Lamb Cake for Easter

This lamb cake has many happy memories for my family and me. Each Easter, my husband's Grandma would make this cake, and predictably, each Easter the lamb's head would break off at the neck.

Nothing says Happy Easter like a decapitated lamb cake.

After receiving the honor of inheriting the lamb cake mold, I tried a few recipes with some success. This year, however, I had great success adapting one from AllRecipes.com. There were no problems with the neck, but the size of the ears did not match at all. (You can't really tell by this photo.)

The recipe is basically a butter pound cake. I used a butter cream frosting that I flavored with both vanilla and almond extracts. There was so much leftover frosting that I froze it. My research online says it is okay to do this, so we'll see.

LAMB CAKE

2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites

First, grease and flour your mold, making sure to get all the little areas. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sift the cake flour with the baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk. Stir the batter until smooth after each addition. Add the vanilla.

In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then quickly fold in the remaining whites.

Fill the face side of the mold with batter. Gently, move a wooden spoon through the batter to remove any air pockets, making sure not to disturb the greased and floured surface of the mold. Put the lid on the mold, making sure it locks or ties together securely so that the steam and rising batter do not force the two sections apart. (I tied them together using kitchen twine.)

Put the mold on a cookie sheet in a preheated oven for about 1 hour. Test for doneness by inserting a skewer or wooden toothpick through a steam vent. Put the cake, still in the mold, on a rack for about 15 minutes. CAREFULLY, remove the top of the mold. Before you separate the cake from the bottom let it cool for about 5 more minutes so that all the steam can escape and the cake can firm up some more. After removing the rest of the mold, let the cake cool on the rack completely. DO NOT sit the cake upright until completely cooled.

Frost and decorate to look like a lamb. I put coconut on the lamb after I frosted it. You can also dye some coconut green to look like grass. Cut jelly beans for the eyes and nose. Don't forget to give the lamb a ribbon around her neck!

BUTTER CREAM FROSTING

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
5 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup milk

In a large bowl, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy. Add salt, vanilla, almond extract, confectioners sugar and milk. Beat well.

** 7/17/09 Update. I used the leftover frosting that I had frozen. It tasted just as good as the day I froze it, three months later. **