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! ♥
Thank you for the glimpse of Spring! I’m so ready for warmer weather and flowers and green. I would love to have the lamb cake mold and the Tasha Tudor book! That cooked frosting brought back sweet childhood memories of my mother making that boiled frosting and beating the eggs with an egg beater (remember those?) and instructing me to very carefully pour the syrup in a steady stream while she continued beating. It was the very best frosting in the world. She also used it on her coconut cake, with coconut in the batter as well as coating the frosting. xoxoxo Sherry
You are such an inspiration Susan! Our Winter has been one of the longest and hardest I can remember in my 53+ yrs. on earth. The lamb cake pan and book look like a kiss of Spring!
Love it! Thanks for all your great ideas!
1000 comments!!!!! Oh well, I’m going for it. So I’m 1001. I don’t care. After the week I’ve had I’ll just take my chances. This was a beautiful post and I love that lamb cake. But, I love everything you do. Have a great weekend.
I’m always looking for new garden books to read, and this looks like a good one. and I love the little lamb cake!
Thanks for inspiring me to enjoy my life, if I don’t win, I will still enjoy LIFE. What a gift each day is! Finished reading one of Gladys Taber’s books. I love the quote that says something like “This day is special, it will never come again.”
Thanks for your happy blog, it always brightens my day.
My grandsons would think I was the coolest Nana EVER if I made this cake for Easter!!!
Hi Susan. Long time fan of yours! I am so glad I found you on Facebook and found your blog. Love reading about the lamb cake. My Mom had one and the head would fall off but we didn’t mind because the cake was so yummy! I will have to try your Lemon Daisy Cake. What a great give away with the cake mold and the terrific book!
I would love the lamby cake pan-my Grandma Grace had one and always made the Easter cake with coconut. We lost Grandma about 25 years ago. Believe it or not I was sitting at her service when I realized I was pregnant with my first baby Charlotte. We got home that night, took a test and BAM! That is a true story! Anyway, I have no idea where that cake pan went, but every time I see a lamb cake I am back in Grandma’s kitchen sneaking jelly beans and slivers of coconut from that sweet cake on the table! Thanks Susan for the memory tonight!
So cute and looks yummy , will have to try , guess i can make regular cake with recipe , if you dont have the lamb mold, I made your orange lavender polenta cake recently, soooo good , but loved it even more when i made it with lemons, found whole foods , carries the almond flower and other other ingredients needed. Your cake puts me in the mood to bake something. Thanks for sharing
Both look wonderful! I had not heard of this book.
The lamb cake mold brought back memories of eating one years ago, but I don’t remember who made it. I loved the pictures and step-by-step instructions. It sounds yummy! Spring seems far away here in Montana, with snow and cold forecasted for the next several days.
Your give aways are so thoughtful and unique. Anticipation!
Thank you Susan. That is just too cute! It looks delicious!
Happy~ what a lovely post!! thanks for the chance to win these treasures!!
I would love a lamb and book thanks for sharing. Love the tip about the skewers and toothpicks.
Ahhh, what is Spring? As I peer thru my frosted windows we have mountains of snow that range anywhere from six to nine feet. Talk about putting a garden to sleep! It’s going to take a heck of a lot of heat to melt these icebergs. But I am a true optimist, spring will arrive but probably not till end of May, however, I am starting my pepper seeds. Everything looks so yummy, wish I could pop over for tea! Thanks Susan for your thoughts of encouragement…
That was such a wonderful post! It made me smile the entire time I was reading it. Thanks!
Lovely post! Wish I had the mold for my Dad’s 95th bday this Sunday! Happy Spring!
I made just-like-yours boiled icing for my coconut white cake in 4-H…in about 1972! Yummmm… The lemon cake sounds deeeeevine. Bless Arnie and Paula–the luckiest kids on the block–they got a lamb cake in a snowstorm. Now there’s bound to be good luck in that! Hug yourself for me. xo
We have a love of lambs in our house too! My 5 year old has lambers his favorite lamb/blankie from when he was a baby and wants daddy to let him get a real lamb but dad says no, I know he would love a lamb cake! So fun:)
Delishes!
Susan, you are so thoughtful! I love both the book and the cake mold. I am so envious of your “winter wonderland”!! January in California has felt more like May. We had a week of winter in early December and that was it.
Love the lamb cake! My brother had a live lamb just like your picture with he black nose and ears. Brings back many memories.
Dear Susan,
What a lovely lamb cake! It reminds me of the lamb butter molds that my husband’s Polish grandma had, and which we have now also seen at the Easter festivities at the Polish church where we go to Mass. The cake recipe looks delicious! Thank you for your lovely blogs and tips on baking, gardening, decorating, etc.
Since we have absolutely NO winter in Southern California, I feel very envious of you being able to go to a snowy cottage like the one your friends have–covered with snow and so cozy. Lucky you! Thank you for the chance to win the lamb cake mold and the inspiring book.
Love, Laura Marec
My sister called me and said you have to read Susan’s latest ,starring an adorable lamb cake. The next day she calls and says she made the cake and it was fantastic. She sent me a picture. Sadly she did not have an adorable lamb cake pan, however her loaf pan made a presentable cake. I hope I can win the cake pan for her.
This blog just made me want to pull out my Butterfly Meadow dishes and kick off spring with a yum cake!
Lambie is adorable! I decided to skip on entering to win the mold since I’m not a cake fan but when I read about the book ~ better not pass up the chance! Love all things Tasha Tudor and of course all things Susan Branch ~ you are so delightful ~ thanks for blogging and thanks for your generosity! Heavenly blessings to you!
love sheep and lambs ever since I got my first little sheep bank when I was little. thanks for the opportunity to add a new member to the family!
What a sweet giveaway, I always enjoy reading your posts Cheers!
Tasha Tudor, she’s one America’s greatest treasures! An that cute little lambie pan too! Susan, you are a peach!
The Mary Mason Campbell book looks so good! I have her” New England Buttry Shelf Cookbook”, also illustrated by Tasha Tudor, and it is a perennial favorite. I would be utterly delighted to win your gift copy and the enchanting lamb cake mold.
* Love the ribbon you chose for its colorful collar. *
Love your post as always. The book would be a wonderful treasure to have. And the lamb cake pan would be a happy bonus.
Just adore that lovely little lamb cake tin and I would just love to win it. Thanks for the opportunity. BTW very hot here so I envy you that beautiful snow.
Love this post about the lamb cake and your instructions. Also the book!
Please enter me, and I will update everyone on my mom soon. Thank you!
Reading this blog is like a surprise trip to Disneyland, opening the most beautifully
wrapped last gift of Christmas that you didn’t know existed, turning a door knob and seeing each and everyone you love all there to surprise YOU, the first inhale of a new Spring…I could go on and on…whatever makes your ❤️ sing! Thank you Susan! And always a surprise around the corner!
Your post brought so many wonderful memories to mind for me of my Granny Opal. She used to make a molded lamb cake for us grand kids at Easter, but it was flat and not standing. I’m inspired by your cake tin and recipe, to try to make this a ‘new’ tradition for my children.
Thank you for all that you share.
When I took my first trip to England and Scotland I fell in love, I have been longing to return. I was so tickled by all the ewes on the hills sides as we drove through each little town, I am Scottish and they all thought I was one of their own, I loved it. But I couldn’t get over the Ewes, I wanted one, so I ended up purchasing a little figure made with wool fur that fit in my tiny suitcase as a memory of all the beautiful green hills and the lovely white dots all over them. I am just starting your book, as it seems to go as fast as it comes in (GOOD FOR YOU!), it makes me long for home as it felt like that where I belonged. 🙂
I know just what you mean, something about it makes you feel like it’s your heart’s home.
Dear Susan: Your little lamb is adorable. How delightful. My friend made me a butter lamb one Easter out of two pounds (yikes!) of butter. He was adorable too. Thank you for your delightful posts. Love to read them.
Barb
(from not too far away)
What’s not to LOVE about Lemon Daisy Lamb Cake a AND a gardening book! Yippee for whomever and we’ve all won with that recipe and the photos! Thanks, Susan! Merry Spring-On-The-Way!
What an adorable little lambie!!! Such a treat to see after all the heavy snow we’ve had this week 🙂
That gardening book really gets my hands itching for the feel of sweet Springtime earth & planting things and what delightful Tasha Tudor illustrations! Perfect!! Thanks for making my day more beautiful & cozy!!!
Thanks for bringing me back to my childhood Easters when my Nana always made her lamb cake. I have never attempted one, but now that my granddaughter is old enough I would love to make one with her. Thank you for the toothpick tip!
Hi Susan, what a winter us New Englanders are having this year. I live in a snow fortress out here in Townsend! I would love a little lamby cake mold, I used to be a cake decorator for Baskin Robbins but never made a lamb. This would be so cute for Easter for my little granddaughter. I own the Betty Crocker’s Kitchen Gardens book so Vanna could pull a second name and send the book to her, I’ve got it all figured out!
Life has been just too busy and it was nice to stop in for a spell and enjoy spring! Thanks!
Susan, I have just learned of something TERRIBLE! I do not know where else to turn. I am not on Facebook or Twitter and do not know how to get the word out. The state of New York, actually the New York State Dept. Of Environmental Conservation, is planning to kill all the mute swans because they are not native to the area! Please check it out on CNN.com. The piece is by Carl Safina and is called Killing Swans A Bad Idea. You can do a search on the CNN website. Please put something out on Twitter and I apologize for using this connection, but I just am beside myself and do not know what to do. The whole idea is insane and the Mute Swan is one of the most beautiful birds. So what if it is not native, neither is the European Honey Bee! I plan to send an email to [email protected], but I am just one person.
Please forgive me for bringing such a ugly story to this blog. Chris
You can also sign this petition I just signed it.
Done too!
Done – petition and e-mail.
You guys are great!
I’m also sending a letter to NYS DEC which is the state agency that wants to conduct this. They are accepting letters through February.
Looks like You took lessons My Dear 🙂 Amazing turn out. The coconut is such a perfectly cute idea..Such a yummy pretty cake.Please include Me in Your generous giveaway. I have been enjoying following You now for awhile and want to thank You for the escape into a dreamy world.Denise
How I loved this post! I am so ready for Spring and following your baking inspiration in creating the lamb cake and pictures of sheep had me thinking of the arrival of Spring and Easter and garden shows. I cannot wait to try your recipe for the mold. I love sheep and any crafts having to do with wool, whether knitting or weaving. One of my most favorite art books is Henry Moore’s sketchbook of sheep. It is filled with sketches of sheep from every angle and some of the expressions captured are just so moving and soulful. You are so wonderful to be giving away a lamb mold and a copy of Kitchen Gardens in celebration of Spring. I have enjoyed my copy of the Kitchen Gardens book for years and whoever is fortunate to be the recipient of the book will be absolutely enchanted. I have collected books illustrated by Tasha Tudor since I was very young, and this is one of my most favorites of the “grown-up” books. Thank you for this post and the promise of the Spring to come!
Always love to read your Blog!! would just love to add this to my collection! 😉 Thank you for being you! <3
Thanks for starting off my Saturday on such a positive note. I am looking forward to the beauty of spring! Your lamb cake and yummy carrot cupcakes will make Spring even sweeter!
Lovely thoughts of spring gardening and baking!
Arizona’ s Caterpiller ,”Cantankorous Cathey” just came out of her cocoon — saw her
shadow — of course you know this means 6 more weeks of winter snow and ice !
Cantankerous Cathey? A caterpillar? That is a new one. Does she cast a loooooooong shadow? xoxo Dad. Muah!
Too funny, Jack! I live in the land of Puxatawny Phil….he really, really should meet Cantankerous Cathey!!
Yes…..they could have a litter of fuzzy little yellow baby groundhogs with wings. You don’t see too many as they all fly away before they grow up.
I want to marry you the next time around. Keep me in mind. xoxox
🙂 🙂 🙂
Oh my, this brings back memories of my grandmother; she made a lamb cake like this too, but I have never tried it! Thank you for the detailed instructions! I loved the photo of your cookbook; I have “The New England Butt’ry Shelf Almanac”, also by Mary Mason Campbell and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, and I love it! Thanks for the chance to win!
How very clever of you to add the support before baking! Why didn’t I think of that? No more head falling off in transport to brunch! Thank you for the glimpse of Spring!!
Susan thanks for a walk into Spring this morning. This winter have been brutal so your blog was a breath of fresh air.
Love your lamb cake. So cute
Have a great day.
Pat
You inspire me, Susan, I can’t wait for Spring, it can’t come soon enough!
That book looks wonderful! I really enjoy reading your blog since it reminds me of my childhood. Thank you.
Susan, your blog is so refreshing. We are kindred spirits. Lemon cake is my favorite cake of all time! The lamb cake is adorable and I am going to use that recipe. The book looks awesome! I love your blog, I love your art, and I really loved your “staying warm” post on the blog. My hubby and I laughed because he runs with wolves and I have a definite chicken gene! It always makes for an interesting trip. Spring is definitely in the works. I can hear the birds nesting everywhere. Are you coming to Costco in Lancaster PA anytime soon?
Not that I know of . . . no plans right now, but we’d love to!
The lamb cake turned out lovely!! I can almost hear him making little lamby noises : )
My mom used to have an iron lamb cast mold that she used every Easter to make a coconut cake. It weighed a ton! I don’t know whatever happened to it, but she made such a wonderful cake with it. Your post sure brought back a lot of wonderful memories. I would love to make this little lamb cake for my granddaughters, especially since the littlest one loves Lambie from Doc McStuffins. Thanks so much for the recipe and the memories!
So precious. My soul is itching for springtime. As soon as Valentine’s day was over, I got out my box of vintage spring goodies and started to decorate for my favorite time of year. I would love to win this cake mold and bake this cake for my 2 littles at home. Blessings to you!
Oh, I feel like I just came back from a trip out east. I miss New England sooo much! Thank you for your happiness. I would love love the lambie cake pan and the Tasha Tudor book…I would dance a jig if Vanna pulled my name!
Love the post. I have my others cast iron mold and would to win the other for my son. My mold is 50+ years old and I can’t have Easter without it,
Good Morning, Susan,
How I loved your sweet lamb cake! Michigan is ready for a touch of Spring. My three year old pre-school class would be thrilled to bake a cake with Miss Mary on our “cooking day” with your wonderful lamb pan. So sweet. Thanking you for your “no place like home” touches to all our lives that can lose touch, too easily. You bring the love of home into all our hearts. Happy Spring to come.
Love, love, love the cake recipe and the lamb looks just adorable! (the coconut really did it for me). I have never seen that book before, but I am intrigued. We’re ready for spring here in VA so a “lamby cake” might need to be made! Thanks for all your homemade inspiration. 🙂
Spring is definitely coming. It was GLORIOUS out in California yesterday, but there is something about your pictures from the east, with the snow still on the ground, that makes spring just so much more exciting. I love the lamb cake! My mom used to make one every Easter. Loved your friend’s house! So cozy and inviting. Hmmmm….now I need to go buy plants and bake a cake! 🙂
Reading through all these lovely comments makes me think that we need a contest where we all send in our photos of our lamb cakes – not to compete but to inspire one another. There are so many fun stories of different ways families have decorated their molds over the years, I just think it would be fun to submit our best photos. I don’t own a lamb mold but would love one just to decorate it. Family traditions need to be perpetuated so maybe a chance to be on one of your blog posts would encourage us to get out that mold (or in my case, buy one from your web store) and make a lamb cake. Excuse me if I’m sounding like a quilt shop owner here but that’s the way my mind works sometimes – always thinking of someway to get girlfriends to try something new and have fun while stepping outside their comfort zone. I can tell you right now, baking that cake while keeping all body parts intact will be the challenge for me. Decorating it? A piece of cake! (Sorry)
xo Suzanne
🙂
We had a blizzard yesterday that left crystals and whip cream on the trees. It is beautiful in a Narnia kind of way, but your post on Spring and lamb cakes and Kitchen garden books reminded me that beauty comes in different forms. Spring here in Minnesota is overwhelming and flowery. So looking forward to that and am enjoying your blog today. Blessings
My grandson in Lakeville, MN worked a 12 hours shift in that storm – when he got home at midnight he had a 4′ drift in his driveway!
Hello Susan, I have this lamb mold somewhere at the farm and I use to make a lemon cake/coconut lamb every Easter. I created and decorated cakes every year for my nieces birthday’s and some became large tasks and I always tried to put edible candies, cookies for all the details. This blog brought back so many fun memories and the most tedious part of decorating was getting the icing to be stiff enough to allow all the decorating and eventually to dry so the cake could be wrapped. Thanks for the Memories.
I’m just back from you web store. My goodness, you’ve been busy shopping for us! I’ve never seen it so full of carefully selected wonderfulness that just oozes Susan Branch charm. I especially love the “Party” section. So many happy, fun things there! I feel like you’ve been keeping your ever growing inventory a secret from us. I just had to pop back and tell you how much I enjoyed snooping around.
That’s fun to hear, thank you Suzanne. We’re pretty particular in our little store! 🙂
You’re not kidding. I finally broke down & treated myself to something I’d had my eye on for over a year, and bought the little Peter Rabbit china bowl in the Vintage section [the one you use for Jack’s water dish] and turning it over, discovered it was Wedgwood! Boy, was I excited – twas a happy day!
Yes, love that bowl…my kitties do too!
Good Morning Susan!! That cake is so cute and looks yummy too!! Thank you for bringing me some sunshine through the computer!! Your pictures are so beautiful and so thoughtfully put together!! I just love reading your blog!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!! 🙂
Thank you Susan for inspiring and sharing. Love your art and ideas. Love the lambie
pan and would like to try the Lemon Daisy Cake recipe. I think the lamb pan with his cute ribbon necktie would also make a wonderful Easter decoration on my Grandmothers old Hoosier cabinet which I have in my kitchen.
Love your books and your blog is always like a breath of fresh air.
That is an adorable cake. Love it!!
I love the way you frosted the lamb cake! What a fun alternative to a bunny cake! 🙂
What a lovely article. Makes me hopeful that spring is around the corner after this brutal but sometimes beautiful winter.
Oh my. This brings back happy memories. My Grandma L. used to make a lamb cake for Easter. It was such a glorious ode to Spring. I’d love that book too. I collect Tasha Tudor books and I don’t have that one. It would be a wonderful addition to my collection. Thank you for your wonderful contests. They beat Powerball in my humble opinion. Stay warm!!
Found Lowe’s worker bees setting up the outdoor/garden section last week. Immediately lifted my mood. Really don’t mind winter, but looking forward to spring.
Hi Susan!
That cake is just adorable and the batter looked soo good that I wanted to stick my finger in for a taste…..Ohhh, YUM!
When I was around the age of ten, we had some sheep. I had a Dorset, whose name was Baby ( and she wanted to follow me everywhere )and then we had twins, just like your lamb with the black face. Can’t recall just which breed they are, but the little ram was adorable and friendly…..the ewe not so much. They each had their own personality.
I’ve always just loved lambies!
Thanks for the update and take good care~~Sherrill from CT
I love this post….of course I love them all!… the longer the better…the pictures of spring blossoms are breath-taking….I can smell springtime in my minds memory..I am sitting with my precious grandson, Malakai…typing with one hand ha ha! I am telling him about my friend who sends me wonderful letters, pictures, and presents too!….he is very impressed…our sun is shining today…yay!!…I love reading over ALL the comments…and I often re-read them and see something I missed…happy EVERY day to you and Joe…and kitties!
He is so cute! I would love to win him!
Thanks!
Love your posts-you are making so many people happy with them! Thanks for the bright spot in any day!
Susan-
Thanks for always keeping me inspired to cook, bake and decorate.
Pat Bates
I have been a big fan of yours since I discovered your Christmas book years ago. I need more hard drive space to save everything and more bookshelves to hold your books and calendars!!!
I haven’t posted a comment in a while, but had to comment on your Spring post Susan. I love those weeping cherry trees, so pink and pretty. Your house and garden are beyond beautiful during all the seasons, but especially in Spring! I have never made a molded cake, and would love to try. I do have a molded pan for banana bread, it turns out with fruit molds all over the top. Love the Crisco tip, will use that. I do have the Kitchen Gardens book and my copy looks to be just like yours. Found it either at a garage sale or secondhand bookstore many years ago, and was enchanted. Love Tasha Tudor books too and recently found her cookbook. I have another book of hers, that belonged to someone who wrote to Tasha Tudor and she taped the letter FROM Tasha Tudor into the back of the book! Amazing! It’s one of my favorite things.
If I win, I would love the cake mold, but you could draw another name for the book since I already own it and make two people happy!! Happy Spring Girlfriends!
Susan, Every post finds something I really value! Thank you for this. My 15-yr-old twin granddaughters show lambs and goats at Youth Fairs and I’d love to be able to make this cake for them. Thanks for the opportunity!
Oh what a lovely read–comfort for a winter weary soul. I would love to win the lamb mold, pick me Vanna.
Love, Pat
INSPIRATON FOR SURE! I LIVE IN MINNESOTA AND WE GOT 10″ OF BEAUTIFUL WHITE FLUFF YESTERDAY. WILL SPRING PASS US BY? MY INLAWS USE TO RAISE SHEEP AND I HAVE A CUTE LAMB PLANTER JUST LIKE YOU MINUS THE BOW. PLEASE ENTER ME FOR A CHANCE TO WIN THE LAMBIE PIE CAKE MOLD AND GARDEN BOOK.
THANKS, DENISE
I have always wanted to try this pan!!!!
What about St. Patrick’s Day? And the buttercups? I have to get out those items before I pull out my darling lamby-pies. My two year-old granddaughter is just learning about the little people who are the cousins of the elves. Susan, do you have any of those small people to set around? Would love to see them.
I might try the lamb cake later, closer to Easter. You did a wonderful job of making him. How did he do on the trip to the dinner party?
Dear Susan! Thanks for the recipes! I MUST try baking the cake and the cupcakes! Have been looking for a good boiled frosting recipe forever! Also thanks for a glimpse of Spring!
OH! I like the sheep bank and the SHEEP Cake mold! So cute & the recipe sounds delicious!
Love the lamb mold. All my life this was my grandmothers only demand for Easter. We HAD to have a lamb cake! As she got older and no longer baked, we would buy them but as all things come to an end, we were unable to purchase anymore. So I bought the pan and made them for her myself. It has continued on as a family tradition to this day. I would love to have two molds, one to keep and one to pass on to my granddaughters. The book would “icing on the cake” as they say! So glad my friend of 45 years directed me to your blog! Happy Spring!
Loved your lamb cake! My husband built a lamb shed for my daughter this last fall. She’s getting two miniature Landsdowne neutered males in May! Their names will be Calvin & Coolidge because her husband knows everything about every U.S. president. We’ll be driving our truck to Lexington to pick up the lambs.
After so much snow and cold, cold weather it is warmer the past week
and I have one brave little snowdrop blooming. Hope you will do an easel
calendar again.
Have a bunny cake mold that I have used every Easter since my oldest son was about four years old …he will be 45 this coming August. I have had a few fallen heads over the years. This year I will try the tooth pick and skewer method. Would love to make a lamb to go with my bunny cake this year. I usually have to make at least 3 cakes every year so I can give away two of them.
Susan, what ‘sweet’ memories of the lamb cakes my mom made every Easter until they retired to AZ. She will be so happy to hear about your tip with the skewers! We’re SO looking forward to Spring in Chicagoland!! “Spring is Nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!'” What a huge celebration it will be this year!! I’m dreaming of warm days in the garden.
It took a few days… but I read all of the comments! Our Girlfriends are the BEST!
Warm hugs,
Dawn
♡♡
I could not agree with you more. It’s been wonderful, they are a breath of spring!
What a darling book Susan, never have seen it before. And don’t you just love Tasha Tudor and the life she led in her cozy house with her animals.
The lamb pan is so darling. Looks like a cute easter cake. Thank you for taking time out of your drawing, writing and cooking to write us all. We Love You…….
Your cute little lamb cake reminds me of a few years ago. I work in an elementary school with kindergarten students. One year, when we were teaching the children about nursery rhymes, Mary had a little lamb was chosen for a little girl. The students were encouraged to dress up like their chosen characters and to bring any props to help them recite the rhyme. Much to our surprise, the student brought one of her family’s sheep to school as her prop. We had quite a chuckle as she recited the nursery rhyme while the sheep baaahhhed. Later that year, the sheep gave birth to two lambs. One little lamb was named after me. That cute little lamb, wearing a diaper, also came to school for a quick visit. I haven’t seen my lamb in a while,but I hear she has since been a mom and now a grandmom.
good afternoon/evening girlfriends now I have a question for all of you…. has anyone ever heard of a turkey having the hiccups??? my tom turkey has the hiccups, and while its funny to think of and funny to see, I’m wondering how to get rid of them. would I do the same I do for me which is drink water and how do you get a turkey to drink enough water to get rid of the hiccups???? anybody got a clue??? thanks. hugs….. 🙂
I would give him a spoonful of sugar, as long as that’s something turkeys can handle. Years back I read in Time Magazine that the granular tickle of sugar in the back of your throat can stop hiccups. I tried it, and it works for me. So, maybe . . .
Oh, Pat, I would love to see a video of that – a turkey with hiccups:)))
LOL, that would be funny!
well the sugar is out, but maybe some sugar water might do the trick. it may be funny, but tom doesn’t think so!! poor turkey, he keeps gulping water, and it does not solve the problem. other than that he is, but I am sure it disturbed his sleep last night, he looks so tired today.
It was the graininess in the sugar at the back of the throat that worked on humans — not so sure grain would surprise the throat of a turkey! I feel a little sorry for him.
We’ve had lamb cakes made in my mom’s cast iron mold for years. An Easter tradition. The aluminum mold would be a lot lighter to flip. The gardening book would be so inspiring after the long cold winter.