A Lamb Cake, as the centerpiece for the Easter table, is a tradition for many cultures. My family always had one on our Easter dessert table. It was always a challenge to keep little fingers away from the lamb until after dinner. When we went gluten free, we went years without have a lamb cake on our Easter table. This gluten free Easter Lamb cake brought that tradition back to my family’s table.
At the bakeries I worked at, we sold hundreds of lamb cakes for the holiday. They were always vanilla pound cake with white or chocolate buttercream.
When I started working on this cake, I stuck with pound cake, because it is delicious and holds up well to the mold. This pound cake is lemon, but if you prefer a vanilla pound cake, please see the notes in the recipe.
The lamb molds are easy to find in many stores and online and are relatively inexpensive.
Everyone will enjoy this gluten free Easter Lamb cake. And now there is no reason to ever go without, just because you are gluten free.
To discover more delicious gluten free recipes for all your holiday needs, please visit our recipe page.
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| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 55 minutes |
| Passive Time | 30 minutes to cool, chill oernight |
| Servings |
servings
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Ingredients
Pound Cake
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose gluten free flour mix with xanthan gum plus 2-3 additional tablespoons for flouring molds. *If your flour does not contain xanthan gum add 2 1/2 teaspoons of xanthan gum to your dry ingredients.
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 lemons juiced and zested, omit if making vanilla pound cake is desired
- 2 sticks butter unsalted, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar granulated
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 eggs large, room temperature
- 1/2 cup buttermilk increase to 3/4 cup if vanilla pound cake is desired
- vegetable shortening for greasing molds
- kitchen twine
Frosting and Decoration
- 1 cup candy melts
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- decorating frosting tubes brown and pink
- 3 sticks butter unsalted, room temperature
- 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup cocoa powder if chocolate buttercream is desired
- 3-5 tbsp milk
- 1 cup sweetened coconut
- 2-3 drops green food coloring
- 1 dozen jelly beans gluten free
Ingredients
Pound Cake
Frosting and Decoration
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Instructions
Pound Cake
- Preheat oven to 375° Use the spoon and level method to measure out the all-purpose flour mix.
- In a bowl, whisk together flour, xanthan gum (if needed), baking powder and salt.
- Zest and juice lemons. Set juice aside for later.
- Whisk lemon zest into the dry ingredients.
- In a separate large bowl, cream butter and granulated sugar.
- Add vanilla extract to the butter mixture and blend until just incorporated.
- With mixer on low, add eggs on at a time to the butter mixture, mixing until each egg is incorporated before adding another.
- Measure out buttermilk.
- Alternating between the dry ingredients, buttermilk and lemon juice, with mixer on low, add ingredients in small amounts just until completely mixed. With a spatula, gently mix in any flour that was not incorporated. Do not over mix.
- With vegetable shortening, grease the insides of both sides of the mold. Place 2-3 tablespoons of all-purpose gluten free flour mix in a fine mesh strainer. Tapping the strainer with a spoon, cover the greased molds with flour. Tip molds over and tap to remove any excess flour. Do not use cooking spray. The cake will not unmold cleanly.
- Place the face side of the mold on a baking sheet and spoon batter into mold. Make sure to get batter all the way into the ears.
- Fill the mold completely. Run a knife through the batter to make sure that the batter is evenly distributed. Molds sizes will vary and you may have leftover batter. Do not overfill the mold. I make cupcakes with any leftover batter.
- Place back side of the mold over the top.
- Secure the mold well with kitchen twine to prevent the cake from pushing it up and oozing out of the mold, as it rises. Note: Kitchen twine is also known as cooking twine or butcher's twine. If you can not find kitchen twine, use twine that is 100% cotton. If you use a twine or string with synthetic materials, it will melt in the oven.
- Bake at 375° for 55 minutes.
- After 55 minutes, check cake. A toothpick inserted into the steam hole should come out clean. Remove mold from the oven and set on a cooling rack for 15 minutes.
- The mold will still be warm, so after 15 minutes, carefully cut twine and remove back of mold.
- Do not remove the cake from the front of the mold, but allow it to cool an additional 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, the cake will have pulled away from the edges. Gently invert the molded cake onto a cooling rack and remove the mold.
- Allow cake to cool completely. After the cake is cooled, I like to refrigerate it overnight before decorating. It is not a necessary step, but I find the cake easier to handle when chilled.
Decorating
- When cake is completely cooled, check to see if the bottom of the cakes needs to be trimmed. There may be a ridge where the molds meet. If there is a ridge, trim it flat with a sharp knife.
- You can see the following decorating steps by clicking the video link in the notes below. Measure out candy melts into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring well in between, until completely melted. Add vegetable oil to candy melts and stir until incorporated.
- Place cake on a rack over a baking sheet and spoon candy melts over the face of the lamb, completely covering the ears, face and neck. Allow melts to harden.
- Using decorating frosting, create the face by drawing two brown U's for the eyes, pink ovals for the inside of the ears, a brown heart for the nose and a slightly smaller pink heart for the mouth.
- Make the buttercream by creaming the butter until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, add the powdered sugar in small quantities. Mix on low until blended and then on medium and beat for 4 minutes. To make chocolate buttercream, add 1 cup cocoa powder to the bowl with the powdered sugar.
- Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined. If the frosting becomes to stiff, add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the frosting reaches the desired consistency.
- Place a #2D star tip in a pastry bag, or a large plastic storage bag with the corner cut and fill the bag with buttercream.
- Place a strip of buttercream down the middle of your serving platter and securely set lamb into the frosting.
- Starting around the head, pipe circles of buttercream onto the cake. Continue with the rest of the cake, making sure to cover all the exposed cake.
- Once the cake is frosted, pipe a line of buttercream around the lamb and spread out with an inverted spatula or knife.
- Combine the coconut and green food coloring, stirring until the desired color is reached. Press coconut into the buttercream around the lamb.
- Garnish with gluten free jelly beans.
- Refrigerate the completed lamb until the frosting is well chilled. Once it is chilled, it can be loosely wrapped with plastic wrap.
Recipe Notes
This Easter Lamb Cake recipe is gluten free and vegetarian.
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