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! ♥
Hi Susan,
I can’t wait to make one of your lamb cakes for some of my 13 grandchildren this Easter. The frosting recipe is similar to your recipe for marshmallows which I made earlier this month. Now, they were fun to make and more fun to eat; they last forever and I still have some–yum! Thanks for encouraging me to try new things.
Cecelia from Virginia but temporarily in Florida
I love lambs, and all things “Easter-ish” and “Spring-y”. You are a very generous girlfriend!
LOVE. IT. Sooooo adorable! Do Arnie and Paula live in your first house on MV? It looks like pictures which you’ve posted of that home in the past…? At any rate, thank you for the wonderful recipe!
My mother always made a bunny cake around Easter, but carved all the pieces from circle pans. It would be fun to have this mold and surprise her this year with a lamb cake. Thanks!
I just discovered this wonderful blog after reading A Fine Romance. So, of course I had to order the AFR charm (and a calendar, too!!). I live in SC, and although our winter has not been as devastating as others’ we still have had our share of the cold and the white stuff. Your spring-longings resonate with me, and have inspired me to “think spring”! In fact, I’m going to make a cup of cappuccino, curl up on the couch, read the spring archives from this blog…and dream!
Nice to meet you Pam!
Your are just so nice ! I love the lamb cake pan . I just set out my sheep and lamb collection the other day trying to bring a little spring into my life. Thanks for the chance to win the cute pan.
What a very sweet cake pan! And thanks to your influence I am planning my own little kitchen garden (with a white picket fence of course!). However, I’ve never had a green thumb so results may be mixed! Also, I am loving tea every afternoon in my new adorable lavender “teapot for one” filled with your special blend . Heavenly!
My daughters would love to make a lamb cake. And I would love the gardening book with Tasha Tudor’s pictures!
That was a delightful post! Never too long. The sun has been shining in Maryland for three days now and the anticipation of Spring is certainly on everyone’s mind. The crocus will be the first to pop up through the snow and that always seems so magical. I would be thrilled to win the garden book and lamb mold….Keeping my fingers crossed.
Dear Susan,
What a welcome cheerful blog to read on a cold winter day with snow on the roof with gigantic ice cycles dangling from it! I remember a lamb butter mold just like your cake mold that was a feature at a Holy Thursday meal at our church. Your cake made with the mold would be fun to make this year, but I probably wouldn’t want to cut it for dessert…too cute!
Hope spring arrives soon for all of us.
Thank you so much for a wonderful “letter.” Calling it a blog doesn’t quite make it. I love the images and the writing. Perfect for a day in the Chicago area when it’s going to be 50 degrees with 60 mph gusts. I’ll make this cake over the weekend when our temperatures slide down to 3 degrees! Cheers…
I am typing this with one hand since I injured my right arm, but I did want my name in the drawing : ) Love the Spring pictures; They give me hope…
Thank you Susan for bringing some Spring into our homes. I love the lamby cake and I am a lover of lambs! Soooo cute! It would be fun to make this cake and read the garden book!
Thanks for the breath of Spring, we need it here in snowy Pennsylvania after this trying winter! Gonna go buy some lemons right now!
My daughter’s mother-in-law makes a ‘lamb’ cake every Easter for dinner, but she calls it an Easter Cow. Her cake pan is old and the proportions are just not right for an Easter Lamb. I would LOVE to win your cake pan to give to her this year! (I will keep the gardening book for myself!)
Baaa! Baaaa! I am dreaming of spring and lambs and red winged blackbirds too!
Susan,
As a child growing up in the “50’s” my next door neighbor was my “other-mother”.
I hung out in her kitchen and garden and as a result she influenced my love of gardening, flowers, homemaking, flowered china, and lambs. I spent hours gazing at her collections of lambs and china. I have on our bedroom shelf the small pink flowered Shelley teacup and ceramic mother and baby lamb she gave me as a child. So when ever you do “lamb talk” it warms my heart. I have added an abundance of china to keep company with that teacup but only a few lambs. The sweet pair are pretty hard to compete with- but that lamb mold would please my grandchildren!
Thank you,
Lani
Thank you,
Lani
The lamb cake would be great for an Easter tea party with mt granddaughter. She would love it! Thank you.
Oh yes, we sure do need a little spring especially here in snowy Michigan! I love your pictures of spring and your lamb cake looks delicious. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe.
The lamb cake is sooo adorable!! I can just guess how you girls from up north is longing for Spring. It has been a long winter for ya’ll. I live in Fl and our azaleas are in bloom and trees are coming out that wonderful bright green. It feels like Spring this week. Been getting my flower beds ready for colorful flowers. On the down side allergies are cranking up too. Thank you for the Spring inspiration
As usual, you make my day! I’ve never been a fan of sifting, usually omitting it altogether, but I watched your video and will give your method a whirl with my mother-in-law’s vintage sifter. It doesn’t have flowers like yours, but it does have a turquoise handle that you squeeze to sift. And speaking of vintage things….my mother still has the lamb cake mold she used to make my older sister’s first birthday cake in 1952! Vintage sifter, cake mold, and sister! I’m three years younger, so I’m not quite yet vintage! 🙂 Thank you, Susan Branch, for just being too cute…you brighten my days!
This post sure adds to my Spring Fever–and I loved every minute of it! All seasons have their beauty, but I am ready for Spring with blossoms and cute little lambs. Love your blog and your books! Joyful!
Sigh. Always such an inspiration!
Thanks for sharing some spring ideas. We are all hoping that one day it will arrive.
My aunt Dorothy made a perfect lamb cake from that mold every Easter. I have made one for the last 25 years. Some years the ears fall off and it looks just like a sphinx. Cute with little jelly bean eyes and nose! We are starting to enjoy the sphinx more than the lamb. Thank you for the toothpick trick, I usually do that after I take it out of the pan. Thanks!
hi susan….ooooohhh….I am sooooo making this lamb cake!! Loved your post today….it IS a “think spring” day around here..we awoke to thunderstorms!! I truly think we have experienced all four seasons in the last week!! Your photos are wonderful..i especially love the sifter with assistant Jack in the background. The toothpick and skewers are genius… we admired many wonderful homes while on MV in July and remarked how wonderful it must be when it snows..and we were right!! It is a fairlyland! just gorgeous!! thank you for the fun inspiring post….can’t wait to get into the kitchen!! 🙂 love, cindy
Hi Susan,
There is definitely spring fever here in Philadelphia! Yesterday a flock of robins,
hundreds! of them, descended on our yard. They were wildly attacking evergreens (maybe cedars?) that have berries. Swooping all over the place and driving our two cats crazy in the window. I see this act every year but it was so welcome to witness their arrival. Today it is sunny and the white stuff is melting little by little. Never will a spring be more anticipated than this one!. Would love to win your little lambie pan and the book. Here’s hoping Vanna picks me!
Oh Susan you have gotten me thinking of spring, now I want to sit down and plan what I am going to plant in my gardens this year 🙂 The lamb cake is absolutely adorable, but 2 nieces would love it if I brought something like that to Easter dinner. I have never seen the kitchen garden’s book you showed. It looks like it would be really good reading. I will have to be on the look out for it the next time I go shopping for old books 🙂
Everything is just delightful! Love the red and white vintage potholder that was also in another post. I have some that I made 50 years ago and gave to my aunt. I inherited them again when she passed away. Love the Kitchen Garden cookbook, too! Would love to have you draw my name!
What an adorable post today! Thank you soooo much – I really needed a bit of spring inspiration. I mean REALLY needed it. I think starting to plan a garden would be a good pick-me-up! My mother loves Tasha Tudor and collects her books, but she doesn’t have that one. Unlike so many of the girlfriends, I have never seen a lamb (or any other) cake mold! I wondered how it worked when I saw it in the last post – it is really very clever isn’t it! Do you ever get dents in the back side of the lamb from air being trapped? I saw the one air hole – apparently it must be enough? I would love, love ,love to win your pan and try this myself! ❤
Love the lamb cake. I Always made a bunny cake when my daughter was a little girl. Would love to make the lamb for her now. Being of a sentimental nature, I find Tasha Tudor’s illustrations so enjoyable. They evoke so many memories of happy family times. Thanks for sharing your “treasures”.
What an adorable cake. How precious it would be to have as your Easter centerpiece. You always have the most unique things. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Such cute cakes and a lovely little kitchen book! Thank you for the opportunity to win both! ~ Donna
What a great tip about the wooded sticks in the head of the lamb cake. I have used pound cake to make my cake, but would always fear that the head would fall off. I usually put the cake in a quiet room, so no one would disturb it. Now, with your help, I don’t have to worry anymore. Love it.
What a darling cake! Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Hi Susan! Thanks for the wonderful getting- us- through- the- last- horrible -weeks- of- winter posts! Just love the lamb cake! Also love Tasha Tudor; there is a cookbook of hers which is beautifully illustrated and has her wonderful family recipes called, “The Tasha Tudor Cookbook”, which is still in print and available. There is a recipe in it for hot cross buns which I have been making for years and it is delicious. Hopefully Spring will be here soon! At this point here in the midwest, anything above 32 degrees qualifies for a celebration!
Nancy, I have Tasha Tudor’s cookbook too. I’ve never made anything from it but now, thanks to you, I’ll make the hot cross buns for Easter.
Wow, what a great post. My sweet mother-in-law bought me a lamb pan a couple of years ago and I have never used it. BUT now I know how and I am excited, as is my daughter Emma – she was peeking over my shoulder while reading your post, to try it out! I have that book…love it. Love Tasha and Mary….the book reads like a good comfy friend! I think what caught my eye the most is the owl timer…my kitchen is a farm kitchen with owls here and there. I have a chicken timer…but Mr. Owl is so much cuter. In the one picture it looks like he is peeking in anticipation and curiosity and surely does not know the importance of his role in the whole event. Lamb count on our farm is now 29 in the barn and 1 in the house. Take Care!
You always make the cutest and most delicious things! I would adore the lamb cake mold and the book looks wonderful also. Thank you for putting a touch of Spring in my day….:)
Susan, I just loved the pic’s. of the lamb cake! And I also always love the pic’s. of your kitchen and the rest of your house. For some reason it always reminds me of “Anne of Green Gables”, probably because it’s on an island and it’s an older home…just has that same feel to me when I see the pic’s. Please enter me in the drawing…would love that book too!
I have loved reading your blog for years. My very first book I have is your Christmas Book and I would not give it away for anything. I m suffering now with migraines & fibromyalgia and you take me away for just a little while to a place that is beautiful and charming and pain free. Thank you for allowing me into your life. I have loved every minute of if.
awww lovely as always….thanks for the warm up and the recipes….(runs off to start some carrot cake cupcakes….)….yummmm
I love this! I’m having family over for Easter dinner and this will make a perfect dessert. Your blog warms my heart on this cold, windy Maritime day.
Lovely, lovely, lovely! The lamb cake is just precious and I’m always on the lookout for old cookbooks/housekeeping books! They are so charming! Thank you for a peek into your world!
This was a hope filled post and the cake turned out very nicely. I should like to do this for my grandbabies who come to my house every Sunday and then carry the mold with me for another set of grands in March when I go. What a super post!
Your lamb cake is precious! And now it’s official….Spring Fever!
How delightful! I love, love, love this lamb pan and cake. Hope for Spring!
That lamb cake is adorable. It makes me want to troll Ebay to find one for myself. I am a cake decorator who’s name is Lamb. Your site is always beautiful and fun to read. Whether Vanna picks my name, or not. I always start my day reading about Martha’s Vinyard. Thank you!
Love It, Susan! Thank you for sharing!
I think my favorite was, “Allow pretty pets to watch your every move” :0)
OMG, Lady S. Your post had me completely enthralled w/your tasty lambie-cake.
But, when I saw the Tasha Tudor illustrated garden book; I briefly lost my breath and said a little prayer to Vanna….. pick me, pick me dear Vanna, chooser for precious little gems……. Thank you.
Do you remember the British singing duo, Chad and Jeremy?
(not quite The Beatles, but still swoon-worthy!!!)
Back in 1967 when my two best girlfriends and I were in 7th grade, we learned C&J were doing a Concert nearby and we were DESPERATE to see them! We concocted a brilliant plan to bake them a HEART cake since we LOVED them so much! Without a cake mold, we baked a square layer and then a round layer cut in half to fit on the square into the Heart shape. We spent an entire Saturday planning, baking, and decorating that cake…fantasizing about how much they would love it….and us!!!! How proud and excited we were! We snuck in the back door of the concert hall (loose security in those days!) searching for our idols! A group of Fraternity guys who sponsored the concert stopped us and began laughing hysterically at our cake, jeering and mocking us, “Hey TeenyBoppers! Where’s the Aorta???” They took it away and left us feeling stunned and ashamed. Even though we reminisce and laugh now at our girlish enthusiasm, I avoid making cakes and usually stick to pies and cookies all these years!
Watching you make this little Lambie Pie Cake has stirred a redemptive determination to give cake-making another GO! You make everything look Fun!
Waiting too for Spring, but remember Chad and Jeremy’s hit song, “Summer Breeze”??? That memory has me longing for Summer too! Ha!
As I was watching the pouring rain melt several weeks of snow outside my window just now, I was reading your blog and feeling springtime in my home. Your words and pictures put us into another world for a brief moment and life is good. The lamb cake is beautiful and I would enjoy baking with the lamb mold-so many ideas swirling in my head. I did not know about the Kitchen Gardens book. It is so much fun to learn something new from you. I have been an admirer of Tasha Tudor’s work for years. It would be grand to have another book of her works in my collection. Thank you for bringing spring to us even for a brief moment!
Love the lamb cake and love the cookbook! I have a copy of the Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook from 1970 and it is similar in style, but is illustrated in line drawing and watercolors by the talented Erik Blegvad. He also illustrated “Mud Pies and Other Recipes” by Marjorie Winslow, one of my all-time favorite childhood books.
Hi, Susan!
I have that same lamb cake mold and make it every year for our great nieces and nephews. I also have a tip to get the cakes out easier from any “molded” cake pan- a lady at the thrift shop where I volunteer also suggested sprinkling the greased and floured cake pan with granulated sugar. I personally haven’t tried it yet, but she said it works every time. I love the wisdom and tricks of “seasoned” folks that are passed down. Thanks for your wonderful blog! How’s Jack and Girl Kitty? My love to you all!❤️
so sweet to get the WONDERFUL blog in another dreary not-quite-spring day!! Getting rains next & sure do wish the Girlfriends in Calif. could share in that. Don’t know where to start…the chicks..the cake..the flowers…..recipes, too. We ARE LUCKY to have you & all your goodness. It takes a special person to not only take the time to document the entire process…but to GIVEAWAY such beauties as well. I love & collect cookbooks also. Imagine my delight when I discovered that a book sale find turned out to illustrated by Eric Carle. Who knew he ever did cookbooks?? That was a fun day. So again, thanks for everything.
Dear Susan–I’ve been making a “Bunny” cake for over 30 years. This Easter I’d love to make a Lamb cake. Hope I win!! Go Vanna!
Happy Spring, Pamela
Love the post- lost my beloved 14 year old blind kitty unexpectedly last night and due to grieving decided to take a cut from my yoga class to sit with my coffee and read your lovely post. It is such a comfort- thank you! It is my not-so-guilty pleasure so please keep writing. I LOVE bunnies and chickies and lambs. And I collect Tasha Tudor books because I love her illustrations and her beautiful books and reading about her amazing life- she is my other comfort! XO Susan… you are the best!
So sorry for your loss, Amanda. It’s always a little bit harder, I think, when it’s unexpected. But hope it’s comforting to know that your kitty sees perfectly now…
Thank you Janet!
So sorry to hear about the loss of your beloved friend. My sympathies to you.
Thank you Jeanne 🙂
Hi Susan
I am sorry you are having such a snowy winter. I wish you could send some of that snow to northern California- we are desperate for anything that melts into water.
Janice
Love, love, love the Lamby cake mold! Pick me Vanna!
What a beautiful Blog today. I was feeling the cabin fever bad yesterday. Got up this morning and it is bright and sunny. Going to be in the 40’s today.Yippy! The blog just made my day even more. It put a spring in my step. The spring pictures made me fell like I could smell spring in the air. I to have a big beautiful Forsythia tree in my front yard and can’t wait till it blooms this year. I look forward to it every year like you do. Love your cherry tree.Thanks for the pictures. Love the Lemon cake recipe. I will have to make this next. I made Chocolate cake last night. Love the lamb mold and the book. In hopes to win like all the other girlfriends. Enjoy your day. I feel so good today. That’s how your Beautiful self makes all of us feel each and everyday. I know I can count on going into the blog and coming out feeling So Great Inside. You are like the Shirley Temple of our days now. Thank you so much for being you. Keep up the great work. More books please. Have a wonderful day. SMILE!!
I’m so ready for spring and the green goodness it brings. Tulips and forsythia and new baby calves frolicking in the pasture. The lamb cake would be perfect to serve to my family at Easter…it will be the first time my entire family (all of my brothers and cousins!) will be together in 9 years!!! I can’t wait!
Thank you Susan for sharing your wonderful recipes and giving us a promise of Spring. Would love to win these!
That lamb cake is adorable! I want to make one, too!
You are so inspiring, I love reading your blog. Thank you so much for reminding me of Spring is just around the corner. Even though I live in California and our weather is beautiful, there is nothing as wonderful as spring. With all the beautiful smells and lovely pastel colors it brings.
The lamb cake pan would be so fun to make for Easter. Everyone would surely love having it for Easter.
Thank you so much for your lovely writing’s .
Susan, I so enjoy your blog! …and I KNOW our 14 grandchildren would get such a kick out of a “Lamb Cake” for our Easter dinner–your recipe sounds delicious, too!
Loved the bird sounds as I was reading this wonderful, Spring post!! Makes me hopeful, here in Wisconsin. The librarian of our tiny library had some flowering plum tree cuttings in a jar of water last week.. made me think “I better get on it, too!” and you have so helped me with this post! Thanks.. my fingers are crossed for the cute cake mold and book. Thank you, Susan!
Love the Betty Crocker cookbook! Mine is old, but not that old. It looks like a treasure. And thanks for the lambie cake, just in time for Easter season plans.
My grandkids are coming to visit us in Texas from North Carolina for Easter this year and a lamb cake would be such a wonderful treat to greet them with when they arrive!
I enjoy your inspiring books and blog. Thank you for writing them. I, too, collect lambs AND I collect Tasha Tudor books. I didn’t know this cookbook existed!
Susan I feel as if I am in your wonderful kitchen with you cooking this lamb cake. It is beautiful, and I, too, have a love and affection for all things sheep/lamb. Because of your inspiration, I feel the need to make such a cake this Easter for sure. Thank you again for the wonderful recipes and your inspiring words. God Bless!
What a great post. I really needed that. I need SPRING. Not sure I can shovel one more scoop of snow, although I will if I have to 🙂 Just love all the gifts you giveaway which are all part of your charm. Please just plunk my name into the batch. Thanks
Thank you for sharing your gorgeous home and beautiful yard, your delicious recipes and your wonderful, delightful self. Your blogs certainly get my days off to a good start. You are a true kindred spirit!
Thank you for being YOU!
PS. I love all the MUSICA that you add in too!
Susan, I too am so ready for Spring. I live way down in Augusta Georgia and we are still recovering from an ice storm that took so many beautiful old trees down that everyone was told to put all their debris on the curb to be picked up so our town looks like a war zone. Very unusual for us down here so that’s why I enjoy looking at your beautiful winter pictures. Today is suppose to be around 80 so I have the windows open and listening to your MUSICA and thinking about Spring and getting my veg. garden ready. Thank you for your blog so us southerners can get a glimpse of the northern scenery.
Beautiful lamb cake. Your weather is so opposite to us in California this year. I feel like we haven’t had much of a winter at all this year. The daffodils are in full bloom!
Susan, I love how you make every day fun and special. What a treat for your friends, when you came walking in with that sweet little lamb cake. Every day joys~ we all need to remember this.♥
Love the cake but the book is wonderful with Tasha Tudor’s drawings.
I have never made a lamb cake, but feel sure I could with your detailed instructions – and maybe your cake pan? I am enamored with your writing, painting, home, etc. Thank you for sharing your beautifully simple and charming lifestyle with us.
What a sweet cake! And the recipe sounds delicious!
Dearest Cranberry Bog Avoider,
Can’t believe all the great posts you’ve been kind enough to create for our enjoyment, thank you.
Love the idea of creating a 3-D lamb; last year you did a post for a bunny. I made it, did it up just like you suggested and may I say, it was simply “all that!” I pulled a runner, leaving it at the doorstep of my sister on Easter morning as her grandchildren spent the night. When I arrived later for Easter dinner the kids were tickled with that bunny and how it arrived on the doorstep. If I had a 3-D lamb mold I might try that this year; what a fun surprise that would be for those kiddos.
Ever since seeing your kitchen garden, both on M.V. and in CA, the vision has danced around in my head like sugar plum fairies. I do love gardening but must admit, I have never done a proper garden with vegetables/herbs – anything edible. I’d love to give that a whirl.
Fingers crossed our flight via Denver to Cincy tomorrow does not get delayed by weather. We have timed tickets for the Princess Diana Exhibit on Saturday and it’s a policy of snooze you lose. Don’t care as much about the flight home, which is when they are forecast a light snow, operative word being snow.
Cheers you cranberry blogger you (that was on purpose:) Carrie
P.S. The home where you brought the lamb almost looks like Holly Oak, your first home on M.V. You did mention the current owner had done some remodeling…
It’s a cape, a style of house they have here — good eye Carrie!
Have fun Carrie, good weather on you!
Love Love Love this Lamb pan! My dad was a Pastor for 50 years and he always collected lambs in his office. He was the “shepard” and he even has a staff. I will have to send you pictures of his office and our tree. Growing up we always had a HUGE lamb Christmas Tree every year. It is beautiful! A fresh tree, hundreds of white lights, tons of beautiful lambs in all shapes and sizes with fluffy white garland and a Sheep night light to top it off!! You would love it!
Heather, that sounds absolutely beautiful! I love lambs, too but to decorate a Christmas tree with them,wow!
Such a lovely breath of Spring! Love all the blooming trees. I’ve never made a lamb cake – how have I made it this far without one? Know your cake is just yummy and will made our Easter so much better! Thanks, again, for all the Spring inspiration!
Hello Susan! It’s “thunder snowing” in Dearborn, Michigan! Lots and lots of snow falling from the sky!!!! Unbelievable!!!! Boom, boom, boom….ooooooh lightening too!!! Yikes!!!!
What a wonderful giveaway, it certainly gives me spring fever! Love that lamb cake pan and I know my granddaughter would love the cake that comes out of it!
..’tried to refrain from “commenting” since I already received this precious book from your web store awhile back (it is a treasure) and the sound of” mary ate a little lamb” just doesn’t sound right in my realm of thinking..lol…BUT you know me, dear Susan; I always feel the need to “comment” at least to say thank you !!…such another heart felt give-a way…and I can also vouch for that carrot cake recipe.. it is yummy !!…happy spring fever, everyone..it won’t be long now !!
…on second thought, what a great gift to a friend that would be !!..thanks, again, Susan….
And I’m glad you take the time to do it!
Thank you so much for the lovely glimpse of Spring!
Hi Susan~ Another great post! The Spring lemon lamb cake looks wonderful. And I liked the bunny cake too (bunnies are my favorite). Anything helps at this point with the long Winter we have all had. We have another winter storm heading our way and The Weather Channel is saying 12-18″ of snow for our area tonight into tomorrow. Yikes!! Thank you so much for a chance to win your wonderful lamb baking pan and “Kitchen Gardens” book (Tasha Tudor~yay!).
What an inspiration update this is, as snow falls in Denver to be reminded that spring does come eventually. Hope your friends loved the ‘lamby’ cake and I loved all the tips with toothpick. skewers and kitchen twine.
Dear Vanna, please, please pick my name from all the wonderful people who comments. I promise to make Lamb cakes for Easter, if you do.
Wow! You already have 639 posts for this blog! Miss Vanna is going to be a very busy, letter-turning lady 🙂
You know, Susan, I go to you for your gorgeous water color artwork. As I have said in the past, I am so drawn to the botanicals you paint and then have fallen in love with the people you paint and the clothing you put on them. So cute! But, I gotta tell ya, I love it when you take pictures when you’re preparing a recipe. It’s fun to see what you’re going through and, also, what our creation SHOULD be looking like at certain points in the recipe. I love it!
Take care. Wishing for Spring as you are. You remind me that I must go out and fill my bird feeders! Have a nice day! Love you!
My mother-in-law used to make a lamb cake every spring for Passover/Easter. My husband remembers it and his mother (no longer with us) with love and fondness every spring. The lamb cake pan would be a wonderful gift for him (and I would make the cake.)
You’re a genius! Looks beautiful and sounds delicious! I bet your house smells delish!!! I’ve stared bringing in the Spring & Easter decorations to hurry Spring along. Just love your lamb & bunny cake molds. Always love reading your blog…a peaceful time of the day!
Your cake is so cute and I know that you have saved whoever wins the pan a mountain of frustration with the skewer tip! Your blog is so refreshing. Looking at your scenes of gentle domesticity just does one’s heart good in the midst of a crazy world. Thanks!
Thank you for being such an inspiring Lady. You have brought so much joy into my life. You personally responded to a letter that I had written you and I was so happy to hear from you. As a disabled Adult, I have found inspiration and wonderful ideas from all of your books and messages. I look forward to all of your messages and books as I continue to add to my personal collection. Continue to be the talented and gifted person who brings positive joy to everyone. Enjoy!!
Love your Spring post. We here in the Northeast are ready for some color and warmth!!
The lambie-pie cake was over-the-top in cuteness! Baaaaaaaaa! Such a sweet blog! Such a sweet You! Any update on when the spring banners will be for sale?
Very soon I’m hearing! I’ll be sure to tell everyone the moment they come in.
I have always love Tasha Tudor’s illustrations,but even more so now that we got our daughter the corgi she has wanted since she was 12. We now collect corgi books for her,like the corgiville series by Tasha Tudor. I understand why she had so many corgis they are full of character and alot of fun although one is all we can handle for now,lol It’s all our poor cat can handle also,lol.
I love seeing your step by step directions. Your lamb cake turned out beautiful! I only hope I can do as well. I love baking and trying new things. Thanks for the inspiration!
I loved that it was a nice long message. I loved every cozy detail. The lamb cake looks yummy and cute all at the same time. And your friends house! Oh my! It was just like a fairy tale world! Or to coin a phrase from a song I remember…its a marshmellow world in the winter….! Love Love Love Winter!
Shelia
Oh! Susan! What an inspiring post for Spring! We are ready here in Atlanta for Spring after two ice and snow storms! Good luck to all of us for your generous giveaway. Hugs from Barbara Stillman in Cumming, GA (just 45 min. north of Atlanta).
A touch of spring is just what I need right now! 12-15″ of heavy wet snow is predicted for tonight. Just waiting for spring…!
I have never made a lamb cake before, but that looks like fun! Pick me!
I remember my mother making the lamb cake every Easter when I was a little girl growing up. I don’t know what ever happened to that sweet mold, probably in someone’s home being well taken care of, but oh how I wish I had that lamb mold now. My grandchildren would love it!