The way I see it, we need a little spring. As they say, reality is something you rise above, so let’s do that today! Let’s rise above! Get a cup of tea Girlfriends, turn on the MUSICA, put your face close to the screen so even your peripheral vision is enveloped in bloom and enjoy your. . .
It’s spring fever. You don’t quite know what it is you want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so bad. ♥ The Adorable Mark Twain who knew.
Can you smell the fresh ocean air up from the harbor, still cold, filled with flowery scents of spring? Whoosh! The wind blows through the petals. Wrap your sweater a little tighter. Mmmm, we are so lucky. Don’t you just love the internet?!
We can see last year’s weeping cherry trees in full bloom even on a snowy day . . . makes you want it so bad, your heart just aches for it. It’s coming Girlfriends. The waiting is what makes it so wonderful. ♥
Right now we are still having our most delicious dinners of deep dark and delicious homemade Chicken Soup — but today we are looking for COLOR and so it’s time out for . . .
We love to do the chicken dance — here’s my recipe for Carrot Cupcakes which I think you will want to save. SO good, filled with fruit and nuts, lots of shreded carrots, pineapple and coconut. Cream Cheese frosting. The recipe will also make a three-layer cake ~ with so much batter you will have extra cupcakes, enough for your spring-starved girlfriends, chicken hearts and wolfmen too.
We just got in a new batch of these festive easy-to-make kits for darling dancing chicken cupcake toppers in case you’d like one.
And we still have the Cupcake Garlands that Janie made for us. It’s these happy colors I love to see. But you know, I’m on a lamb kick right now.
They are just so darn cute. They baaaa “Spring.”
And here’s my newest concoction. We found perfect old-fashioned Lamb Cake Molds for our web store . . . I made the cake using my Grandma’s homemade Lemon Daisy Cake recipe because it makes a firm cake, almost a pound cake but not quite, a cake that isn’t too crumbly and holds together. But a box cake and frosting will work too and I’m not against anything that makes a lovely smell come from the oven (there’s one boxed white cake I’ve used that has confetti colors in it that I think might be perfect for lamb cake) ~ the directions that come with the pan tell you to make it using less liquid. ~ in case you feel a need for speed. I’ll show you how to make the Lemon Daisy Cake, and I’ll put the full recipe at the end of this post so you can print it out.
So here we go. First tip: Successful unmolding of your cake is paramount. The way to do that (for any molded cake) is this: Melt a couple tablespoons of Crisco and brush it into ever nook and cranny of your mold. The mold should be cool when you do it so the oil will stick.
Also, take the time to flour your pans. Just shake flour over the oil until it sticks everywhere and shake out any extra. Notice we have kitchen twine, toothpicks and wooden skewers? You will need these … as you’ll see later. Put your prepared pan on a cookie sheet with the lamb face down. Preheat your oven to 375º ~ feel your kitchen getting warm and cozier by the minute. Pop an old movie into the player . . . I watched/listened to Gosford Park while I cooked — here’s the MUSICA from it …
This recipe and lamb cake is really so easy! All ingredients should be at room temperature. Two sticks of butter and two cups of sugar go into a large mixing bowl.
Put four roughly measured cups of flour into your sifter and sift three times . . . then measure out 3 cups. You want to measure after sifting. Any extra flour goes back into your container. Put the sifted flour back into the sifter, add one TBSP baking powder and 1/4 tsp. salt and sift again two more times. Use my waxed paper method for sifting unless you have a method you like better.
Allow all petty pets to watch your every move.
Now cream the softened butter and sugar together with an electric mixer . . .
. . . until light colored and fluffy
Then, one at a time, add the yolks of four eggs (save the whites in another bowl), beating well after each.
Once the eggs are incorporated, sift in dry ingredients by thirds alternating with buttermilk ~ little bit of flour, a little bit of milk, repeat~ beat until smooth after each third.
I like the old-fashioned tangy flavor the buttermilk gives this cake, but if you are at home and all you have is regular milk, that will do just fine.
Stir in the grated rind of two lemons . . . so easy to do with the wonderful Microplane Graters (← let me demonstrate!) . . . Miracle things no kitchen should be without. Like little razor blades for fast easy no-more-knuckle-in-the-food cooking.
Beat your reserved egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the cake, and voila, Daisy Cake batter is done.
Fill the face side of your mold (you’ll be able to tell which side to fill because the other side has a tiny steam-hole in it). Big tip #2: Head-falling-off can occur, it’s a possibility you will want to avoid from the get go. Because if it does, you’ll try to glue it back on with frosting. Which puts a wide messy crumbly lump around the lamb’s neck. While you’re busy sticking the head back on, the ears fall off. It’s terrible. I’ve made that mistake, but no more. Now I am stick woman. Toothpicks for the ears and wooden skewers for the neck.
Then I tie the mold together with kitchen string, just in case. If, for some reason the batter tries escape out the sides, I’m ready. We want a perfectly molded little lamb here, on the first try. Pop the cake in the oven an let it fill your toasty kitchen with fragrance of lemon-baking heaven.
Set your timer for 55 minutes and take a look outside and see what’s going on.
There’s bound to be something.
After the cake comes out and is cooling, you can pull out your Summer Book and find my recipe for Old-Fashioned Boiled Frosting on p. 109. But just in case you don’t have that book, here’s the recipe . . .
This is another easy recipe that’s like science magic. You need a candy thermometer like you see here. I have it hooked on the side of a small heavy-bottomed pan that already has a third-cup of water in it . . . I’m adding a cup of sugar.
Then 1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar and a pinch of salt gets stirred in ~ put the pan over high heat and boil without stirring until mixture reaches 240°.
While that’s going on, beat two egg whites until stiff.
When the sugar liquid is hot enough, pour it in a thin stream into your egg whites beating all the while, and watch it get thick, white and fluffy . . .
Just like this! Look at that! You are a genius!
When the buzzer goes off, Ta-Daaa your lamb cake is done. Pull it out of the oven, and now is where your patience must never come to an end. You have to wait until he is totally cool before you set him up to frost. You can cut the string, take off the top part of the mold, let him sit like that a while. Put the mold piece back on, turn it over, and do the same thing. Until he is completely cool.
Meanwhile you’ll have made your frosting . . . swipe the middle of your cake platter with a wide swath of frosting so the lamb has something to anchor him in standing position.
This is what we’ve waited for. He’s up! He came right out of the pan with no help. Look at him! He’s perfect. I didn’t have to do a thing but turn the pan into my hand and set him into the frosting smear. But then, how to frost him was my next question. I wanted to see if I could come up with something a little bit different than the way I usually did it (with raisin nose and chocolate chip eyes), make him more real. I needed inspiration and I knew just where to get it.
I pulled out the little book we bought in a bookstore in Ambleside in England filled with lamb pictures, all the different breeds.
I thumbed through it and chose this guy. That’s what I wanted my lamb to look like. Within reason.
So I started applying the frosting. I couldn’t hold the camera and frost at the same time, but there is no real trick in the frosting ~ it all goes pretty easily. For the corners like under his chin or around the ears, just put a good lump of frosting on the very end of your spatula or wide knife and plunk it right where you want it, spreading from there. You can wipe off the plate with a damp paper towel when you are finished.
Hello just-born lamb. Of course Lemon cake and coconut go together perfectly, and lambs need wool, so here is. If you press the coconut in a little bit, it keeps him from looking too hairy.
Just as sweet from the back. In the past I’ve decorated the plate with green-tinted coconut (like Easter grass) and jelly beans, and egg-shaped frosted cookies . . . but I was taking this cake to friends for dinner and it isn’t Easter quite yet, so I decided to leave it plain and my version of homemade-elegant.
So darling, always the cutest thing on the table at any party. (Just pulled out my lamb vase too — almost time to fill him with forsythia cuttings! I collected a few more lamb vases when I could find them on our cross-country trip in case you “need” one too . . .)
I wrapped him up, lamb cake-to-go-go. So that’s about it. I hope you enjoyed our springtime retreat and are all inspired to make a lamb cake of your own. And if so, you might need a lamb pan, and that is what I can help with.
Because I washed my lamb cake mold, dried it and tied it with a ribbon, and here it is, all freshly imbued with successful lamb-cake baking DNA ~ and I hope you will leave me a comment at the bottom of this post, because if you do, you will be entered in my drawing, and he can be your very own. In the next few days, our darling girl Vanna will pull one of your names out of her Easter Bonnet (the one with all the frills), and one of you will be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade. Or, at least you will have a new, slightly used, lamb cake mold. ♥
Now one other thing I wanted to ask you. Do you have this book? Because if you do, you will know how inspiring it is. I found this one years ago in a used bookstore and have loved it ever since. It’s my go-to, never-gets-old classic; a small, 
inviting garden book, where every word is a pearl. Planning a garden takes a little time, and this book will help you get in the mood. You feel as you should when you read it, as part of the earth, part of the ebb and flow of the seasons and the ancient practices of sowing and reaping from the precious green earth that God has given us. You can smell the warm dirt, taste the crisp, still-warm-from-the garden organic vegetables, hear the bees buzzing in the rosemary. That’s how you feel when you read this little book. ♥
The charm doesn’t end with the wonderful words of Mary Mason Campbell, it continues with darling drawings by Tasha Tudor. Kitchen Gardens was published in 1971 and describes the art of gardening as the simple and wonderful thing that it is.
And this book is for you too. I have two, and you get one. I signed it and when I find out the name of the winner, I will put their name in this lovely old book and off they will go, Lamb Cake pan and Kitchen Gardens, hopefully to make someone’s day. I have to say, you deserve to win after reading all this! It’s getting long — I’m so sorry!
And now, one last thing, just so you can see ~ this is where we were going for dinner the night I made the lamb cake . . . Isn’t it pure fairy tale? Our friends Arnie and Paula live here. When I see visions such as this, I think maybe winter’s not really that bad! Here’s your recipe:
LEMON DAISY LAMB CAKE
You will need melted Crisco and flour to prepare mold, plus two wooden skewers and two toothpicks for lamb.
- 2 sticks butter (1 c.), room temp.
- 2 c. sugar
- 3 c. sifted cake flour
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 4 eggs, separated, room temp.
- 1 c. buttermilk
- zest of two lemons
Grater, in case you need one . . .
Preheat oven to 375°. Paint the inside of your mold with melted Crisco, sprinkle with flour and shake out extra. Cream softened butter and sugar together with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Measure your dry ingredients: sift approx. 3 c. flour three times before measuring out three cups and putting them back into the sifter (any extra flour just goes back into your container) ~ add baking powder and salt to sifter with flour in it and sift two more times. Set aside.
Add egg yolks, one at a time, to butter-sugar mixture; beat well after each ~ put the egg whites in another bowl.
Sift in flour mixture by thirds, alternating with buttermilk, beating until smooth after each addition. Stir in lemon zest. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter.
Fill face part of lamb mold (the side that doesn’t have the hole in it) full and put it on a cookie sheet. Lay toothpicks in centers of lamb ears, put clipped wooden skewers or a popsicle stick in center of neck down to body for support. Press them down slightly into batter. Put on the top of the mold and tie it together with string. Put the cookie sheet with the lamb cake into preheated oven and bake 55 minutes. Remove from oven, cut string, allow lamb to cool 15 min; remove top, cool longer, turn it over, remove other side of mold, allow it to cool competely before frosting.
You will have extra batter — enough for one 8″ single layer cake, or several cupcakes. With my extra batter, I made a bunny cake… with a vintage bunny cake mold I found somewhere on my travels. Lambies and chickies and bunnies . . . oh my!
CLASSIC OLD-FASHIONED BOILED FROSTING
You will need a candy thermometer for this. Pour 1/3 c. water into a small, heavy-bottomed sauce pan, then stir in 1 c. sugar, 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar and a pinch of salt. Hook the thermometer on the side of the pan making sure the tip of it is in the mixture. Boil until the mixture reaches 240°. Meanwhile beat 2 egg whites until stiff. Pour the 240° syrup over the whites in a thin stream, beating constantly until thick and glossy. Lay a wide strip of frosting down the middle of an oval serving plate. Tip the lamb cake out of the pan into your hand and set it in the strip of frosting to anchor it. Frost the lamb; pat and sprinkle coconut onto sides. Press coconut in slightly to keep the lamb from looking too hairy. Voila, he is done, and you are amazing! Happy Spring Girlfriends! I think I have delighted you (in the immortal words of Jane Austen) long enough! ♥
Just when the winter blues are setting in, (I’m in snowy New Hampshire) along comes your cheerful email blog with beautiful pictures, music and a delightful recipe. Thanks for being you! I love you Susan! Cheers, Tina
The Mark Twain quote about aching for Spring is so true!!! 🙂
What a darling cake! And how festive the mold is with the ribbon 🙂 Makes me feel hopeful that Spring is on the way!
Thank you so much for another enchanting post. You make me smile EVERY TIME I get an email from you! I love the lamb cake mold. I’ve never used a mold before, and you make me want to give it a try. I have a new grandson, and I bet some day he would love to have a lambie cake!
good morning Susan, hello Girlfriends… had a furry little surprise this morning, guess who we found on our doorstep early this morning??? Furby!!! she has come home. somehow, some way she found her way back to our doorstep and we found her there. I thought we gave her to a good home, but I guess something happened as she is here and is a mess. I already gave her a bath and grooming, she has been fed and is curled up in Ed’s chair by the fire grooming her fur and settling in for a nap. I can’t get hold of the people who adopted her, their phone has been disconnected so I have a funny feeling they left Furby there all on her own and took off. well if they come looking for her, they aren’t getting her back, Furby has found her forever home with us and here she will stay. I figure some good food, lots of love and TLC, she will be all right again, she has been seen by the vet, he came over here to see her and look her over and she is fine. other than being tired from finding her way here she is fine. so we have our Furby back and she is here to stay. she goes out to play with the barn cats and do her chicken and mouse patrol and comes in for naps and the night and sleeps in Ed’s chair by the fire. life is good, we have our Furby back, new peeps coming in and we are hopeful for a busy barnyard this spring and summer. and we have our best mouser on the job, what a morning!! well off to feed the flock and put the straw down for the new arrivals, we pick them up tomorrow and I want the nursery ready and warm and cozy for them when they get here. yes I am as fussy as a mother hen…. cluck cluck!!!! have a great day everyone. hugs…… 🙂
well life just got even better, my spoon jar arrived from Salmon Falls stoneware, it looks just like the one my cats broke a couple of weeks back. my spoons are already in it and its proudly displayed on the counter by the stove, and life is good. Midnight is yowling for someone to play with, Furby is waking up from her nap and stretching and the rest of the cats are enjoying Kitty Tv ( new fish tank in the house). and the nursery is finally ready for its new arrivals tomorrow. spring is not far away now. have a great day everyone. hugs…… 🙂
Ah, so sweet Pat.
I love this post so much! I did just what you suggested – I grabbed a fresh cuppa (Jasmine Green) and stuck my face close to the monitor to block out my view of winter!
We are hosting Easter this year and my daughters would love the lamb cake! If I don’t win, I am going to scour the internet for my very own!
Thank you!
Sara
no sign of spring yet in Minnesota. We just got hit with another snow storm last night, but my husband and I are going to beat the winter blues today by planting our impatiens for our window box. The smell of wet dirt will help on this cold icy day. I love the lamb cake mold. What a lovely gift it would be!
Delightful blog post, as ALWAYS, Susan! I can just see this little lamb in my kitchen being made for two little grandson’s Easter in Missouri! Of course, that part is only in my dreams–how could I possibly transport him from CO to MO even with those creative toothpick ‘beams’ holding his little neck on tight??? And that book? Oh, Susan, your blogs simply feel me with delight and make me think there really is a SANTA CLAUS or EASTER BUNNY–you add so much pure joy to the world! THANK YOU!
Thank-you for the glimpse of spring you gave us today. It has been a long,cold, snowy winter here in Mass. Loved the lamb cake and mold. A thousand thanks for making days more delightful with each blog post!!!!
Susan, I love the lamb cake. My Aunt Louise made one for my very first birthday. I have the a picture of it still. When she passed away, I received some of her cake pans and the lamb was one of them. Since I’m 55, the pan and I have now both achieved antique status!
Please keep sending the snow pictures. It helps me to remember that it is February and winter (I miss winter). We are still praying for rain, rain, rain! The weather has been so nice that the trees in my front yard are blooming like it’s April. Crazy but beautiful! =^..^=
Oh heck no! You’re still vintage -grin-.
Always wonderful inspiration!
That is the sweetest cake ever!!! Beautiful. 🙂
Discovered your blog after reading A Fine Romance. Already had your Summer book and am waiting anxiously for several more books to arrive via the postman.
Born and raised in Massachusetts so I am a New Englander in my heart even though I am now living in Florida and North Carolina, I travel back when ever I can. Usually make the trip once a year. Your blog and your books just warm my heart. I just loved the lamb cake. It is so adorable. I have enjoyed making several of your recipes,total delishciousness!
You make my heart sing with your lovely photos and quotes.
Thanks for the inspiration. Can’t wait for the next blog 🙂
Hi Susan,
Love that lamb! gets me in Spring mood. Now I’m gonna make a birthdaycake for my little girl who is 6 years old tomorrow. I’ve made cupcakes too, then some slingers(garlands/birthday streamers) to put on, and we’re having a party tomorrow!
Lots of love from Holland!
xoxox Willemien
Willemien, I just wanted to say hello to you in Holland. Please tell your little girl “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” from Annette in Washington State. It sounds like you have a wonderful day planned. I hope you all have a splendid time!
Thank you Annette! It was a perfect day, she enjoyed the candles on the cake and ofcourse the presents!
Love from Willemien
Oh goodness, the nostalgia! One of my fondest Easter memories from growing up was the darling lamb cake that my Granny used to make. She always used jelly beans for eyes and nose, and he was the most darling cake in the world! I have been wanting to start this tradition for my daughter as well (she’s 2 and LOVES “Feep” aka sheep), thank you for including your recipe here!
Note to Blog Daddy….975 girlfriends can’t be wrong can they Jack. He knows what I’m saying that I’m saying. Don’t you EVER let anybody make you feel bad, Susie Girl. Now….I feel better. Don’t need a prize…you are the prize.
My cats perked up when they heard the MUSICA accompanying your post.I have a lamb pan and can’t wait to try this lemon cake. Should I win I would give this pan to a most beloved sister. What a wonderful little book.Smile…
Thank you Susan for your perk-me-up post.
Thank you so much for the beautiful spring photos. Also, love your friends cottage that you went to for dinner. The photo reminds me of the house in England in the movie “The Holiday”. The lamb pan is adorable and the book looks awesome. Thanks for the chance at a wonderful give-away. Spring is exactly one month from today, Friday, March 21. Can’t wait. : )
Your blog was once again heart warming. The lamb cake could not be any cuter. My Grandmother had the same sifter as you. It brought back many wonderful memories of she and I in the kitchen.
Lambs and spring just go together don’t they?
I was looking at the first picture when you were making the icing and I thought what did she put in there? Nothing yet, it was your festive bowl!
Oh my! Love that bowl.
And I have a question, I just drool when you show pictures of your bird feeders outside your kitchen(?) windows… how far are they from your house?
Do the birds make a mess around your house with them that close?
I have a porch area outside my kitchen windows and yours have so inspired me to put some outside of that area… thanks!
We have bushes under the kitchen windows and the feeders are right at the edge of them, bordering the driveway. They are about three feet from the windows. They are worth any mess made, which really isn’t much, a gathering of seed shells and also they can sometimes sprout. But they’re easy to clean away and the joy the birds bring make that not a problem at all. Hang them beyond the porch, because they would make a mess on a porch. (Not bird poop, as they say in the vernacular, that’s never a problem, it’s seeds.)
Thanks so much for letting me know. I am trying to figure out how to do this so I can see the feeders from my kitchen window. I could put them in the trees out in the yard but they are too far away and I want them closer.
I have my hummingbird feeder hanging from my porch and I have a hummer out there, yes, she is here in winter. I lose her for about three months from early November to January. This year she didn’t make it back until mid February. I think it was the weather. I named her Jasmine.
I so enjoy her at the window in the mornings at the feeder in winter. They are called vagrant hummingbirds here on the coast of NC in the winter. I am one of the few blessed to have one in winter. A winter miracle is what I call Jasmine!
I can deal with the seeds… thanks again for the info!
Spring Fever momentum is building for a big burst with the weekly wintry waves we have had this very big winter. Tasha Tudor is a long-time favorite; I have several of her books that I savor again and again–but not the one you have for the drawing. As a gardener, what a double treat to be the lucky winner it would indeed be!
I love the lamb cake so cute. My Dad use to raise sheep on our farm where I grew up in Illinois. We had a pet lamb that we fed as kids. Love your artwork.
What a delightful read on a cold English day. Your cake is perfect and I know the little shop in Ambleside that sells the books – just around the corner from the Apple Pie shop. Thank you for sharing your skills, pictures and words. Delightful.
xxx
Oh, what a fresh and breezy post, filled with spring fever prescriptions! I really love the way you made the lamb cake’s face – so charming! The flower photos are so cheery. Our snow is melting away today, so it’s nice to catch a glimpse of sunny springtime.
The lamb is ADORABLE! And I would really love that book, dear Vanna. Sigh! I’m so excited to try the recipe, I love anything lemon. I really enjoyed the Spring reminders. 🙂
Love the cake! When my kids were wee, we watched a ewe give birth to triplets in the paddock next to our house. The mum rejected the littlest lamb and my kids begged me to bring her in the house. She was a tiny wee black thing and we named her Lucky because she was! We took turns to get up in the night every 2 hours for weeks to bottle feed her.A month later a farmer friend gave me a white singleton whose Mum had died and we called her Lucy. He said ” Lucky needs a pal” and when we brought her home, in my arms , in the back seat of our car she was twice the size of Lucky. Guess who was the boss though – our little black firebrand! We had both lambs for years and they lived in the paddock. My son Tom used to play ball with Lucky , he would throw and she would head it back to him. Lucky had no clue she was a sheep and I was most definitely her Mumma. They were neighbourhood celebrities. Then in 2001 Foot and Mouth disease hit the UK. The rule was if you were within 3 miles of an infected farm, your animals had to be destroyed. On the very last week , a farm in that radius became infected and despite our precious lambs never having been in contact with any other animals, they were ordered to be destroyed. I appealed to the highest level of Government, but they sent an army truck , with armed soldiers , and said if I did not allow the vet to inject them, they would be shot. My kids were 10 and 7. So our family and friends gathered and amid many tears, including from the young Australian vet who said ” this is not why I became a vet’ , they were put to death – our beloved Lucky and Lucy and taken away by soldiers to be burned in the vast bonfires that dotted our landscape.
So, it would be lovely even 13 years later to bake a lamb cake as a surprise for my husband and now grown kids and to toast two remarkable beings , with whom I was honoured to share my life and who taught my kids and me that sometimes we love with all our hearts for a season and then we have to let go.
Makes me crazy. Hideous story and terrible thing to happen to such a wonderful country and beautiful landscape. Must have been the saddest time in the world. I would imagine and pray and hope that this horrible thing changed the face of England forever and forced some regulation on the food industry. Regulation seems like a dirty word in our politics these days, but I will always think that people need to be protected against the desire for more more more money. I noticed when we were there that almost every pub we went to, if not all, had organic food on the menu which was one more reason I loved it there so much. Heartbreaking story. I’m sure your children will grow up and try to save the world. Hug them for me. xoxo
Hi Susan
Thanks for replying! My kids are all grown now and are making their way in the world. It was a very sad time for everyone in the UK. People are much more interested now in traceability of meat.
Thanks for the hugs!
Susan x
Beautiful, Susan!
We were all set for Spring yesterday, and then the snow returned overnight. But it was the warm wet type so the children had fun making a snowman, something that is impossible to do in our cold snow most of the Winter… if you see what I mean!! I am going to hunt out a few Hazel twigs tomorrow to bring indoors and force. Its too early for much else here.
Oooh what Spring delight to take away the Winter doldrums! Your Lambie cake is just as adorable as promised.
I love Tasha Tudor- I have ever since she illustrated “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I re-read it in a ritual Spring revival every year along with “The Enchanted April”, “Dandelion Wine” and “The Blue Castle”, they do balm the spirit after a long Winter- kind of like little green things pushing up from the frozen earth.
The cupcake toppers are charming too! Coming over to read your posts is like a tonic to the soul. 🙂
xxxooooxxx
Love that cake…that mold…the coconut…and the lovely cake recipe!!
I could just imagine baking a cake with my little granddaughter, Eden. How delighted she would be with a little lamb cake! You have such wonderful ideas, Susan.
Thank you!
OMGosh is there room for one more comment?
My mother use to make that same cake every Easter, I wonder where that cake mold is now?
I like your icing recipe
You have inspired me to make a cake LOL
Dear Susan,
Your blog is like the old Calgon Bath Crystal commercial……………it “takes me away” to a sweet and restoring place………it feeds me soul as it were. I’ve just recently discovered it and have gone back through most all of the blogs of the last few years and savored each one. Thank you, thank you!!
Our sweet daughter had a lambie pie stuffed animal when she was little……..oh how she carried that little lamb with her for many months.
I’d love to win the lamb cake pan and especially the book………Tasha is one of my favorites!!
Beautiful reminder- and out west we aren’t buried in snow any longer, but just incredibly gray!
The lamb cake is sweet- what a treat to be able to make one!
Hi Susan~
I found your website after reading the article about you in Yankee Magazine. It has been such a delight to read through a few entries every day during this cold snowy winter. I especially enjoy your recipes and would love to make a lamb cake!
Oh Susan this cake is the cutest thing ever, as a little girl I remember one of my favorite songs played on a little record player, it was a 45 record, and the song was lamsy dotes and doesy dotes and little lamsy divey. I’m sure this is not the exact words but that is how I heard it. And the book oh how I would love this I’m constantly trying to grow herbs on my window seal. I dream of gardening which helps me to focus on something pleasant when falling asleep!
Thanks again Susan for being you!
That’s how it sounds — it was one of the songs my mom would sing around the house when we were kids. What was fun was when we finally figured out what the real words were … Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy! I love how you spelled it!
Hello, all, from North Carolina, where last week’s ice and snow could not keep my sunny daffodils from blooming today! We are impatiently waiting to celebrate our family’s first spring in our new home and a lamb cake would be a wonderful addition to our table. A vegetable garden would make a nice addition to our small backyard too. Thanks again, Susan, for a peaceful scene in your blog.
Oh, Yes…………Springtime please hurry!! Flowers on trees and buzzing bees sound delightful about now! Blessings to you, Susan.
I love and collect lambs too! And Tasha Tudor is completely wonderful. Happy Spring to us all!
Spring beautiful SPring…you are almost here!!!! I love this posting, Susan..everything about it….Look at the number of comments..as of right now Friday at 2:30 Pacific time…youhave 1000 comments!!! Your circle of girlfriends is growing so fast!!! Isn’t beyond wonderful..See what you created!! not only art work, the written word and inviting us into YOUR world, but connecting so many people together in a super community of friendships…Thank you…I am looking towards the sun for it to arrive soon!!!
Happiest Spring yet!!!
Aren’t we lucky to have the Internet? It’s been amazing … love it so much!
hello susan…did you know that if you look at your little lamb figurine right above his back leg on his hip you will see a little lamb face…a nice surprise…happy spring
I loved the cake! You did a marvelous job and it came out as perfect as can be!
I love the little lamb cake you made…it’s adorable! I’m ready for Spring too. I can’t wait to get out and work in my little flower bed and see the first blooms. I do love the Season’s though and am always ready when one turns to the other. Happy Early Spring!
What an adorable lamb cake! It reminds me of my mother and older sister making a large egg-shaped cake for Easter when I was little.The mold had two parts and was very tricky assembling with frosting the middle. Yours looks perfect. The lamb mold and cookbook make us all think of Easter and the great things to make. The spring pictures were lovely to see on this very rainy day!
Thanks!
Such a delightful spring post, although I didn’t have tea, I had very good Scotch. The lamb cake is cute as can be and bet tasty as well. Earlier this week I said goodbye to 3 of my very old sheep, the oldest being Carly Shetland, who was 20 and so dear. Spring should hasten along, it’s been greatly missed.
The little lamb cake mold is just too cute for words!! I love how you give us step-by-step instructions for your recipes – it makes me feel that we are baking together! How fun would that be? Thanks again for sharing your “Wonderful World” with all of us. Happy Spring (soon)!!
I can’t wait for spring and planning for our Easter lunch! The sweet lamb cake would be the bomb!
What a lovely post! Yesterday was my 62nd birthday and it was an unexpected treat. My exhusband’s uncle’s aunt was Betty Crocker in the 1930s and 1940s. Love anything Tasha Tutor and was an avid gardener. Used to watch Victory Garden on PBS back in the eighties. What fun it would be to read that book!!:-)
Love the lemon cake recipe and the adorable lambie pan! I bought my now 8 year old granddaughter a lamb “rocking horse” when she was a baby. She loved it then and it is still in her room now. Hope it becomes a family heirloom… Would love
to make the lamb cake for her!!:-)
Here in SoCal, we’ve skipped over both Winter and Spring and are well into Summer it seems, so your Spring blossoms were most appreciated! And I’d love to have the Lamb cake pan for Easter this year and the book for the garden I’m planning — I love anything featuring Tasha Tudor. You’re so generous with us, thanks for sharing!
So delightful. Have a dear friend that I would love to share the pan and book with, please Vanna.
I so needed this beautiful touch of spring you have given us!!! 🙂
Little Lambie Cake is adorable!!!!!!
I absolutely love the lamb cake! What a wonderful way to celebrate spring when it arrives! 🙂
I love the cake! Spring time is my most favorite!
Love both the book and the lamb mold!! Could use a dose of spring too!
That is the cutest cake I have ever seen! Would love to make one too!!!
Thank you for bringing a bit of spring into this loooong winter! Love the lamb cake and the recipe sounds yummy!
This is one of the cutest cakes I’ve ever seen! And can’t wait for Spring. We got married on March 21st (many years ago), to celebrate new beginnings! Such a lovely recipe, pan, and post!!! 🙂
Oh, this is simply just darling! Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe and sweet little lamb, Susan! 🙂
When I was a little girl my next-door neighbor baked her little girl a lamb cake for her birthday every year. I loved that cutesy looking cake! I’d love to win the lamb cake mold so I can make this cake for my granddaughter, Annabelle.
Oh…oh..oh…i was born on Easter Sunday at the end of march which goes in like a lion and out like a lamb….i hope…i hope…id love that to be my birthday cake.
Really enjoy reading your blog. The lamb cake is so cute and as a gardener that book looks like an enjoyable read. Thanks for offering a give away. How fun is that!!!
I always feel we are talking over tea when I read your posts!
Nothing, nothing, nothing says springtime like lemon and coconut, and the combination of the two together- be still my beating heart! Can’t wait to try this. Thanks for sharing the recipe, and that sweet lamb mold. 🙂
Oh how I love sheep and lambs! Being a knitter I think it all goes hand in hand with the love of yarn! We are beyond ready for spring and hope our daffodils won’t get zapped by snow anymore this year.
Love the lamb cake … I’m not sure I would get the same results !
Susan,
I have been a fan for many years (I still have “Willard” letters that I received in the mail). I feel that you are a friend, we have so much in common, and look forward to your books, letters and blogs.
Thanks,
Patti
Oh, that lamb mold would be perfect to make a cake with for my spinning group! The planting book would also be wonderful to have to plan my raised beds with this year! This would so brighten my days as we await spring up here in Maine!
Love hand-me-down, used lamb cake pans and heirloom cookbooks! Thank you for sharing.
Cute!! Cute!! Cute!!
I so long for spring. The lamb cake is adorable. I will be making lemon meringue pie soon to remind me that spring is next! What a happy thought!
Thank you for always being a harbinger of happy delights.
From a fellow New Englander (CT)
Warmly,
Heather Lagace
I definitely will be trying this.
I just love seeing this lamb cake recipe! For starters it reminds me that spring is around the corner. We in the midwest, as in many other parts of our country, have been socked with the “winteryist” of weather. And my mother and grandmother and her mother were huge lamb bakers at Easter so I cannot wait to compare the two recipes. We would dress up pre made platters (card board boxes cut to the size of the lamb and wrapped tightly with aluminum foil and then mound up green-dyed-with-food coloring coconut and place the lamb on top a mound of it. Then we would add some jelly beans, Fannie May wrapped eggs and anything else that would brighten the platter. And we always had a festive spring ribbon tied with a bow around the lamb’s neck. This ribbon even held a small bell charm that my mom used to really give it a fun finish. I’m going to hunt around for that bell! Can’t wait for spring and to make this one!
Hi Susan:
They say that “God is in the details ….” and I love the little details you do in your books, your baking, your tea parties, and in your loving. I love that you share that with us!
So delightful, thank you! Have always loved lambies, and still call my now 22 year old DD “Lambie” as an endearment. And the cake recipe sounds luscious!
I enjoy reading your blog and also I have your cookbooks that I bought it years ago. I moved around many times even I took my books with me everywhere. Finally I bought me 1972 mobile home…. But sadly, my stove is not working due old age. I have to save a couple of dollars to buy me a new stove ( no stove almost one year!). I’m so itching to use your cookbook to cook!!! Love your lamb cake pan and your book looks interesting to read! Have a wonderful weekend!!!
It was so nice to see all of these springtime photos since we’re still buried deep in snow here in Michigan.
Spring and gardens…let the magic begin!
What a wonderful pan! When I was little, my grandmother always had a lamb shaped butter at the Easter table. The book is also beautiful. Love Tasha Tudor’s illustrations!
You’re so inspiring! Thank you!
Lambs are my favorite! I’ve always wanted to try making a lamb cake!
Susan:
The lamb cake is just too cute! I don’t know if I would be able to eat it after I made it!! I can’t wait to try the boiled frosting, it sounds and looks delicious. Thanks for sharing all your snow pictures–everything looks so beautiful. I am sure you are ready for Spring though.
Thanks again for another most enjoyable blog.
Suzy
I love, love, love the lamb cake and the kitchen garden cookbook! It would be so special to win this wonderful giveaway.
scrolling through this post I came to the drawing of the corgi on the porch, I was so overcome with sadness realizing that my beloved corgi aolwin who past away in November, will not be with me this spring, tasha Tudor was my inspiration for wanting my very own corgi, and I was gifted with this beautiful soul on my birthday 11 years ago by my daughter heidi. when I saw your post I really felt my little girl was sending me a message that she is still with me! thank you for this post.
I hope you soon get a new puppy, some little guy is waiting out there for you. xoxo
Blessed…you are ;D Amen to that! Miracles do happen so if I have the glorious privilege of winning that sweet lamb and book I will also blessed!
Thank you for even being so generous ;D
Love,
Margeaux
Every Easter my grandma would bake & decorate a lamb cake! Oh what great memories you have reminded me of Susan!! I remember all of us grandchildren rushing to the table to look at the little lamb. 🙂
Your lamb cake was almost too cute to eat (almost!). My granddaughters are temporarily living with me (long story) and I would love love to make them this cake for Easter… How wonderful that would be. Love your blog and stories and book. 🙂
Nana had a mold like this and used it every Easter. There are many happy memories of Easter’s past. It also reminds me of when my brother was young and my Mother used to call him Lambie. When she went in to tuck him in at night, he would pull his blankets up and she would always ask, “where’s Lambie?” He would hide and laugh. Thank you for the happy memories.
I am now the hostess of Easter and Thanksgiving. This would make a lovely centerpiece/ dessert this Easter. Please add my name to Vanna’s bonnet.
Hi Susan! It is Jill from Missouri, met you at Rainy Day Books and gave you a teacup bracelet. Always love your posts. I have made your carrot cake before, absolutely delicious. The lamb is precious and I don’t have any shaped cake pans! Thanks for offering a giveaway, this is the first I have ever entered. Thanks for sharing!
Love my bracelet Jill — that was so thoughtful of you to bring along for me!
Love your cake, the lesson, and your blog!
Ahhh. Spring flowers and fluffy lambs. How much we need to see these visions of hope. Hope for warmer days, no snow, animal babies and things growing. Thank you, thank you!
Loved the Lamb cake!
What an adorable cake! And here I’m trying to lose some weight I gained at Christmas… awfully difficult with such yummy recipes! 🙂
Love reading your blog AND your book, A Fine Romance. My pear tree gets confused easily and is now in full bloom. I feed the deer in our neighborhood every morning and evening and they always stop by the pear tree and check out it’s progress!
~Sandi~
1000 comments!!! WOW!
Wowzers! Comments for days! Yes, sir’ee. ma’am – I would love that adorable lambie pie cake mold and the Gardening book from 1971.
What a delightful blog post – I will definitely make that lemon cake in the very near future!
Thank you and keep believing that it is Spring in the East Coast~
Cheers!
Well, I see I’m not the only one who loves your lamb cake, mold and Tasha Tudor! I’m not familiar with Mary Mason Campbell, but would like to get to know her through her book. I think most of us are extra ready for the upcoming season. Thanks for helping us look forward to the promise of spring!
I love your blog, I am so ready for spring! Thanks for sharing. I would love to win the lamb cake mold! I really want to make it just like you did. Thanks for always inspiring me! Janet
My father-in-law, who now has Alzheimer’s, sheared sheep for most of his life. After seeing this darling cake, I decided to make him a lamb cake for his birthday next month. Thank you for the inspiration!
Sweet!
Very inspiring – the lamb cake! Makes me want to make one and get ready for Easter!
Would love to win the Kitchen Gardens book. It seems so much like yours. I love the illustrations. Here’s to hoping that I win.