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! ♥
Oh, “Baaaaa” spring! And, I mean that in the NICEST way! Loving your lambs and wishing I could receive the cake mold and Tasha book. I’m taking my first drawing class (in my late 60’s) and I do so admire everything “Tasha”!
I would love to make a Lamby Cake with my sweet granddaughter Bella. I know she would be tickled pink!
Blessings,
Bren
I am in love with the lambie cake’s face. I was wondering how you would make the face while icing it. xo t
I truly enjoy Tasha Tudor and have some of her flowers growing (from her seeds) and several signed prints and books. There was no one else like her!
I love your blog, recipes, ideas, pictures, musica! I love all of it. Thank you for making my days brighter. Thank you for the chance to win your darling Lamb and garden book. I’m so excited! Good luck everyone!
Susan, reading your blog makes my day a little brighter. I really have Spring fever in a big way and I’m already planning our annual Easter family gathering. The backyard if full of cardinals, blue jays, and the robins arrived yesterday.
Thank for your posts, your art and your recipes!
The lamb cake is darling! Would love to celebrate my spring baby turning one with such a cake! Thank you for spreading whimsy on our day-to-day! xoxo
I will soooooooooo be making a lamb cake this year. You have the BEST ideas. It’s bitterly cold again today up on this lovely New England hill, in the middle of this quaint New England college…………………but! But! Outside my house this morning, there was a bird singining SO loud. I’m not an expert, so I don’t know what kind of bird. But she sang to me. (at least that’s what I’m going with…..) And it started my late-winter morning on a high note……………….
You are such an inspiration to so many women aka girlfriends! Such energy and so appropriately timed! At 67 I find myself back home on the farm caring for mom. We love reading your books and blog. You have added sunshine to our snowy winter days! Thank you so much for your creativity. Would love to make the lamb cake for the family Easter celebration! We raised Corridales when I was young and showed them at the 4-H Fair so I can hear stories being told at the table of our adventures.
I love – am continually thirsty for everything you bring to the table called life.
SO, thank you even if I don’t win a blessed thing – getting to read and be reminded of the basic right living recipe of the simplicity of living mixed with equal amounts of simplicity of gratitude for what money cannot buy is prize enough. Hugs and thank you.
I bought a lamb cake at a bake sale last Easter and it was adorable on the table. Hope to win the mold so I can make my own cake this year.
Susan, love your blog, website and EVERYTHING!
You are such a lamby to share your grandma’s recipe with all of your peeps! Thanks so much and I will send some spring your way when it arrives in NC!
I just love lemon, so clean an fresh. I’m wondering how this would be as cupcakes with a lemon glaze. Yummy Easter treat!
This is so exciting! The very first cake I ever made was in 4-H over 40 years ago, and it was named Lemon Daisy Cake! What memories this brought back! I also make a lamb cake each Spring, and think I’ll use a confetti mix to delight my grandchildren this year. Yours turned out perfectly. Thank you for all the great tips! XOXOXO Teri
I am going to make that lamb cake. Looks like fun!!!!
can’t wait to make the lamb cake!!!!
Love the lamb cake! And the step by step instructions and hints to not have a headless lambie cake are so helpful. thank you!
I have loved your books for years, you put the magic back into life. Plus, I’m an Anglophile, so I’ve really enjoyed reading about your English adventures! The lamb cake is so sweet. Thanks for your sharing your talent for living.
Found this site from Tasha Tudor’s facebook page, so glad I did! The lamb cake is adorable and I can’t wait to try the recipes. What a charming, cheerful Spring dessert on this cold and wintry day 🙂
I just love the lamb cake. Great idea- using the micro grater….I love mine and use it all the time! And- the recipe for the cake sounds like just the thing to sit down and share with friends coupled with some tea or coffee! Thanks!
I used to have a lamb cake mold and it is long gone. I would love a new/used one! And the book is adorable!
What a lovely cake! And a lovely giveaway. Thank you for bringing a dose of prettiness to the day. 🙂
I love your lamb cake with his lovely, wooly, coconut coat. I have wanted a lamb cake pan for a long while…to win this one would be beyond wonderful. Thank you for your blog. I look forward to every edition.
Oh what a sweet little lamb! My mother tried using a lamb cake mold once, but it didn’t turn out quite right. I’d love to try my hand at it!
Spring is beginning to show up in Portland… I think. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell because it always rains. But hopefully soon all the roses will bloom, it’s absolutely gorgeous here when they do!
What inspiration! I definitely have Spring fever. Making a list to make and plant wildflower seed bombs within the week! I also love Tasha Tudor. She was my moms favorite also. My mom passed away at a young age a few years ago. So Tasha and of course spring and flowers that she loves always remind me of her! Would love it! Blessings
absolutely wonderful 🙂 I am so looking forward to spring, just around the corner!
What a lovely, lovely post to read on this very cold afternoon in Michigan. Years ago as a young girl, I owned a Tasha Tudor book (The Private World of Tasha Tudor) that I loved. I would just sit and take in all of the wonderful photos and imagine what it would be to live like she did. After reading your post I now have a big urge to visit with my six year old granddaughter (a couple hours away), and bake some wonderful spring looking cupcakes. She and I love to cook and bake together and it is the perfect way to make this long winter feel a little warmer. Thank you for such an inspiring post.
leave it to you dear woman to know just how to bless us! The little bird tweeting, the colors of spring, your encouraging words…….ahhhhhhhh…….I have been on a grueling weight loss program since November (almost 50 off! 40 to go) and we are going for the gold by creating a true blue garden of our own! Organic Veggies add up quickly! How wonderful to see that book – i love love love Tasha Tudor! Please enter me in as it would be the coconut on that yummy cake you made! Blessings to you and hubby in your yummy home! Thank you for making my day a heart felt blessing!
Good for you Wendi, congratulations!
I always enjoy Susan Branch-have all her books. And love the blog. I also love old gardening/cookbooks. And Tasha Tudor. Would love to win the drawing…so much. Thank you!
I am so looking forward to Spring!! We have had so much snow here in NJ and more on the way. I love the Lamb Cake Pan so much!
I love Tasha Tudor and have followed her for thirty years. My sister gave me one of your calenders for Christmas. I hope I win, because I love you both. Mary Elizabeth
The cake sounds scrumptious! We are economizing currently, so if I’m not able to win the prize or buy the mold, can I make the batter in cupcakes or 13×9?
Cupcakes or three round 8″ cake pans.
wonderful … I have cut up a sheet cake to make a rabbit face but never tried
a cake mould. You are inspiring me to try it …
many thanks
Hi Susan – I know you must hear it all the time, but you’ve been such an inspiration to me – for years and years! I’m reading “A Fine Romance” again for the 3d time!! Can’t get enough of the flowers & food & loving things you say about Joe and your friends and the whole country of England! Don’t know what I’d do without you. XO Joanie
You’re a sweetheart to tell me Joanie!
What a sweet and precious giveaway! Would love to add these treasures to my kitchen!
Love all things Tasha Tudor and Susan Branch!
How wonderful you are! Thank you for the chance to win my heroine’s book. Your blog makes me feel like I’m home. Love & prayers for you & your family.
What a gorgeous website…i’ll have to come back and browse when i’m not working. My grandmother had that same mold not sure who snagged it but what wondeful memories it brought back….thank you!
My mother in law made my son a lamb cake every year on his birthday until she passed away when he was 10 . He will be 44 this year and what a hoot it would be for me to give his daughters this pan to make this cake for him thanks for your wonderful blog-calendars ang awesome books !!!!!
Hello,
I just found your blog. I loved your pictures of spring! We received a great gift this past May of our first grandchild. The lamb cake would make a wonderful Easter tradition to start for him. Thank you for the idea and the wonderful pictorial. I am also an avid Tasha Tudor fan. Please enter me in your drawing. Thank you!
Beautiful Tasha Tudor!
I love Willard ! I love your site! And I love your recipes! I cannot wait to make the lamb cake! It will have to be a reg round without the mold …but that’s really ok! I hope sring is on time this year.. We are in northern Vermont and can never tell!
Thank you Susan for such a fun site! Whenever the winter blues get to me I open one of your books and shower myself with flowers, birds and all things spring!
V/R
Evelyn
Having 2 young grand daughters, I am sure they would enjoy a lamb cake.. hope I win!!! Could become tradition.
I just love everything Susan!
I love the blog; it’s like getting a letter from a friend – not many people write letters anymore. I love the illustrations; I had a great many of the cookbooks before I discovered the blog… Thank you for brightening my day….
Phew! I’ve been so busy making Spring Banners, I almost missed leaving a comment! The Lambies and Bunnies are all finished now (YAY!) and I just wanted to take a minute to say that I think your step by step cooking instructions are great. I’ve been cooking for a few (haha) years now, but I still appreciate all the beautiful pictures. What I appreciate most, though, is that you’re actually teaching some of your younger (or maybe just less experienced) readers how to cook. Food prepared at home, meals eaten together … so important on so many levels. You’re doing good work, Sue! xoxo
Same to you Janie, thank you so much!
Hi, What a wonderful Blog you have! Just got a notice from Tasha Tudor & Family regarding your blog and the Kitchen Gardens book (and lamb) drawing. So, I am here and have read this article about how to make the molded lamb cake. So fun!
Seems you like all the things that Tasha loved too. Isn’t Home and Hearth wonderful.
Please include me in your drawing. Also will love to see more blog posts from you.
Thanks!
I’m a long time admirer of your art work Susan… and just finished reading A Fine Romance… please write more books like this… felt like I was sharing in your magical journey.
Love having the chance to win the Lamb mold and the Kitchen Garden book… I was fortunate to meet Tasha Tudor in the early 90’s at a book signing in Richmond, Virginia.
and thanks Susan for your wonderful blog… reading it makes me happier than a bird with a french fry!
Oh how you gladden my heart Susan. Every time I read your blog it’s Spring in my heart.If you were visiting Ireland the place to see lambs is on the plains of the Curragh of Kildare. I remember as a kid my Dad bringing my sister and I to see the sheep being dipped there and going up with him to see all the little lambs bleating beside their mothers and the mums with the different coloured markings on their backs to show what farmer they belonged to. Happy memories. St Brigid is our patron saint in County Kildare google her and you will find some wonderful stories about her. We celebrate her feast day on the 1st of February she was a forward thinking woman for her time.
I would love to have this. After looking at your photos, I am so eager for Spring.
just introduced to you by my BFF. Today I see that adorable lamb cake mold the recipe and then low and behold the Tasha Tudor illustrator for the Betty Crocker’s Kitchen Gardens book. Love Tasha Tudor illustrations. You are blessed to have 2 books and wanting to share the love by giving one away. I have become a fan of your site love your humor and inspiration. I do not have your books yet but I will soon. England your area, is where I want to visit for a week or more always love what I’ve read about that area and also the crafts.
Thank you for the opportunity to enter this give away
How happy I am to have found you. I have 3 of your books and cherish them. Adore this little lamb mold. Don’t know how brave I am to try to make the cake!
Thank you for all your inspiring words, thoughts, pictures and ideas. You are such a source of sustenance (food for the brain and the body) to many. Thank you for bringing so much joy into the world and making it a better place by sharing your world with us.
I’ve been following your Blog for about a year. Sometimes I spend an hour or more just rereading old posts (as you may guess, I’m retired) just to shut out the harshness of modern everyday life. Your recent post of you folks scurrying to get on the ferry on time was such an emotional moment when I read it and saw your pictures when you entered the ferry. We lived on Kodiak Island off the Alaskan coast in the US Coast Guard-my husband was flight engineer on the C130’s back in the 70’s. Since I usually “blog” on my iPad, I enlarged the picture that faced from inside the ferry looking out the drive-in entrance. What an emotional moment it became! Suddenly, I was really standing inside the ferry! I could hear the sounds all over again, smell the cold wet air, feel the moist cold on my face again just as I had done all those years ago when we were young and life lay before us exciting and new, taking the ferry to Kodiak, to begin a new life full of trepidation and excitement! I have tried looking at it once more, after showing it to my husband, and it was so poignant I couldn’t hold back the tears. You see once I had really stood there! Young, thin, laughing, full of life; in love. It was all too much to feel again. But I want you to know, your life and Blog reaches and touches peoples lives in ways you would never have guessed. I’m one of them…thank you.
How positively wonderful Nonni! Thank you for that.
Nonni…… Your post was wonderful THANK YOU for sharing!
Spring is just around the corner here in Texas! I love the bluebonnets here. It is my favorite flower. I was wondering if you would one day put on your blog just how you learned to paint so beautifully. I would so love to paint like you and to paint a beautiful bluebonnet for my home. I have a little talent, but God gave you a whole bunch! Thank you, Susan for all the sweet, encouraging words you send our way. Happy spring to you, sweet lady! Janyce 🙂
Hi Janyce … if you go to the top of the blog and click on About Me, there is a drop down, and How I Learned to Paint is there. Or HERE, to make it easier, just click there and you can see it. Most important thing I learned is what a difference practice makes! Good Luck to you!
I, too, collect Tasha Tudor – I also have corgis, who I learned to love through her books. All the daffodil and tulip bulbs are up here at my house and the varied Thrushes are busy in my yard. Spring is on the way!
Love your blog, paintings and books. I am also inspired by Tasha’s books. I read them to our children as they were growing up.( I still have her books in my library.)They are doing the same today with the grandkids. The favorite is “A Time To Keep.”
I love the flour sifter! I have about a dozen old ones at my cottage, but I haven’t seen this one. Aren’t they fun? I think they work better than those ones you have to squeeze (and which always seem to get stuck!) They just make me happy, happy! Pam, in a freezing Montreal
Dear Susan-
You are a doll…or should I say “lamb”! You tell such wonderful stories, share delicious recipes and you are naturally charming. Your posts, pictures and artwork make me so happy 🙂 Thank you for this wonderful prize give-away of lambie cake mold and book!!
I just smiled and smiled through this whole post. About 15 years ago ( a little more, I think), Martha Stewart featured a standing lamb cake in her magazine. I admired it to my husband, who said, that oh, yes his mother had a mold and has made them before. He called her, she mailed her mold to me, and three times…***ThReE*** times I tried. I got new baking powder and everything but could not get that cake to rise enough to fill the mold. I don’t remember what recipe I used (possibly one that was in the instructional pamphlet?). I was determined not to use a box mix. Finally, I had something that only veeeeery vaguely resembled a lamb, and had to prop it up with a ramped bed of frosting and cocoanut and multiple toothpicks.
Well, I am loathe to admit defeat, and every year at Easter, I ponder another attempt, and sometimes my husband needles me: “Oh, you’re working on the Easter menu? Don’t forget to put down “lamb cake”, you know those cute standing kind.” But I returned the mold shortly after, and have never been motivated enough to buy one of my own, but if someone were to *give* me a mold, I know that I would jump right in to try one this year, this time with Your recipe!
Thanks for this fun post.
WendyBee
LOL, three times, you are very brave — your husband …so funny! I know what you mean, I didn’t want a box cake either. But the instructions say that a boxed pound cake will work — I think because it’s heavier, has that cement-like structure that won’t fall apart. That’s why I used my grandma’s recipe … it’s not pound cake but it’s stronger than a really crumbly moist cake.
Susan – Thank you for the wonderful pictures while making your lamb cake – looks delicious! And Tasha Tudor book – one of my all time favorite illustrators! Easter dinner is at my house this year – I’d love to make a lamb cake for the family. Your blog is terrific – each new post brightens my day. This has been a very long winter and my days could certainly use some brightening. Can’t wait for the crocus and daffodils! Looking forward to your next post. Your friend Andrea from Boyertown, PA
Spring here and Spring outside (in Florida) Loving the flowers, hating the pollen
Your blog is beautiful to read and to look at! Thank you!
What a lovely, little, spring cake! I would love to try this for Easter!
Dear Susan,
I am on the hunt now for the book you mentioned in your blog. I have a collection of Tasha Tudor’s books that are so special to me and I think a new addition is in order. Her books take up shelf space with my Beatrix Potter collection and my Susan Branch books. Every time I walk by my books, I think about all of you, my favorite artists/authors, and I smile. It may seem strange, but somehow looking at a bookcase of special books is comforting to me…stress seems to take flight and warm, fuzzy, happy feelings take over. Add a cup of tea to that mix and peace takes hold!!!
Your lamb cake mold inspired me to plan on making one for Easter. My grandmother loved lambs and made me quite a few little stuffed lambs before she died. Thank you for all of the inspiration that you continually pour out for all of your girlfriends! We are grateful!!
Kisses~Karen
I always say you can tell more about a person by reading their bookcase.
So true, love to look at other people’s book cases!
Thank you for your blog! Love the pictures of Spring. It’s just around the corner here in SC. My daffodils are blooming.
I love lemon! And old fashioned kitchen gardens! And Susan Branch! Thank you for the wonderful tastes, smells, and sights of spring!
Love the lamb pan
Just finished “A Fine Romance” – lovelovelove!
Keep it coming, Susan
Adorable lamb cake! You are a bright spot in a very cold PA day! I have collected Tasha Tudor’s books, prints, note cards, etc. for years. She is greatly missed.
Mmmm, boiled frosting is the best. Reminds me of my mommy laboring over it for my birthday cakes. Can’t wait to try this.
Hi Susan,
I love your blog. Brings much happiness and fun to my day. I love your lamb cake. It’s very, very cute! I love spring and hope it gets to Asheville soon! I’m ready.
Thanks for the opportunity to enter the giveaway! Hope I win!
I would love to win the lamb cake pan and book. I love to bake and am always inspired by Susan’s recipes. We are in the midst of a snow storm today but my brave little snowdrops have poked through and are blooming. And the pussy willows are showing their “fur” even in the snow. spring is not far Away.
Susan in Spokane.
Love the cake and Tasha Tudor book!
Susan you always inspire me with your post. I remember back in the day when I used to receive your Willard letters snail mail! I still have all of the Willard’s and stickers. I even have a cute post it note! Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures of the lamb cake. On this cold wintry day in New York, I see light at the end of the tunnel. Spring! Thank you! Amy
Tasha Tudor!!!! What a wonderful present to myself this would be to lift my broken spirits!!!
Great blog and love the lamb cake. We used to make these when I was little.
So adorable, would love to win it.
Love the lamb cake, my grandchildren would love it if I won.
Oh my goodness, I’m glad you added an extra few days to throw my name in the hat! That cake is adorable and delicious to just look at (also love the shot where the owl timer is peeking behind the bowl). You are so generous, thanks for the opportunity to be gifted that sweet vintage cake pan and book. Cheers to Spring being around the corner!
Thank you for taking me to a fairy land!! Even if I don’t win the treasures, which I WOULD LOVE TO 🙂 I already won a lovely experience! The pictures, the style of the writing, the bird music…after a day of office work…it was the most refreshing gift! I can almost smell the baking 🙂 of course this is so much more than a recipe! Lovely! 🙂 I am so happy I found you!
Please enter me in the contest. I love your website and your FB page and all of your products!! Keep up the good work!! 😉
Love the house where you had dinner the day you made the lamb cake. All of your inspirations remind me of old friends and new friends, and just like the saying, one is silver the other gold!
I have admired this book before, just haven’t added it to my collection yet. Maybe I can if I win.
Thanks
So glad I found you on FB! I just love your work!
I love all things Susan Branch and Tasha Tudor! My love affair with Tasha Tudor began at a very young age when my eyes first fell upon “A Is For Annabelle” at the library” & I was hooked for life! I discovered Susan Branch much later in life, and became “hooked” once again! My late Mother had a special occasion cake cookbook (from the 50’s) that I enjoyed looking at when I was a kid because of the pretty pictures of cakes in it. That’s the first time I ever saw one of the lamb cake pans & I always hoped my Mom would make us one. Unfortunately, I never got my lamb cake, but seeing these pictures brings back a lot of good childhood memories. So thank you for the sweet walk down memory lane & for all the beauty your artwork brings into my life & the lives of so many others! All the best to you!!!
I have a similar cake pan, but it is a rabbit, not a lamb.
Must be adorable, Martha.
Thanks for posting the recipe for the lamb cake!! We have the lamb cake mold that belonged to my husband’s mother and I think we’ve been baking it the wrong way all these years (no wonder he didn’t turn out exactly perfect!!). Instead of filling half the mold, we’ve been filling both sides and baking separately then trying to stick him together with frosting and toothpicks…yikes!! I’ll try your version and recipe and I’m sure we’ll have success. I’ll let you know how he turns out. I like the little touch of adding a ribbon around his neck. We display our lamb on top of the china hutch when he’s not being used for cake.
Love your blog and the lamb cake. You always make it look so easy but I would
love to try it. You never let us down.
I could look at your art all day! And I LOVE your lamb cake! And, I DO have that book!!! Now I need to find it again! I am crafty, but I wish I could do what you do. 😉
Susan-looking at the photos ( flour sifter ) I see you use your vintage pieces, not just for collecting but practical as well. I do wish to win the lamb mold. I saw one at the flea market the other day but it was marked $80 firm. As much as I would have loved it, but on a limited income, it was not affordable. Lambs are not easy to find around this area of Missouri. Don’t know why-they just are not out there. I started collecting about a year ago, I only have four lambs, but always seeking. Thank you for your website and blog-much info to use. Have all your books and calendars over the years. Thank you.
I would love to make this Easter lamb for my family this year! It’s darling!!!
Dear Susan, This is such a sweet cake! I so enjoy lambs. Thank you for including me in your giveaway of this lovely mold and cookbook!! Katalin
Ahh a spring lamb! Please sign us up, Jess would love this…
What an adorable cake pan! Love you website and your books!
Just LOVE the cake! Perfect for Easter with my little ladies:)
I think your lamb cake is so beautiful, and I would love to make one too. I am a big fan of Tasha Tudor and one of my wishes on my bucket list was to visit her home and gardens, well I got to do this in 2009 and had the greatest time of my life, I will never forget it. I just went through chemo for my breast cancer and surgery am doing much better, I love all your stories keep them coming. thanks Liz
How how I wish you would pick me. I can’t imagine a lovelier gift.
Hi Susan,
I love reading your blogs. I would like to win the Lamb mold.
Have a nice day!
Oh, my. I would love to make a sweet little Lamb cake for my new family this Easter.I think celebrating in a special way would help make my first Easter away from Home better. Your recipes sound wonderful and your blog is just a ray of sunshine. Thank you for sharing!