, if you want to save a bit of time, you can used canned white frosting. It’s really your choice. I used the latter. Spread a medium to thin layer of white frosting all around the cake. Next, slather coconut on top of the frosting to create the lamb’s wool coat. Finally, it’s time to create the lamb’s face.
I placed two, brown, peanut M&Ms (you could also use black jelly beans) on the lamb’s face to create the eyes. Pink jelly beans are perfect for the little lamb’s nose and to create it’s ears. Finally, I put a cute, pink-ribbon bow around the lamb’s neck. Dye some of the remaining coconut green to create a bed of grass around the cake.
I love how this Easter Lamb Cake Recipe turned out and I can’t wait to make a little lamb again this year! Did I mention this cake was delicious? Given how cute it is and how good it tasted, I think it just might be my new, favorite cake.
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