Poor Clarice, the lambs never stopped screaming. Such is the miracle of springtime, I fear.
Despite our lack of religious conviction, we still have holiday traditions. As such, we celebrate the return of spring by decorating eggs and eating chocolate rabbits. Nothing says “spring” quite like rabbits and eggs, am I right?
Nope, wrong. There IS another way to celebrate spring. My good friend, Lizbeth, introduced me to the mysterious world of The Lamb Cake (dunh, dunh, DUNH!).
It’s been a thing for many years, I’ve learned. Lizbeth learned to make lamb cakes as a child, by helping her grandmother. And because she is a good friend, she decided to send me a mold for a lamb cake.
I should have smelled the set-up.
But since I had orangesicle cake mix and purple frosting in the pantry, I decided to go for it. Because a lamb can be purple if I want it to be! And also, I have purple sheep in Minecraft, so there.
I spent several minutes greasing and flouring the bottom of the cake pan, before pouring in the batter. Did you catch that I said “bottom” in that sentence? That’s important information, since this mold also has a top half. You put the top mold on top of the bottom, and they fit together. As the cake bakes and rises, it rises and shapes itself into the top mold.
THE ONE I DIDN’T GREASE.
Yeah, that one.
And since I’ve been having trouble with my oven every time I bake something, with the edges always being over-done and the middle being under-done, I had the genius idea to cook it in my convection toaster-oven.
What could go wrong?
Lizbeth said she bakes her cake about 20-25 minutes, so I set the timer for 25. When I heard the ding, I took it out and tried to lift the top off. But it would not come off. So I banged on the top a little and wriggled it around, and I finally got it separated. The pan and the cake.
20 minutes my ass!
All I can say is I might be responsible for the lambs screaming.
But since there was still uncooked goo in the middle, I smooshed it back together and put it back in for 15 minutes. My child and I have a fierce love of cake, and I was not going to give up hope.
But I should have.
It almost still resembles a lamb.
I managed to get it out of the pan, but lost several big chunks and the neck broke. So this lamb was going to have to be the lying down kind of lamb. I figured I could maybe cover up all the imperfections with frosting. Easy-peasy!
Let me preface this by saying that I am not a professional baker, lest all my fancy trickery above has you believing that I am. I can passably frost a square or round cake, but I’ve not previously made an attempt to artfully frost a character cake. How hard could it be?
So I began applying the purple frosting and made a special effort to fill in the missing chunks and the gigantic crack in the neck. And then I found some mini M&Ms for eyes, because we do things big at my house.
And I was finished! Connor had been dancing around, waiting for the cake to be finished. I tilted it up to show him and he was ECSTATIC. “Can I have some now, PLEEEEEEASE?”
“Of course! Let me show dad first.”
I walked over and tilted it up for hubs, who then looked at me with one eyebrow much higher than the other, and then he passed on having some cake.
The hell?
I think he did not appreciate my artistic endeavor…
It’s still good cake under that frosting!
And the lambs still scream…
Ok, I admit it…it’s not my BEST cake ever. But if you’re a cake freak like me and Connor, it doesn’t matter. Damn straight we ate that cake!
The next day, Lizbeth sent me a picture of her lamb cake. Don’t worry, we’re still friends. But I will not just lie down and die, oh no. I’m making another one this weekend. I will not be beaten by a cake mold. We’ll just call my first one the “sacrificial lamb” of spring.
Other kid’s moms make lamb cakes like this.
I’m positive my next one will look just like this, except I’ll be using a red velvet mix. What could go wrong?
Living on the Spectrum: The Connor Chronicles 
I still say yours is the best purple bug cake I’ve ever seen.
And THAT is what happens when you almost have me pee in the dog dishes to assert dominance.
And the girls still swear yours is a parrot but really? Who cares, it looks like a damn good cake and if you didn’t poison anyone then it’s all good. You didn’t poison anyone did you???
Ha, not THIS time!
I still say it looks like a penis.
So, I think hubby might have passed on the cake because it resembled Jabba the Hutt. Just sayin’. I’m all for cake, but I don’t know if I would attempt this. A+ for effort!!
It kid of does look like a penis. One with eyes.
Here’s a hint for cake decorating when time allows….
Let cake cool, depending on size of cake take a cup of frosting and do a thin layer of icing just to make sure every part that will be frosted later is covered (its okay if there’s crumbs!). Stick in fridge (preferably freezer) for a few hours or overnight. Once your thin layer is hard… BOOM! you have a semi easy cake to frost with no crumbs in the outside frosting once complete.
**kind
This freaking kills me. Your effort is so great. lmao! We have butter lambs in our grocery store. A stick of butter.. in the shape of lambs. Makes me crack up every time i see them
Honestly, yours looks easier to eat than the other one. The other one looks too *real* and I would feel a little creeped out trying to eat it! 😉 Great post, thanks for the laugh!
I’m still laughing about this cake!!! I just told Bil I need to get a mold and try making one. What could possibly go wrong? Hahahahaha!
oh, it’s a lamb? Ummm, yeah, I can totally see that.
Rex velvet cake just makes everything okay!
That is the best Jabba The Hutt cake I’ve ever seen. Totally.
Pingback: How Jabba the Lamb Saved Facebook | CraftFail
Thanks again for letting me feature you on CraftFail! This is definitely the most delicious-looking purple penis I’ve ever seen. Wait… Well, you know what I mean. Next time, save a piece for me!
http://craftfail.com/2014/04/how-jabba-the-lamb-saved-facebook/
I would totally eat your purple orangesicle lamb cake – because it’s more fun to eat something terrifying than it is to eat something pretty.
XO
your cake reminds me of myself at christmas. I try. i really try to put together cool and cute holiday decorations, but I fail. As for wrapping the gifts. On the big day, I invite one of my younger grandkids to the house to “help Grandma wrap the gifts.” [in our family, Santa brings no gifts. He stuffs the stockings and eats the treats we leave for him] She does help a little bit, but we mostly watch Christmas shows and decorate Christmas cookies.
come Chritmas morning, when we pass out the gifts, i tell everyone ‘Isabella helped me wrap gifts,” which everyone [except for the older grandkids who were once in on the deception] believes because I truly can not wrap any better than my 4 year old grand daughter. Everyone tells her what a good job she did. Bella beams in pride believing that she did in fact wrap all of the gifts with only a tiny bit of help from Grandma.
And, thusly, Christmas is saved!
Best cake ever, who doesn’t love a purple, penis Jabba the Hutt – I mean, except your husband obviously. MEN.
Anna, I am so glad my husband doesn’t read this blog. He’d see your comment and immediately request that I make some purple icing…for decorating stuff.