My Improved Lamb Cake…

The Lamb Cake saga continues:

By now I had taken everyone’s preferences to heart. There was an overwhelming kid preference for “no coconut”; the new improved Lamb Cake featured mini marshmallows embedded in the frosting. It did not look bad, just puffed up larger. The grandkids were now taking turns, if possible, for decorating the cake. Sometimes the cake would go to another party as their treat and I had to bake a second one to take with me elsewhere for another child to decorate at the alternate celebration. The one year I was responsible for the entire production, I had this ‘stroke of genius’ to improve the fluffiness of the lamb fur. I bought a jar of Fluff and knew this would hold the mini marshmallows in place securely. For anyone who has ever had a peanut butter and Fluff sandwich you know the sticking power of Fluff from trying to spread it as it is quickly drying on fresh bread. All was going well, it looked beautiful. I changed my clothes and picked up the Lamb cake from the refrigerator and drove a short distance on an unusually warm Easter Sunday in a car without air conditioning. As I glanced over to the plastic covered cake on the front seat, I could see trouble brewing, or rather, sliding. The once stunning Lamb Cake resembled The Picture of Dorian Grey. I hurriedly knocked on the door and rushed through the host house to the refrigerator, hoping to sidestep a nasty pile-up of ‘Fluffed’ marshmallows and two raisin eyeballs now sticking everywhere and heading south on the cake platter. There was delicious laughter that year as our lips smacked with Fluff recalling my panicked entrance.

Hard to believe there’s more isn’t it? To be continued…

It’s not too early to practice making a Lamb Cake for Easter…

It seemed simple enough, get a lamb cake pan, make a lamb cake. My thoughts drifted back to Grandma’s house for Easter dinner. Our family always arrived hours early to help with the table setting, and this year it was announced there would be lamb cake. I was so short, I can remember looking eye level with the table cloth and seeing this fluffy cake with two little beady eyes, cherry nose and, licorice whip mouth sitting amid a bed of fluffy green coconut grass. It looked real to me!

Fast forward thirty years and I’m out scouring thrift stores for the classic pan with the 3D lamb sitting up. Success propelled me onward to bake not one, but 2 lamb cakes, one would be chocolate in memory of the “lost sheep.” Who cares about the directions I thought, giddy with delight, thinking of how my children and company would ohhh and ahhh… and only reading the directions about filling the pan with my slick interpretation of the classic, substituting a regular cake mix instead of the recommended traditional pound cake recipe.

Surprise, surprise as the fragile cake nearly cracked in half.  No problem I thought as I inserted a toothpick, or two or three into the neck. The cake now resembled a punk-dog collar. All was going well until almost dessert time, when the head suddenly took a dive and looked like a broken neck. I can laugh now, but it was embarrassing.

To be continued….