It’s my favorite time of the year! Time to bust out the lamb cake pans and see what you guys and gals (and your lambs!) are made of.
Send me your 2017 Lamb Cake photos so I can post them here on the blog for everyone to see AND to be entered in a random drawing for some vintage cookbooks from my collection!
Here is one of the winners from last year:
This is the lamb submitted by Valentine V. Isn’t she adorable?
You can email me your photo at ruth@midcenturymenu.com, or you can send it to me through our Facebook page. Deadline for submission is April 23, 2017, and you can send in as many lamb/rabbit/chicken/random Easter cake photos from this year as you want (if you make multiple cakes) but everyone will be entered into the drawing one time, to make it fair. And yes, we take bunnies and crosses and chicken cakes as well! Giveaway Closed And Winner Announced!
This year I am going to be testing out three different lamb cake recipes (carrot, coffee and a plain white one) and hopefully posting them the week before Easter. But if you need a good recipe before then, don’t fret. I’ve got you covered!
Start here with a tutorial:
Or here with the video tutorial:
And then here is last year’s lamb, which was chocolate and actually turned out pretty well:
The Chocolate Pound Cake Lamb was a bit sweet, but it was moist and dense and unmolded well.
Tom’s favorite lamb cake:
The Pope Family Lamb cake has a caramel and butter flavor and is dense but moist. It also has a great pound cake texture!
My favorite lambie:
The Renalde Lamb Cake is light and fluffy, with a great bouncy texture and good flavor. I love it!
Feel free to ask any questions below in the comments or send me an email at any time if you are having trouble with your lamb cake and I will try my best to help you out. And I am sure other readers will also be able to pitch in as well. I usually try to answer questions as quickly as I can up until Easter day, so if you have a question on Saturday at midnight feel free to ask, because chances are you will get an answer.
Good luck and have lots and lots of fun!
I was in a consignment shop a while back and saw a lamb cake pan made of cast iron. Never seen an iron one before.
No lamb pan, but I might try this with my Swedish horse pan I got from Ikea frosted with white buttercream to look like a lamb. Since I want to use the Pope family recipe, I’ll probably place it on top of an 8×8 square cake frosted with green buttercream in order to use up all the batter.
Looking forward to this year’s entries! 🙂
I’m trying my first lambie cake this Easter, in a thrifted vintage pan. I’m scared and excited, and it’s so hard to choose from among all the recipes linked in your blog!
Would the Renalde recipe be good with a cream cheese frosting?
I think it would! Cream cheese frosting is pretty much good on anything. 🙂
Chocolate pound cake lamb is baked, unmolded and ready to go–wishing the best to everyone baking up a lamb cake today and tomorrow!
That’s so sweet, Kathryn! Hope your lamb cake is delicious!
Hi Retro Ruth! I’ve appreciated your blog and tips! We had a problem this Easter that I offered to bring desert to my boyfriend’s house! We live in the suburbs of Chicago in some of those neighborhoods mentioned in your 2012 post. In fact, you can buy a LAMB CAKE at the local bakery here in town—saw one in the window when I went to mail my taxes– AND THAT’S WHAT MY MOM TOLD ME I SHOULD DO-GO BUY ONE. But boyfriend BEGGED me to make a lamb cake, finally admitting that his mom used to make one for him (she has passed). I was petrified to make the lamb, my mom has the cast iron molds but I have memories of her attaching a head with toothpicks when I was small and we haven’t repeated that again. After my aunt called her sister in law who works at wilton, I checked on google and found your 2012 post. I followed all your tips and it worked great! I made a carrot cake lambie set. My carrot cake recipe is from a Pillsbury cookbook (older) called “Winter Classics” and requires a whole can juice and fruit of mandarin orange. The batter made enough to fill a standard lamb, a miniature lamb, and half size of a three dimension egg. All popped out neatly. The molds I used are all cast iron, The egg mold is marked “nordicware”, the large lamb is unmarked, and the baby lamb has a stamp with an A in a circle and says “L102”. I think my mom was shocked that everything came out of the pans so neatly, ears and all intact! I haven’t frosted them yet but they will have a cream cheese frosting. . . .I may take a photo when they’re ready. My boyfriend inspired me to the lamb but thanks for your instructions which have ensured it’s an experience we will repeat. I look forward to trying your recipes for the lamb pan! Zoe from Chicago-ish.
Ruth, Thanks so much for your tips!! I followed your instructions to make the Renalde cake with the vintage bakery birthday cake frosting and both recipes were perfect! (And the 6 cupcakes came in handy for a birthday celebration the next day.) I was a little worried that the frosting might change texture after being stored overnight in the fridge, but I brought it to room temperature and rewhipped and it was fine.) My family declared this the “best lamb cake ever” – I’ll use these recipes again!
I’d like to offer a couple of tips for others who might want to visit the “cake decorating” section of a craft/hobby store: I use the Wilton aluminum pan with Wilton’s “Bake Easy” spray (-no need to flour with this spray!) I’ve always found the biggest challenge to be the lamb’s face: this year I rolled out a small amount of white fondant for the face and pink fondant for the ears and it was sooooo much easier than trying to ice those parts smooth! (Also saved much time as the fondant was pre-coloured.) I found an “edible marker” and that gave me more control to draw the eyes and nose (and eliminated the need for black or brown icing and piping bag.) This year’s lamb was done in record time – I’ll email a photo.
Thanks again for an interesting and very helpful blog!
Marnie in Vancouver, B.C., Canada
P.S. I know the fondant and marker are not vintage, and usually I am much more of a purist with my retro re-enactments…but when company is coming for dinner I want to ensure things turn out 😉