Easter - A Time for Family, Love and The Traditional "Easter Lamb
Cake"
From Bucks County, Pennsylvania
By Carrie J. Gamble
Easter holds such beautiful memories from my childhood. Every year we would
drive “over the river and through the woods” to my grandmother's house. There
was a feeling of excitement in the anticipation of the traditional Easter Egg
Hunt. With eleven grandchildren that was a lot of Easter eggs! As much as
grandmom was an expert in the kitchen, Grandpop von Hohen was a expert Easter
egg hider! He got such a kick out of it! There was always “one more egg” which
no one could find. It would usually turn up in a basket grandpop had tied to the
ropes of the flagpole and hoisted to the top of the pole! We'd all laugh when
the older cousins would finally discover its location and try to get it down.
This special holiday comes at a most wonderful time of year – spring time!
Adding to the fun and festive atmosphere of the day was the beauty of my
grandmother's gardens. There were bulbs galore! All different varieties and
colors of daffodils, tulips and narcissus. There was also a lovely backdrop of
the forsythia hedge. Oh, and who could forget those fuzzy pussy willows! We'd be
running around the yard in our Easter bonnets and it felt more like we were in
the middle of a fairytale. The beauty around us seemed almost magical.
The beauty of the outside graced the inside of grandmom and grandpop's cozy
home with colorful floral arrangements scattered throughout the dining and
living rooms. But what always graced the center of the Easter Sunday Dinner
table? It was the traditional Easter Lamb Cake. This was a pound cake baked in a
lamb shaped mold and covered with white frosting and coconut with jelly beans
for the eyes, nose and mouth. The silver tray it rested on was beautifully
decorated with paper doilies, green Easter grass and sprinkled with colorful
hard boiled eggs and all types of Easter candy – jelly beans, chocolate butter
creams and coconut nests are the ones I remember most.
I hope you are making beautiful memories for your children and grandchildren.
If not, why not start now? They will be so impressed with YOUR Easter Lamb Cake
as a centerpiece to your holiday table. Below is the recipe for the Easter Lamb
Cake. Enjoy!
Best Pound Cake:
Take 2/3 cup sweet butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar and mix together until creamy.
Add � teaspoon lemon rind, 1 teaspoon vanilla, pinch of mace or nutmeg and 1
jigger (equals 1 shot) of rum. Sift 2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2
teaspoon baking powder. Blend with butter and sugar mixture with 2/3 cup milk.
When blended add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating each one in well. If preferred
add 1/2 cup nuts or currants. Pour into a buttered and floured lamb shaped mold
and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Fluffy White Frosting:
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
Combine sugar, cream of tartar, 1/3 cup water and a dash salt in a saucepan.
Cook and stir until bubbly and sugar dissolves. In a large bowl combine egg
whites and vanilla. Add sugar syrup very slowly to unbeaten egg whites while
beating constantly at high speed about 7 minutes or until stiff peaks form. When
cool, frost the cake and sprinkle with coconut. Make eyes, nose and mouth with
appropriate colored jelly beans.
Carrie J. Gamble is co-author, editor and publisher of Grandmother's
Cookbook, a collection of recipes, treasured memories, wildflower watercolors
and feelings from the heart. Details about the cookbook and more delicious
recipes of Carrie's grandmother, Elizabeth Rose von Hohen, can be found on their
website. You'll experience “living life the old fashioned way” with
Grandmother's Cookbook. Visit the website and download FREE recipes and “A
Family Love Letter” chapter at http://www.grandmotherscookbook.com. Enjoy!
