Make a Lamb Cake

Lamb cakes are an Easter tradition from Eastern European countries. They have been made for over one hundred years in many places, including in the USA, as the tradition was brought over by immigrants from Europe. A lamb cake consists of a using a mold to create a lamb shape for the cake, followed by decorating that gives the impression of the lamb's wool and features.

Ingredients

  • Cake of choice, such as pound cake, butter cake, lemon or other citrus cake–usually you'd choose a light color but heavy texture of cake (see below for why)
  • Icing sugar/confectioners sugar, white
  • Edible decorative elements (see suggestions in the Steps)

Steps

  1. Assemble the ingredients and supplies needed. The supplies are listed below under "Things You'll Need".
    • See Tips for more information about the lamb cake mold. The traditional mold makes a whole sitting lamb, both sides. However, it is also acceptable to make a flat mold lamb cake; it's just not as realistic, that's all.
  2. Prepare the cake mold. This is very important because if the cake sticks, you will pull something off, like the lamb's head, when trying to unmold it. Spraying with cooking spray is easiest. If using butter or margarine, be sure to get into every nook and cranny of the mold; anything not covered has a potential for sticking.
    • Grease it even if your pan is non-stick! 3-D cakes are different from most cakes and errors are harder to fix.
  3. Make the cake batter of choice. Choose a cake style suitable for the season, such as a cake with buttery, citrus and vanilla overtones. The lamb cake tends to be made with a basic white cake base, but flavoring it is okay too. Choose a cake with a thick texture because this helps to prevent the cake from oozing out of the cake pan, as well as being substantial enough to stay upright once baked. Just avoid darker cakes, like chocolate cake unless you're feeling contrary! Some cake suggestions for lamb cake include:
  4. Pour the cake batter into the lamb mold. Scrape the batter off the sides of the mixing bowl into the mold using a cake spatula. The mold should fill up the lamb's body, head and ears.
  5. Close the mold together tightly if the mold is one that makes a whole lamb. A lamb cake mold may have its own screws or clips to bring it together. If not, use string to tie it together, tightly.
    • According to Taste of Beirut, with the mold that closes, it helps if you place a Q-tip or bamboo skewer on the ears and press down a little, to prevent the ears from falling off after baking.
    • Be aware that some molds work better if the two halves are cooked separately and are then attached using frosting or icing after they have been baked.
    • If you're just using a one-sided lamb mold, it's ready to bake according to the cake instructions.
  6. Place the lamb mold into the preheated oven and bake according to the cake instructions. The best position is middle rack, center of the oven. Also check the mold instructions for any additional requirements in relation to cooking time (if relevant).
  7. Remove the cake once cooked. It is cooked once a skewer inserted into it comes out clean but you can only do this if the mold has left a testing hole, located on the top mold half to avoid batter oozing out.
  8. Place on a wire cooling rack to cool. Leave the mold intact for five minutes before removing.
  9. Unmold the lamb from the mold. Use oven mitts to handle the cake pans and hold the cake when unmolding. It will be very hot. A solid lamb cake takes around three to four hours to completely cool down.
    • If the lamb cake doesn't sit flat, you can trim it to sit flat.
  10. At this stage, you may like to pour a syrup over the cake to enhance the flavor, such as a citrus flavored sugar syrup or a syrup with flower water (such as rose or orange waters). If so, poke little holes here and there in the lamb, to ensure that the syrup sinks in better.

Decorate the lamb

The lamb can be decorated in a number of different ways, depending on your preferences, patience and ability. This section suggests a few ways.

  1. Decorate the lamb's body:
    • Ice or frost the lamb cake. The simplest method for decorating the lamb cake is to simply spread ordinary icing or frosting over the cake.
    • The lamb is usually decorated in white but a brown, black or a black and white lamb could be cool too, although potentially messier to make.
    • Pipe icing decorations on the lamb cake. Use a piping bag to build small peaks aligned regularly across the lamb's body to look like wool. Or make long waves of piped icing. See the images for more ideas.
    • A brown (chocolate) version).
    • Decorate with melted white chocolate. Use your favorite melted white chocolate recipe and pour over the lamb cake. Allow to set and attach decorations using new melted chocolate dabbed on the back of the decorative items.
    • Decorate with marshmallows. Ice as normal but stick marshmallows in a neat pattern across the areas of the lamb where there would be wool.
    • Decorate with coconut. Ice as normal with white icing/frosting and sprinkle desiccated or shredded coconut across the lamb's body.
    • Use piped whipped cream for the wool.
    • Use chocolate curls. Make small chocolate curls from white chocolate. Frost or ice the lamb and attach the white chocolate curls evenly across the lamb's body and head to form wool.
    • Or, if you're feeling inclined toward a more out-there cake, you could skip frosting or icing and just make a zombie lamb cake. Use a red velvet cake mix for this lamb cake.
  2. Add facial features to the lamb. Whatever way you decide to decorate the lamb's body, the lamb will need specially defined facial features. Here are some suggestions:
    • Use candies or candied fruit for eyes, nose and the little inner areas of the ears. Jelly beans, M&Ms, licorice strands, candied angelica, dried apricots, dried cranberries, glazed cherries, etc. are all useful choices.
    • Make fondant or marzipan eyes and nose shapes and attach.
    • Use raisins or currants to make the features.
    • Use food coloring for the features. Take care that it doesn't run everywhere though.
  3. Place a wreath, ribbon or collar with a medallion or cross around the lamb's neck. This can be made from candy such as a twist of shoestring licorice or real plants that are edible, such as a strand of herbs. Or just use fabric or similar ribbon and tie in a neat bow.
  4. Arrange the lamb on a bed of grass. This could be candy grass, sprouts or anything else your imagination comes up with. Candies and small eggs can be arranged around artfully; really, it's whatever takes your fancy to finish off the whole look.
  5. Serve. Guests will love seeing the lamb cake. The real problem tends to be having the heart to start making slices from it!

Tips

  • Lighter molds can be purchased from the cake supplies maker Wilton. Search online for more details.
  • If you own a lamb cake mold, it can be used to make similar looking animals just by using different frosting designs.
  • Lamb cake molds can be found online and in quality cake supplies stores. If you want the most traditional heavy mold, there is one made by Griswold. Look on eBay and similar auction sites for the authentic antique lamb molds made from cast iron. They're likely to be very expensive but since they have heirloom, hand-me-down quality, the spend can be worth it.
  • If you use a heavy vegan cake mix, this can be a lovely addition to the Easter table for a vegan or vegetarian to enjoy.

Warnings

  • Don't add too much batter. Wilton advises no more than five cups of batter with its mold; any more and you might just have it oozing everywhere!
  • Using molds can be tricky, fine work. The ears and head can fall off if proper care is not taken––and even if care is taken! Be prepared to use icing to stick things back in place if need be.

Things You'll Need

  • Mixing bowl and spoon
  • Lamb mold (see "Tips")
  • Non-edible decorative items for around the lamb
  • Ribbon for bow
  • Platter, plate or board for placing the lamb cake on for display
  • Wire cooling rack
  • Skewers
  • Oven mitts

Sources and Citations

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