Lamb Cake

So the Easter lamb cake is in the oven! I don't remember exactly when the lamb cake mold was purchased, but I've been making the lamb cake for most of our married life. I use my Grandma Lense's pound cake recipe and that brings back all sorts of memories. This pound cake was the first recipe I learned to make by myself when I was a little girl. Although I don't have many memories of interactions with my Grandpa Lense, I do have a memory of strong pride in being able to make a pound cake for him. Two other strong grand-parental memories are that Grandma always had a candy dish on the side board in the dining room that was open game for us and that she always carried Bit-O-Honey candy in her purse which made for very sticky fingers when we rode together in the back seat of the car. I wonder if its common that so many grandparental memories hinge on food? I'll have to make a mental note to bring that up for conversation at our Club 62 gab-fest in Michigan next weekend. But, I digress.

I decorate my lamb cake with sticky-sweet white frosting from the can, then apply the "pieces de resistance"----eyes made from black jelly beans, a stupid looking smile made from pink M and M's, a "necklace" of multicolored M and M's and a "tail" consisting of one black jelly bean. For a special final touch there is usually a ring of multi-colored jelly beans around the bottom edge. No beautiful coconut covered, artistically ribboned store bought cake can compare!

The problem is, however,.....no one likes to eat lamb cake! When we used to have bigger groups for Easter dinner, I'd make a second dessert. What happened is that everyone chose the second dessert and my beautiful lamb just sat there ignored. I quickly learned to ONLY make lamb cake whether our group is big or small! If they want to have dessert, they have to eat the poor lamb's head and put up with the awful candy decorations. So there!

I guess this is how traditions get started. This year we will celebrate Jennifer's birthday on Easter. I asked her last night how she feels about having a lamb cake for her birthday cake. I even went so far as to suggest that we could arrange the candles on the lamb's head in Santa Lucia style. She looked at me like I was crazy and then with polite enthusiasm answered "Sure".

Jennifer's family obviously never had Easter lamb cakes, but this year will start a tradition for her. Lisa, with a few more years of Kosnik Easters under her belt, has brought a little more artistry into the cake decorating over the years and seems to appreciate the tradition.

If Jennifer some day becomes my second daughter-in-law, maybe she and Lisa at a time in the very distant future will fight over who gets the lamb cake mold. Or maybe not.