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Camellias are popular, long-lived, evergreen shrubs (or small trees) renowned for their glossy foliage and stunning, rose-like blooms that appear from fall to spring. As staples of Southern gardens, they bloom in white, pink, and red, thriving in acidic, well-draining soil and partial shade in zones 6-10. Here at the condo, the bush in the center garden finished blooming last week. The bush by the walkway from parking to the condo building has been blooming steadily. It is slowing down, and I believe the end of the camellia season is almost here.
Spring time means newborn animals, leaves on trees, grass starting to grow, and flowers pushing up in the garden. It is a time for new life and fun food. I enjoy food art. Spring and Easter are a perfect time to make cute food to celebrate. Last week I shared the classic cute bunny cake for spring and Easter. It is made from 2 round cakes with artistic cuts on one cake. The classic bunny cake has been around since the 1950s.
Today, I wanted to consider some of the different ways to make cakes that look like a lamb. A lamb is a symbol of renewal and has long been at the center of Easter tradition.
This is one of the most popular ways to make a lamb cake. There are numerous posts with a molded lamb cake. Wilton has great instructions on how to make the lamb cake with the Wilton 3D standing cake pan. They decorated the cake with flat white icing first. Then using an icing tip and bag, they added swirls on the body for wool and colored accents. I personally would find this way of decorating hard as I’ve never been great at piping icing details. The face is the flat white icing with colors for lines for mouth and eyes. Their lamb’s face is cute and not hard to make.
Wilton also has a cake iced with a spatula and leaving the face bare. You can make this with white cake or chocolate. I think it’s really cute and Wilton ranks it for a beginner.
If you do a search for lamb cakes, you will find hundreds of posts with varying ways to decorate one. The faces often look very different. Some of the cakes show how hard it can be working with a mold. The faces are distorted. Part of the difference in the face is the brand of lamb mold you are using. Nordic Ware‘s 3 D Lamb Cake Pan is another standing lamb cake. Below is their chocolate version with the body covered in icing and the head bare chocolate cake.
The Farm Wife Cooks has a great post using the Nordic Ware mold pan: 3 Ways to Decorate Your Easter Lamb Cake.
First version: Glaze the cake and garnish with green coconut and jelly beans.
Second version: Dust with powdered sugar and decorate with dusted berries.
I personally love rustic cakes and this beautiful rustic Easter cake is lovely.
A glaze was used on the face. Then using a buttercream icing piped rosettes were placed around the body. A straw was used to pop out the eyes and then a knife was used to make the nose and mouth. Finally pre-made cake decorations from Walmart and green coconut decorate the cake.
No matter the brand of mold you use, the piped icing is probably the most popular decorated lamb cake. An attractive alternative is using coconut on white icing to make a wool coat for the lamb. I really loved this idea as a coconut cake was the first cake I learned to make as a child. It was fun and delicious. Below is a version shared at A Taste of Home with coconut on the body and candy on the face. A lamb cake looks great as a centerpiece for Easter dinner.
I like the idea of not having to spend $20 to $l30 for a lamb cake mold. My small home does not have lots of storage space. There are so many ways to decorate a round cake for Easter with a lamb theme. The easiest is Kraft’s Simple Lamb Cake. Bake your favorite cake and add white icing on the cake. Use miniature marsh mellows to circle the top of the cake once. Then add 2 more rows of marshmallows at the top to make wool coming down to meet his face. Use melted chocolate to make eyes and mouth. A candy is the nose. Cookies are ears. So cute and easy.
One of the most common methods to decorate a round cake is using flat white icing on the whole cake. Then add any decorative piping for a wooly frame for the face. Below is a sponge cake decorated with a cream icing. Melted chocolate was used for facial features. Round small crackers or cookies are the ears.
You can easily decorate a round cake with a cake topper made for the season. Below is a great example from Good Housekeeping. This handmade lamb cake topper is made with a Rice Krispies treat, cotton candy, and marshmallows. Everything is edible and unexpected.
Here is a cake topper from Walmart.
The Food Network has a darling lamb cake you make from 3 round cakes. Complete instructions are givien at How to Make an Easter Lamb Cake. It is a more complex cake design.
The Food Network has another recipe with instructions that makes a lamb cake from cupcakes. It seems much easier to me than cutting 3 cakes like the recipe above. Who doesn’t love cute cupcakes?
Whether you are an accomplished baker or a beginner in decorated cakes, there is a cake just right for you to make. Happy Easter!
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Last week at the farmer’s market, one grower had a little packet of fresh new asparagus which reminded me of a spring Quiche. Fresh asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and basil cooked in a cheesy custard sounds perfect for breakfast, lunch, brunch, or even dinner. An asparagus Quiche is one of my favorites for an Easter or spring brunch.
I usually use Swiss cheese but have enjoyed quiches made from a variety of cheeses. Your favorite crust can be used – even store-bought. If you cannot have grains in your diet, you can oil the pie plate and cook the vegetable custard without a crust.
Use organic when available, vegetarian Serves 7 to 8
Enjoy!
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I’ve been driving around and enjoying scenes here in my home of Lakeland, Florida. The days are mostly beautiful with blue skies.
Of course, I love to visit the flower department at my local Publix Supermarket. Some things never change no matter where I am in Florida. Floridians love the seasonal flowers that grow up north. Spring flowers, like tulips, are very popular.
Thanks for the visit. I’m wishing you blue skies and tulips wherever you are.
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Today we're making food art for spring and Easter. It's a classic bunny cake that has been around since the 1950s.
One cake is the head and the second is cut for other parts. Above are two ears on the sides and the middle piece becomes the bow tie below the rabbit head. You can cover a tray with aluminum foil, parchment paper, or even a big doily. If you like, you can use food color to make some pink icing or coconut for the ears and green to make grass around the bunny head. You can place bunny ears turning up or down.
The easiest decorating is based on white icing, coconut, jelly beans, and other candies like licorice or Twizzlers. If you are a talented cake decorator with icing, I've seen very artistic cakes cut in this shape and totally decorated with icing for eyes, nose, mouth, whiskers, and even flowers. This is a great holiday activity with the kids. Let them decorate the bunny cake.
I like that tulip tomatoes are a healthy side dish perfect for any spring or summer occasion. Everyone says this food art can be created in less than 30 minutes. It took a little longer for me. This post is a little different from most of my food posts. Have you ever tried to replicate a pin and wondered what happened?
Above are more of the original photos on making tulip tomatoes. They must have originally been on a blog or social media that no longer exists. I’ve found over 12 blogs with the same photos and instructions on this food art. My recommendation is to first decide if you just want a decoration for your table, or if you want appetizers to eat. If you just want a decoration, go with the idea of a tied bouquet. If, like me, you want pretty finger food, I’ll try to give you easy ideas.
The tulip tomatoes are made with mostly fresh ingredients like cucumber, cream cheese, tomatoes, and green onions or chives.
The original instructions say to make a cross on top of large cherry tomatoes, going 3/4 way deep. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon; a grapefruit spoon is suggested. First, DO NOT GO 3/4 DEEP! The little tomato becomes too flimsy and you will have cream cheese everywhere. I know as I did it. I suggest 1/2 deep. Then you use a toothpick or skewer to make a hole where the stem was on the bottom. Push a green chive through the hole to make a stem.
The original recipe uses a filling of cream cheese, cucumber, and dried parsley. It really sounds a little bland to me, and I added lemon juice too. It was still too bland. I think the dried parsley would add more flavor if it is added to the cream cheese and put back in the refrigerator for a day. The original recipe says to use a teaspoon full of cream cheese mix in each tomato. I bought large cherry tomatoes, and they are still small for 1 teaspoon. I saw another blogger piped the filling in which probably makes it easier to fill the tomato. It is a messy procedure filling the top with a spoon and keeping the chive in the bottom hole. I had lots of leaks from both ends. Use a clean paper towel to clean the outside of each tomato.
I believe a better filling would perk up the taste of the little appetizer. I was tempted to just buy garlic and onion cream cheese when I went shopping for the ingredients. I think that or the herb flavored cream cheese would be tasty and so easy to use. I think that adding minced or processed cucumber makes the cream cheese too watery. Cucumbers are pretty much water in composition.
You could try your favorite dip as long as it is firm enough. Over on One Little Project, Debbie makes a whipped Feta/cream cheese filling. It sounds interesting. Then I made my tomato flowers on a plate. Originally, the recipe said to tie the green stems with a chive like a bouquet. If you want appetizers, don’t tie the bouquet and make a single layer of flowers. If you want a decoration, then tie the bouquet.
I know that trying to pick up the little flower tomato will make the eater’s hands messy. I think serving them with toothpicks is a better idea. Below you’ll notice that the green stems do not go into the bottom of the tomato. I tried both ways (above and below) and believe not all the guests would want to eat the green chive. Placing the tomato on the top of the chive gives the same look, but the tomato can be lifted from the plate with a toothpick without chives.
I started thinking about serving them at the dinner table. I like Roma tomatoes for a good size to make tulips. I again cut a cross on the top and scooped out the seeds. If the tomato does not have a flat bottom, cut the bottom to level it. This time I used hummus as the filler; there are so many flavors I can try. I served the tulip tomato on a saucer with romaine lettuce for leaves. I think it’s a great first course or snack. I ate two of them with whole grain crackers for lunch. I cut the tomato into pieces with a knife and fork and ate it with my fork. It was yummy, and my hands were clean.
Whether you want small tomato tulips on an appetizer plate or larger Roma sized tulips, choose your filling of choice, make the tulips and arrange with chosen greenery.
I hope you enjoy the tulip spring appetizers.
Join me as I share my latest adventures.
Carol
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