And then I made a couple other cakes, took pictures, and wanted so much to share them with the world. I currently have three other completed blog posts and a plan for a fourth to be finished in the next week, but I felt that I shouldn't, and couldn't, move on without finishing what I started.
So here is the second part of my Easter Lamb Cake story. Three months late, but here, nonetheless. Cheers!
- Used the tried-and-true Wedding Cakes You Can Make white cake recipe
- Greased and floured the pan even more thoroughly than the first time
- Reduced the temperature of the oven from 350F to 300F
- Increased the baking time to 45 minutes (I also had 6 cupcakes in with the cake and cooked the lamb cake about 10 minutes more than the cupcakes)
So, starting out, here's the cute lil feller:
Upon removal from the oven I let the lamb cool completely (while I slept, lol) and ended up with this:
(A quick personal aside: despite having done it a million times now, I still get stressed EVERY time I have to bake a cake. Surely, I think to myself, I am going to screw something up - undercook it, burn it, it will fall apart into pieces, it will taste awful, it will be dry as a bone...and on and on. You would think after successfully making four full wedding cakes and a slew of different celebration cakes I would begin to feel like I know what I'm doing. And for the most part I do feel that way. But at the same time, I have found that cakes are like children - though they may come from the same parent ingredients and you treat them exactly the same, they can sometimes behave completely differently. Luckily I have enough experience now to be able to fix most of the mistakes and I also purposefully allow myself enough time to redo things, should that be required.)
SO...back to the decorating!
First I glazed the lamb's face with a (slightly) thinned white royal icing. I wanted the lamb's face to be smooth and just a tiny bit differentiated from the fluffy 'fur' of the other parts of his body.
Compared to the face, the rest of the lamb was a breeze to coat. I used my go-to frosting - a delicious almond-vanilla buttercream and then covered the lamb in coconut 'fluff.' Its really nice because since the buttercream layer will be covered by coconut, not only does it not have to look perfect, but you can also move it around and shape it somewhat when you are patting the coconut into the lamb's sides.
I also always tint a small amount of coconut green so the lamb has some 'grass' to sit on. Maybe its totally corny, but I love it - its something my mom always did for our lamb cakes growing up and I think it adds just a little bit of whimsy to the cake.
Lamb cake is definitely my favorite Easter Tradition, (other than going to Easter Mass - I just love all the pomp and circumstance and how everyone gets dressed up a little extra for Easter Mass, especially all the little kids in their Easter clothes!) and I can't imagine celebrating Easter without him.
Do you have any special Easter traditions at your house?