The Legend of the Easter Lamb Cake--A Saginaw Perspective

For the past several Easter holidays, we’ve noticed a plethora of Easter lamb cakes prancing across the Internet—mostly in the form of “cake wrecks.” With ears askew or missing completely, bulging candy eyes or dripping icing, Easter lamb cakes have become a laughable, if not lovable, remnant of Easters past. The question is—where did the lamb cake come from and why? 

Our research of the Saginaw area indicates that the lamb cake came into popularity after World War II—though not always as an Easter dessert. In fact, it was a common choice as a birthday or shower cake, serving double-duty as both dessert and decoration. We can only imagine the childhood nightmares fed by cutting into an adorable lamb for one’s birthday.  

The tradition of the lamb cake seems to have woven its way through the history of Europe and gained popularity along with other molded foods in the mid-twentieth century. According to the Kitchn website: 

“'The lamb was one of our first products,’ said Dana Norsten of Nordicware, ‘added to our line soon after 1946.’ And mid-century food expert [Ruth] Clark cites the ’40s and ’50s as when the lamb cake ‘started really getting popular.’ She attributes it to the trend of “stylized food,” like edible centerpieces; elaborate jellos; and lamb cakes in pastel yellow, pink, or blue, as Dinkels once decorated them.” (https://www.thekitchn.com/the-delightful-kitsch-of-easter-lamb-cake-229511)  

While Saginaw didn’t have a “Dinkels” bakery, we did have Park and Shop.  Park and Shop advertised lamb cakes for Easter in The Saginaw News in March of 1956. Noting the low price of $1.50, lamb cakes could be ordered from the store’s bakery department (along with chickens, rabbits, easter eggs and nest cakes.  We are particularly interested in the chicken cakes and wish there was a picture to accompany the advertisement; alas, this is a post for another time).  

It seems Saginaw really embraced the molded food trend of the 1940s and ‘50s,  When we did a previous blog post on Park and Shop, the Castle Test Kitchen accompanied the history with a colorful molded Neapolitan salad composed of an assortment of vegetables suspended in Jello. A lamb cake fits the trend.  

So, the lamb cake concept came from Europe, and emigrated to the US, but why a lamb? Again, we turn to the Kitchn for an explanation of the significance of this shape: 

“It is important to the religious teachings of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It speaks to innocence and rebirth, but also to sacrifice and memorial. But to speak about these matters directly is difficult. To help us explain them to ourselves and others, we use food, and that’s perhaps how Jesus, as the Lamb of God, got turned into a kitschy cake.” 

The National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library notes that prior to cake molds, effigies of animals were made of bread dough, taking the place of the ancient animal sacrifices that took place for the Easter holiday—and before that, springtime. The red ribbon, commonly depicted on today’s lamb cakes, represents the blood of the lamb. 

Barb and Nancy Kemerer. Hamilton Home Bakery, Hamilton Street store.

As a result, lambs made their way onto Saginaw’s Easter tables. We imagine most local bakeries and department stores once offered them as a trendy food item to have for dessert on Easter Sunday. We even noticed that Hamilton Home Bakery had lamb cakes in this circa 1950s photo of Barb and Nancy Kemerer.   

And so, we thought we’d try our hand at a lamb cake, with the help of the Castle Test Kitchen’s Vintage Mold Department, which unearthed this vintage lamb mold from the deep, dark depths of a family collection ...to be reborn on this blog. 

The Recipe: Vintage Easter Lamb Cake 

Traditionally, lamb cakes were made of a dense cake, like pound cake, that would stand up to the molding/unmolding process—and while we have included a traditional recipe from the Associated Press, which we found in a 1965 edition of The Saginaw News, we couldn’t help but seize the opportunity for a more elaborate showcase of the “bleeding lamb”--with a traditional red velvet cake (Anyone seen Steel Magnolias?) 

Red Velvet Cake (Modified from Preppykitchen.com) 

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

½ cup canola oil

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 tablespoons non-dutch processed cocoa powder* 

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1 tablespoon white vinegar 

1 to 2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring 

Ermine Frosting: 

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 5 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1 cup milk

• 1 cup butter, softened but not melty

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  
  

Decorations (candy, jellybeans, coconut, etc.--optional) 

Instructions 

For the Cake: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour your lamb pan, taking special care with the ears and legs. You can also use a cake release spray (like we did).

   
   

   

   
   

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. 

3. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the oil and sugar and mix on medium. Add the eggs in one at a time, beating each until well combined. Beat in the vanilla. 

   
   
   

   

   
   
   

4. Sift the cocoa powder into the wet mixture and beat just until combined. Scrape down the bowl. 

5. In a liquid measuring cup, mix together the buttermilk, vinegar, and red food coloring. (The more you use the brighter the color when baked.)**

   
   
   

   

   
   
   

6. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture followed by half of the buttermilk mixture to the mixing bowl, beating just until combined. Repeat with the remaining flour and buttermilk. Stop and scrape down the bowl occasionally.

7. Place your lamb mold face-side down onto a baking sheet. Fill this side with batter almost to the top rim. Secure the backside of the lamb. Our lamb mold does not have any form of latch, clip, etc. so we tied the two halves together with butcher's string. The goal is to have the batter rise up and fill the back half of the mold. (We also added some toothpicks into the ears for stability)

   
   
   

   

   
   
   

8. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until done. This is where prayer comes in--pray it's done in the center as there is no good way to tell. When done, let the lamb cool in the pans for about 10 minutes--more prayer might help here--pray that your lovely lamb cake comes out unmutilated--place the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

   
   
   

   
   
   

9. Wrap the completely cooled cake, carefully, in saran wrap and place into the deep freeze. A frozen lamb is easier to frost.

For the Icing:

A lamb cake can be iced any way you'd like--American buttercream, cream cheese frosting, or a simple dusting of powdered sugar, but for our red velvet cake, ermine frosting is the traditional choice.

1. Add the granulated sugar and flour to a medium saucepan and whisk to combine. Turn to medium-low heat and gradually whisk in milk until sugar is dissolved.

2. Stir continuously until mixture thickens to a custard-like consistency and is just under a boil. Don't be tempted to turn up the heat or you run the risk of scorching the mixture.

3. Once mixture is custard-like and a whisk or spatula leaves a ribbon in it, remove from the heat and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the mixture to prevent a skin from forming. Cool to room temperature.

4. Beat butter on high with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

5. Add in flour mixture, a heaping spoonful at a time, beating well after each addition until combined. Add vanilla.

6. Turn mixer up to medium-high and whip until frosting is light and airy. Color as desired and decorate cake.***

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Notes:

*Per AI: "Dutch-processed cocoa powder is cocoa powder that has been alkalized, meaning it's been treated with an alkali solution to reduce its acidity and darken its color. Therefore, a natural cocoa powder, also known as unsweetened cocoa powder, is not Dutch-processed cocoa powder." If you can't find natural cocoa powder (which we could not), go ahead and use the Dutch-processed variety. There won't be a taste difference.

**Red food coloring can cause a bitter taste if too much is used. Proceed with caution. Traditionally, natural cocoa powder reacts with the acid in the buttermilk and vinegar, turning a reddish-brown color and giving red velvet its color (and name). If you prefer a deeper color or can't find natural cocoa powder--use the food coloring. We used 1 Tablespoon.

***Decorate to your heart's desire. We went with a traditional vibe and used shredded coconut (dyed green) for the base, black jelly beans for the eyes and nose, red licorice for the traditional red ribbon around his neck, and a Rolo candy sprayed with gold cake spray as the bell. We smeared the lamb's face first with an offset spatula and added pink smears for his ears-- and then proceeded with a large star tip to give him his fluffy appearance. Be careful of those ears!

--We had fun making the Easter Lamb cake, but we have no way of knowing how overdone the cake may be until we slice into him...we are saving that experience for the rest of the Castle Staff on Monday. Happy Easter!