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! ♥
I make a lamb cake every Easter – a tradition my family counts on. I have always used a box cake mix, so I am glad to have your scratch recipe for this years lamb! It sounds delicious. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
love the recipes <3
Patti, how do you get your picture to post when you post?
Reading this post about the lamb cake brought back very happy memories of Easters as a little girl. A family friend would always make a lamb cake for us kids as an Easter treat. Reading your post and looking at the pictures I could almost smell the lemony goodness of your cake! Love your blog. I can hardly wait to make this cake. I also collect gardening books and this is one I did not know about. I think I need to find this book. What a wonderful post to read on this cold snowy February night. Makes Spring seem a little closer! Thank you.
My 14-year-old grey striper Charlie Cat is sitting on my lap as I type. He would love to supervise the making of a lamb cake and some garden planning! Thanks for such a great giveaway.
Susan,
As usual, your post is so inspiring, makes me feel like baking a delicious lamb cake complete with icing and coconut ‘fleece’. I love the winter but am in the mood for spring, and even more so after this blog. I would love to win the cute mold and book, for baking and reading and displaying. Old things are so filled with charm!
Thanks for the time you take for the little things, your blogs are a delightful break in the day!
Love your Spring post! The lamb cake is adorable!
Boy did I need this post! I have spring fever big time! What a sweet cake! I would love to try to make this! And that sweet book is awesome. I love kitchen gardens, and Tasha Tudor is my fave artist, after you of course 🙂 What a super duper win this would be. I hope it goes to someone who truly deserves it! Thank you Susan!
Such a sweet and unique Lamb Cake! I bet it was ab-so-lute-ly delicious!!
SPRING!
It seems so far away when you look out the window and all you see is white.
I also have a cast iron lamb that I found at an antique shop. Love him!
Seeing the wee lambs reminds me of that screen on “Sense and Sensibility” when Robert Farris comes to Norland and he stops at the top of the hill and looks down upon the house then rides through the sheep grazing on the hillside.
Beautiful image!!!
Pure Joy!
What a great giveaway! I love lambs AND Tasha Tudor! Susan, thank you so much for this peaceful blog. I came here tonight after making the mistake of reading the news. It was my bedtime, and I couldn’t go to sleep with that on my mind, so I clicked your blog (saved on my favorites bar), while thinking, “Please, please, Susan…have a new post up.” And you did!!!! Lambs, spring, kitties, bunnies, and CAKE! All things happy and wonderful and peaceful. The world just as it should be. Aaaah….now I can go to sleep. Thank you, Susan!
Susan … How fortunate that you found the lamb cake mold. I have been looking for this mold for years. My mother has one, which she won’t part with :-(, and I would love one of my own. Your blog did a wonderful job getting us excited for spring and a wonderful job, demonstrating the mixing, baking and frosting the cute lambie. I am excited to throw my hat in the ring for this contest :-). Oh and by the way, my mother always makes her cakes using a pound cake mix and the frosting is covered with coconut, like yours.
Pound cake mix works well too!
I look forward to reading you blog and really enjoy your ideas and recipes. The lamb mold is darling and would make any Easter celebration a huge hit!
Thank u for the breath of Spring Susan Branch! Loved seeing Jack peeking out watching u bake. The lamb mold and Betty Crocker book would be the best to win. Betty Crocker was a staple in our home kitchen growing up. Luv oxoxox
I appreciated the hints on baking the lamb. A beheaded lamb becomes a trifle pretty quickly as I can attest. And I also love Tasha Tudor. My favourite pictures of her shows her aged hands tenderly holding a dove and sitting on her step (bare feet) sipping tea.
My sister has been to England and fell in love with lambs there! If Vanna picks me I will give it to my sister who has always been there for me!
Thank you for your pictures of the beautiful snow. I know you on the east coast have had your fill but here in northern California we are having a drought & seriously missing the white stuff this winter. Your lamb cake is adorable & I LOVE books. Your Fine Romance is my dream experience. Thank you for taking me to England.
Goodness! It’s snowing again!! We had 20″ of snow a few days ago, 5″ last night and it’s snowing now. Luckily, hubby bought a snowblower in December, he’s enjoying using it. Love the little lamby cake…I’d hate to cut into it 🙁 but I’m sure I could be talked into it.
xo from SW Hbr. ME
Every girl needs a lamby! Pick me!
Too cute! It’s been a long time since I made a cake using a specialty mold. I think it’s high time I did it again, and if I win that’s exactly what I’ll do. I’ve been looking for a good excuse to make a cake and have a few friends over for tea and light refreshments. With the addition of the cookbook I could do just that! Thanks for being so generous!
Your lamb cake is darling with it brown ears and nose. Thank you for having such a sweet spring giveaway. The cake sounds delicious. I may have to make it lamb mold or not.
Would you want to know that our daffodils at the back door are about 6 inches high and loaded with buds? Spring cannot be far away.
Good evening Susan,
I have to agree with you, the snow is beautiful!!! I do like seeing everything white. But, saying that, I am looking forward to Spring. What a nice surprise to open your blog to a little “Lamb”. That is the cake I made for my Granddaughters Christening. She is going to be 21 this year. Time goes by so fast! Seeing your Lamb brought back good memories.
You will make one of your girlfriends very happy with the Lamb pan and the Kitchen Gardens book. I think they could use the pan as a Easter decoration after baking the cake.
Enjoy Winter Wonderland on your Island, Marion
Hi Susan,
I have to admit when I saw the book Tasha Tudor’s name popped out at me. We have always had corgis and her drawings of them are so charming. She had one named “Owen”- I loved that, very Welsh. Oh and the lambie pie- so Easterie
I am excited about the drawing. Hope I win!!- is that wrong-I don’t think so.
Thanks xoxo
Just love the Lamb mold. It even looks great with a ribbon around its neck. Love old gardening books too. Thanks for a chance to win both!
OMG!! I have been a fan for,… well, FOREVER!! I have been collecting your cookbooks and calendars and stickers, etc (SORRY – I don’t quilt, but it always looked adorable!) In fact, you came to a Michael’s store in Mission Viejo, CA many, many years ago and I stood in line for quite some time (with 2 young boys in tow, to have you autograph my cookbooks) so I have actually met you! 🙂 I have pictures!!
I used to get the “Willard”, but time moves on and I have moved and changed addresses, etc., I lost touch with you! 🙁 And I think you stopped writing the “Willards”….However, I ALWAYS get your calender EVERY Christmas (actually several because all of my family members know that is what I want!) Somehow, out of the blue in 2014, I got a link to your blog recently and I am IN LOVE!! Way, way better than a “willard” (and I think you agree because I saw your comment about “how did I live without this blog”). The “musica” and pictures are OUTSTANDING!!
Anyway, I read your post about the lamb cake and I have 3 things to say about that:
#1) WHAT in the heck are the toothpicks/wooden skewers for? Didn’t quite understand how they were removed from cake?… I mean I get where you said they helped keep it intact, but the directions didn’t talk about them really – or how to remove them — did I miss something?
#2) I have a Betty Crocker recipe book that I received from my Mom when I left home at 18, and even though it is FALLING APART at the seams, it is my “go to” recipe book! So I can just imagine how wonderful the “Kitchen Gardens” is!! 🙂
#3) The frosting is an old favorite of mine as well! Did this used to be called “boiled frosting” or “7 minute frosting” or something along those lines? Oh dear, did I just age myself (even with #2 above)?? Lol
Anyways, LOVE to you Susan, from my home to yours!!
Catherine
In addition, I am ESTACTIC that I found your blog and signed up for email updates. I used to be “over the moon” when I got a “Willard” in the mail — now I can get email updates more often. Yes!! I just made your tomato soup the other night — sooo yummy! It’s a personal fav of mine!! My boyfriend was SO impressed that I just whipped it up with the ingredients on hand! (well, you have to have fresh basil, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese, but I’m just sayin’!)….
Thank you Catherine … nice to see you here! For your questions #1, when you cut the cake, you just pull the toothpicks and skewers out. If you don’t put them in, unless you make a very stiff cake, perhaps a pound cake, there is a good chance the head will break off. They really don’t get in the way — you can’t miss them when you are cutting the cake. #3, yes, it’s old-fashioned boiled frosting. I hope to write a new Willard soon … but you can see, the blog has kind of replaced it in a way. Although I think it’s fun to find a special letter in your box.
Morning Susan, I always wondered why you had two such blogs, (1)Willard & (2) your normal blog, both of which must take you an enormous amount of time, Bless Your Heart. They both serve the same purpose, NO? YES? (Sandy from Chihuahua Flats)
I started writing Willard years before I had the blog, so it was all there was for a long time. It also arrives as an email in everyone’s box, so no one has to go anywhere. But the blog really does cover most of the same bases … just that many people like the home delivery aspect!
Just what I needed to read today! As lovely as the snow has been in the south, I can’t wait for spring. You have inspired me to get into the kitchen tomorrow and to create something in the spirit of color and spring. How exciting. And the book? I love my collection of old cookbooks AND my Tasha Tudor books. But to see one with both loves together? Just too much, especially today as I’ve mourned the two month anniversary of my special corgi passing away. What a nice way to end my day. Thank you for bringing spring my way today.
I have a very precious grandbaby who loves sheep, she has a little hat with a sheeps face on it and she runs around saying baaa baaa, she also likes to make her mommy or myself wear it also, she holds it out and says “have it? baaa baaa” too cute! I think she needs a lamby (sheep) cake for Easter. –Love Tasha Tudor too, I’m fascinated by her lifestyle and her talent, what a charming life she led, soooo yes I would love to sit and read that sweet book while we wait for spring to arrive.
Love the lamb cake – too cute! I didn’t know Tasha Tudor illustrated for other books, apart from her own. We love her Christmas Dolls book – top of the stack every year ! Hope Spring comes to you soon!
The lamb cake is the cutest thing. Yum. I want a bite. No, I want a big chunk. The Kitchen Garden book looks lovely too. You are having a little rougher winter there than we are having in Oregon.
What a delightful giveaway! I had a lamb cake for my 2 year old birthday!
Just lovely! I can’t wait for Spring! Thank you Susan for always inspiring me!
In Illinois we have mounds of snow; now the weather has turned warm and we’re expecting lots of rain tomorrow (flood watch instead of winter storm warnings). Your spring inspiration is much appreciated! Lamb cakes and spring gardening sound great.
I love your step-by-step instructions for the darling lamb cake, Susan, and if Vanna chooses me I promise to make a whole flock! It would be a new tradition that my grandsons would love. Thanks for the opportunity and the lessons and for ALL you share with us!
Thanks for the yummy sounding recipes! The book looks like a real treasure.
Susan,
Have our oldest grandson (age 10) here with us this week so am making more memories. Wow! Your trip back home sounded just like me and my husband. Glad you arrived safely. The lamb cake is adorable and I have to say my Mom used to make us a lamb cake just like it – usually at Easter. The bunny cake is very cute also.Thanks for the beautiful spring pictures. Temps were on the rise here today so we did lose some of our snow. Spring is on the way!
Jan
Spring can not come soon enough for me! We have about 37 inches of snow on the ground here in good old Northport NY. So baking a Spring lamb cake sounds great. Thank you for the Spring preview pics of your lovely garden.
I can see you are more than ready for warmer weather! On a positive note it has been easier for you to hunker down an complete your calendars. In Central Coast Calif. we haven’t had any winter weather, but my theory is if it isn’t going to rain buckets it might as be bright sun and warm! Wishing everyone in the east a speedy spring, without any flooding!
Susan, your lamb cake is so sweet! I do not have this book, but would love to win it, especially since my husband and I are putting in a garden for the first time this year. Thank you for the recommendation! Have a wonderful week!!
Thanks, Susan, for yet another wonderful giveaway. I, too, love sheep, and would love to win this mold and lovely book.
Who wouldn’t love a darling lamb cake mold from you, Susan! And I’m also fond of Tasha Tudor’s illustrations. The book would be a treasure. Thank you so much for your generosity.
Warmest wishes,
Nancy
Oh I love lambs! The symbol of spring, rebirth, and oh so cute! Thanks for doing all those give aways for us. I could draw a peach beside your smiling face! LOL
Thanks for all your internet love.
Ginny
What a great and inspiring post today on such a dreary, foggy, snowy winter day. Thank you! I loved all the pictures of you making the lamb cake. It would be hard to actually eat such a cute creation!!
I just love it all – a feast for my eyes.
The lamb cake looks good enough to eat! And you are so right! We do need spring!
Dear Susan,
What a lovely LOOOOOONG Post! Never make apologies, please, for being too long, I don’t think you can be too long!
You are so generous, with this give away, how kind! It would be wonderful to make a Lamb cake, and the cute book, what can I say……I hope it finds a wonderful new home, either here in Holland, or somewhere else!
Love from Nicoline
[email protected]
Hi Sue,
Thank you for the visions of springtime and all of the wonderful, lovely posts! The lamb cake is perfect for Easter and the garden book looks very special. Thanks so much for all that you do to make everyday so special.
I would love to win this lamb for my wife:)
You are a sweetheart to enter for her!
Susan the cake is amazing, it’ lambing season here a special time of year full of hope for the Spring to come. When we have the Snowdrops in the banks of the lanes and Lambs you know that we must be near the end of Winter
Susan, you could never “over” delight us! It’s true. I devour every visit with you. The spring photos are wonderfully charming, but that last winter photo is a delight to this UK’er who is sick to the eyeballs of rain, rain, and yes . . . more rain!! I know April showers bring May flowers, but what do the rest bring? I think I know the answer and it ain’t pretty!
Loving that sweet little lamb cake! Totally adorable! I am sure your supper recipients were completely delighted with it. And that book, oh boy, plucking my heart strings it is, completely. You have the nicest things, oh Vanna baby, please pick me! Pretty please with sugar on it!
Sure could use that lamb mold and that cookbook! Hope I win!
NOW…….I read somewhere that with the flour we have now there is no need to sift…that it is all presifted and that the sifting was only necessary back in the days when flour was coarser……….any truth to that as based on that I got rid of my old sifter when I moved? Your cake was lovely. Linda from Idaho.
I’m a believer in sifting even though there are no longer rocks in our flour, it still settles. I have done a little test … measured out one cup of unsifted flour, sifted it, and then remeasured. There is more than a cup after sifting. I just think it makes lighter cakes.
I love your lamb cake and the suggestions for keeping the head on using sticks. What a nice job decorating him/her. My Aunt Martha made a lamb cake every year at Easter when we were kids. I hope her daughter has the mold now and has used it. I’ll have to ask her.
Anyway, two years ago when my mom was quite ill, my niece visited with her 3 little ones. We made your version of the bunny cake. It was charming and the kids enjoyed decorating it. We all enjoyed eating it, even my mom. Thank you.
Thanks also, for the taste of Spring. We’re expecting an ice storm tonight.
Love that Lamb cake!! I bet it was yummy.
I hate to say it but here in good old sunny Southern California I am wishing that a little winter would come our way (since we have had none this year.) I am also looking at that snow covered yard of yours and also wishing I was there. I hope we both get our wish (you an early spring and for us a late winter.)
That Jack has such a cute face!!
You’re lamb cake so reminds me of Greek Easter. My family is Greek and lamb is such a symbolic symbol for Easter. We are so excited to be able to celebrate American Easter (that’s what we called it) and Greek Easter on the same day. So I am going to make your delicious cake to share with our family and friends. Happy Easter!
Oh My Goodness! I loved everything about your post! As we live in S. CA I am having Spring fever for real! Love, Love, Love, all the Spring baby animals and that lamb pan is to die for! I got a $50 gift certificate for your store for Christmas and I just spent it. I waited because I didn’t want it to be gone – took me awhile to make my choices: the cast iron heart pan was first as I have had my eye on that for a long time. I want to make that lamb for the grand kids for Easter, so hoping I will be the lucky winner. The book is with it would be almost too much to bear – so adorable with the Tasha Tudor illustrations all about gardening, my favorite pastime! Thank you for the beautiful post – they could never be too long! Love, Gloria in Banning, CA 😀
I just love your blog! We are having an early spring in Arizona…so different from your part of the country. I enjoy decorating and baking for holidays and would love to win the lamb mold and book.
Susan I just love your site! It’s always a joy to read and see the beautiful photos and drawings. The promise of Spring was a nice diversion to all the snow. Thank you for the chance to win the cute lamb cake mold and gardening book. Thank you for all the inspiration.
LOL. This whole post put a smile on my face 😀 (<<see?). Both of my cats adore watching me bake as well but it may be because they are hoping against hope that I will accidentally drop a stick of butter. I am in Florida so seeing the seasons change on your blog is such a treat! By the way, the trick with the skewers and toothpicks is genius. I've seen dowels used afterwards for tiered cakes, but never even thought of baking them in a 3-D cake. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to win this mold and can give it a shot. That lemon cake looks delicious and really is there a better smell in the world than lemon?
It was always a tradition while growing up in my family to make a trip to the bakery to purchase a lamb cake for the Easter holiday. I would so love to continue by making my own for my family if I win your little lambie.
Looking forward to Spring!
Kathy in Illinois
Dear Susan; What a sweet Lamb! In Spring There will be also lots of lambs here around my house in the dutch polder…It would be fun to be able to bake such a sweet cake! So I give it a try and join your give away!
I just got your latest book and It’s fun to read it;
I am already looking forward to my next Englandtrip!
Greetings from the Netherlands, Fleur
I love the votive candle in your measuring cup! Going right now to the kitchen to find mine and light it up!
Lamb Cake A Go-Go. Precious!
Animated Snow for the picture of your home. Beautiful!
Betty Crocker’s Kitchen Garden Cookbook. Charming!
Sharing with one of us. Priceless!
Sharing your life with us. We are all BLESSED!!
I want to win…I hope…I hope…I hope.
Your lambie cake brings such fond memories. I’m going to try your daisy cake in a cup cake pan I have that makes little cakes with flower tops. I think it’s just the recipe I’ve been looking for. Thanks!
Oh, how I wish to make that cake and all the other delicious things. But we use grams and liters and so on in Holland and I don’t know what a stick of butter is or a cup of something else.
Would it be really difficult to give also grams a.s.o? That would be great.
Thank you.
I have the same problem with foreign cookbooks. My girlfriend lives in England and to solve the problem for her I sent her a set of cup measurements and measuring spoons (which you could get too, through Amazon, which would make it a thousand times easier). You can go on line and find charts such as these to figure it out.
I brought a fab book from ebay by Delora Jones called American cooking in England. It explains weights & measures & cuts of meats & substitutes & everything! She also did a pocketsize version you can carry in your handbag.
I’m sure you can pick this up from Amazon too.
Failing that I find ask.com everything! So I do that too. Hope this helps Johanna! xxxx
ps love the little lamb and your spring updates Susan. I also love the little cupcake banner. would these beable to be posted to England or is there a minimum order. xxxx
We can send them Nina … just contact [email protected]/~susanbs3/susanbranch/ and she’ll help you.
Thank you!
Thank you Susan Will do xx
I thought of you and your love for lambs while driving down interstate 5 through Oregon where the rolling hills were dotted with grazing sheep. So many new babies, just adorable. Well, you can just imagine my surprise when I read your blog. I love the pictures of your lamb cake and I look forward to trying your recipe. Oh and doesn’t the coconut just make the perfect lambs wool? 🙂
That is a fabulous lamb cake! I don’t know where he’s been all my life – or should I say, where have I been?– because I’ve only ever seen a one-sided lamb cake mold (so the cake sits flat on its side with the face up), before. Between the lamb cake and the Kitchen Garden book (illustrated by Tasha Tudor – be still my heart!) – I’m trying not to drool on my keyboard. What a wonderful giveaway! Thank you for the opportunity.
p.s. It has been spring here, nearly all winter in California, this year. Wish we could trade weather for a bit. We need some (a lot!) of your wet/cool weather – and I’m sure you would enjoy some of our heat and sunshine. Sending warm thoughts to everyone in the cold and snow, right now.
I love how you use your vintage baking utensils.
Even if I do not win, just like I did not win the powerball lottery last night, I will look for this book to add to my vintage garden book collection.
Thank you Susan for a little bit’o’spring
Marcia in Sewell, NJ
Dear Susan
Your cake looked adorable, thanks for sharing it with us all. I have made a note of the receipe and the cupcake receipe too and my 17 year old daughter and I will have a baking fest this weekend
Your unmolded Lamb Cake is the best one I have ever seen. They can be so tricky. Love the toothypick trick ! Wonderful post of it all ! Loved seeing all the progress through pictures ! A fascinating post Susan !
Your cake is adorable and your instructions make it look so easy. I’m imagining what fun I will have if I win this cake pan. Maybe I will make the lamb pink!
“While you’re busy sticking the head back on, the ears fall off. It’s terrible.” That really made me laugh!! Who doesn’t love baking disaster stories!?! 🙂 Your lamb cake looks too sweet to eat. I’m enjoying your spring fever photos, but we haven’t had any snow (yet) this year, so I like the snow pictures too.
Reading your blog I could smell the lemony goodness baking…looking out the window the roads are icy and spring seems forever away. Thanks for making it seem a little closer!
Hi Susan,
I am from Maine and can say that I am definitely ready for spring! Bring on the warm air and lilac! Love winter too,but this year, I’m really tired of shoveling.
Wishing you a very lovely day.
Nancy
Beyond adorable! Thanks for the inspiration!
Absolutely adorable, and lemon and coconut, DELICIOUS!
Oh how I enjoyed your post today. Loved the pictures of the Spring trees and your lamb cake is adorable. Have never seen the book with the Tasha Tudor drawings. Thought I had every one . Hope I win!
Thank you Susan!
I can’t decide whether I like your snowy photographs or your spring photographs best. Anyway, they’re all gorgeous. We cheated a bit and bought some mini daffodils already in flower and have potted them up. They make it look quite spring like although it’s still very cold out.
I love the lamb cake and really fell in love with the gardening book. I shall have to see if I can find one somewhere. Don’t you find that you just never have enough cook books or gardening books? You always need just one more 🙂
I love getting daffodils early. So cheery! And yes, as long as they keep making wonderful books, I will have to keep collecting!
oh wow, this is the first post of yours I’ve read after seeing you reccomended by ‘bunnymummy’ blog. I’m so inspired i want to go and make a lemon lamb cake right now! thank you, i look forward to sitting down with a cup of tea and indulging in more of your posts
Dear Susan.
Thank you for the Spring recipe! I really enjoyed your blog!have a great rest of the week. 🙂
It’s early here in the morning, not as cold as last week, but still winter-ish, & I am reading this lovely blog & dreaming of spring & lamb cakes, too. My kitty, Sable, comes bounding in from whatever mischief he’d been up to, & is sitting staring at me. It’s the bird songs!! Sable is enraptured & twists his head to & fro, looking for the birds. Oh Susan, reading your post this gloomy Thurs. morning has started my day in such good humor! I’ll be smiling all day now. Thank you.
As a newcomer to your blog, I am delighted every time you write a new post, and this one with the sweet lamb is so fun. A lamb cake would not only be perfect for spring and Easter but would also intrigue my two great nieces and one great nephew when they come to Florida for their annual spring break visit (with their parents, of course!).
Can always count on your blog for inspiration. Love the lamb cake and the book is a treasure.
Thanks, Susan.
Loved the lamb cake….I think I actually smelt it baking! “Kitchen Gardens” is a favorite book of mine and Tasha Tudor’s delightful drawings enhance it so…..also love Mary Mason Campbell’s Herb book…..so inspiring and sweet just the right reading material for these snowy winter days! You’ve got me thinking spring thoughts! Thanks!
Can’t wait for spring! Love all the different green colors from the earth.
Always, always enjoy your posts! Thanks for taking the time to share your world with us….. never fails to brighten my day.
I have a church fellowship dinner to go to…this cake – absent the shape, will be served!…Thank you for sharing the recipe!!!
Love Love Love the lamb cake…..almost too cute to cut into….but I’d love to give it a try! Happy almost spring, Susan!
Susan, your Lamb cake looks just like my Mom’s used to look! Oh, it caught my heart this morning when I opened this post. Only Susan knows how to get the struts in so the head won’t fall off, the icing on the plate to hold lambie in place and the firm but moist cake recipe to make a cake that isn’t too tender and fragile. Only Susan knows how important Lamb cakes are in the Spring tradition. Only Susan!! Thank-you for your tutorial and all of the hints. I need to get my Mom’s lamb mold down and try the lemon cake recipe you shared. Is there anything so cute as that coconut icing lamb staring right at you and smelling so absolutely delicious???
Absolutely adorable. Love the lamb cake and I recognized Tasha Tudor as the illustrator immediately….she’s my favorite childrens book illustrator. In fact, we named our girl corgi dog after her. Haha
Love this pretty lamb cake. Thank you Sue! I’m making this front and center for Easter. Love you!
My aunt used to make a lamb cake every Easter. I used to love them. I have often wondered whatever happened to her mold. I hope it is in good use today. Hope you have a good day.
Susan, Your photographs are truly perfection; he best of all (maybe 6) blogs I’ve subscribed to! They draw the reader right in to your kitchen, home, van, life!
And that you can cook..(that’s my husbands skill) and take pictures, and write such entertaining blogs never cease to amaze me! Not to mention, taking a ferry in a blizzard!
The lamb cake is adorable! What a perfect addition to someone’s knitting get together.
Susan, don’t you dare apologize for this long, wonderful post! I enjoyed it so much. I used to have one of those lamb cake pans and used it every year when my daughters were small. I would love to win this prize….. spring is on the way!
I always thought you filled each half of the lamb cake pans with batter and “glued” them together after they were baked! Good thing you showed us how to do it — JUST in case I should find myself the new owner of such lovely cake pans some day… (^_^) I did make a bunny cake once, and my son decided to make it “more realistic” by adding a few Raisinettes to the plate, around his bunny tail… He was a strange child. We raised a few sheep the first few years of his life and he surprised me with a snowman one day… with very expressive eyes and a big smiling mouth and a row of little buttons all down his front… all made with frozen little drops of sheep poop!! (They really do look like Raisinettes!) Thank goodness he outgrew snowman-making before we brought home the cow…
Thanks for the lamb cake recipe and tips to prevent the fractures of the neck and ears. I am inspired to try this , you’ve made it sound foolproof so I’m encouraged! 🙂
Lovely photo of your friends home so inviting. I think New England in winter is the most beautiful of places . You are blessed to be there and appreciate the photos you’ve posted.
The birds are singing now in the mornings in Missouri so spring is on the way! All the snow will make us appreciate the change of seasons even more.
Oh, for a glimpse of spring. Thank you! We have broken all kinds of records this winter with snow and frigid temperatures (Indiana). I am a teacher and we have missed so many days of school I’m afraid we will be going on the fourth of July. Lambs and garden books are just what we need! : )
The lamb is so cute! Thanks for the recipes.
Snow flowers are really pretty, but my goodness sakes the beautiful blooms on these trees are gorgeous! Something for all you folks experiencing winter to look forward to! Our trees have been blooming prettily around here for several weeks, they popped out in the warm weather when we would have preferred more rainy, wintry weather!! A lamb mold, & a book with Tasha Tudor drawings – thank you Susan you’re always so generous – we can hardly wait for Vanna to reach into her Easter bonnet! Your friend’s lovely home picture, my oh my, so nice! Sighing whilst sipping my coffee! xoxoxo
Love the lamb cake mold. I don’t think I have ever seen one. The book is so sweet too. If I won, I would give it to my daughter as she is starting a collection of vintage books. Thank you, Susan, for the thoughtful giveaway.
You can bet I will be making the carrot cake which is absolutely my favorite. And I might try lamb cake if I win since in a few weeks I will be moving next door to a sheep/goat farm in East Tennessee! It would be a nice “hello I’m your new neighbor” gift. Thanks for the opportunity Susan.
They will fall instantly in love with you!