Lamb Cake Attempt #1

Yesterday I set out to try my hand at baking a lamb cake.

We recently got the lamb cake pan re-seasoned, and I was anxious to give it a go.

Armed with what is supposed to be the original recipe that came with the Wagner cast iron lamb molds.

Recipe For One Cake

1-1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sour milk
1 tsp soda
a little salt
2-1/2 cups flour
1 cup nuts
1 tsp cinnamon and cloves and nutmeg (I used 1 tsp cinn, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp cloves)
1 cup raisins
1 tsp baking powder
1 skewer and 2 toothpicks
Cream sugar, butter and eggs, add milk, soda, flour, salt and spices. Mix well without
beating. Fill face and ears of mould (these must not have nuts or raisins in them).
Add nuts and raisins chopped fine and floured, and the baking powder.
Fill pan level, place a toothpick in each ear and the skewer in the neck.
Fit upper pan on and bake in moderate oven for one hour or more, or until upper pan comes
off easily. Let cool in lower pan.

Icing
1-1/2 cups white sugar
2/3 cup water
whites of two eggs
flavoring
1/4 lb. shredded coconut

Boil sugar and water until it threads. Beat whites of two eggs stiff, pour syrup over eggs,
beat until cool. Ice cake all over and throw on the coconut. Use raisins for the eyes and a
piece of candied cherry or raisin for the mouth.

I prepared the mold well with crisco and flour

Filled the head and neck first and reinforced with a chopstick and two toothpicks

then filled the rest of the front mold, placed the back on top, and baked at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.

It came out of the mold cleanly (yay!)


But I should have left it in the oven longer.
The inside was not baked. 🙁

So I didn’t bother to frost it.

But what was baked was very tasty. Spicy and sweet.
And the head and neck very very solid with their reinforcements baked in.

I think that in addition to not baking it long enough, I might have overfilled the front mold as well, which kept the center from being able to cook correctly. (there are no vent holes in this mold)

I’ll give it another try sometime very soon. And hopefully have a chance to try the italian meringue frosting as well!

Vest update:
It’s off the needles!

I have quite a bit of tidying to do- steek edges and loose ends, buttons and button loops, then blocking. But I’m really pleased with how it’s coming together!