The Lamb Experiment Part One

I decided to do a tester lamb,just to see if I can do it. First there was the form.

Then it was greasing the two sides. I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter to grease it. If you're planning on making this lamb, then use big gobs of margarine or Baker's Joy,. Every dent and indentation has to be greased.

Onto flouring. I used my tried and true Stop and Shop flour. Again, I think I was a little too generous with it.Both sides do need to be coated but don't go overboard -like I did. Once that's done then it's time to prepare a tray or pan to catch any drippy batter.I lined a cookie sheet with tin foil.

                             Now it's time to mix. The Dream Whip recipe calls for four eggs

             Plus one package of cake mix. I used Duncan Hynes French vanilla along with one packet of Dream Whip. The liquid was just one cup of cold tap water - that's it. The Dream Whip is the sugary looking mix on the right

This is the batter , mixed with an electric mixer for four minutes.

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It takes five cups of batter to fill the pan. Make sure it's filled in evenly,especially around the head and ears.

You have to put four to five toothpicks in the neck area to make sure the head stays on. You can use skewers too, but it may look like Frankenlamb.Just be careful when it's sliced.

Now it's tying the neck and body to make sure that the batter doesn't outgrow the pan. You can use both foil and twine. I used both.

                                      Keep in mind that when baking the front of the lamb is the back. The       backside has a steam hole in it as indicated by the circles around it. Use it when you have to insert a cake thermometer (recommended) or a toothpick to check the cake's doneness.

There was enough extra batter to make four cupcakes.

The cupcakes took only twenty minutes. The lamb a good fifty , both in a 350 degree oven.

These were the best cupcakes I've ever made.I am definitely going to add Dream Whip to box mixes from now on (and maybe nix all that icing too)

This is the back side baked. The white is the flour which I now know I added too much. It can be scraped off with a butter knife or even a spoon.

This is the front. You can see the indentations for the eyes, mouth and nose.

It does have to be wrapped up for the night before frosting.Use Saran wrap to retain the moisture.

Tomorrow - the icing.

I don't know how my Mom did it, baking these for family, neighbors and friends. Hopefully mine will be just as loved. We'll see.

A Birthday Treat

It being my brother's birthday today,I decided to do the sisterly thing and make him a cake. (No, not the cookie above, that,s from the splendid Dixie Lee Bakery in Keansburg New Jersey) I had no desire of firing up the oven on a hot summer's day, so I went for the alternative a homemade ice cream cake.

I first bought a small silicone cake mold from Amazon. As for the ice cream my brother is a vegan so I bought Soy Good coconut milk ice cream in chocolate and mocha almond.

Non dairy ice cream doesn't melt as fast as regular dairy base so they were left out for twenty minues.The first layer was mocha. Then was the crunchy chocolate middle.

IT was grinding up Nabisco chocolate wafers

Then add in  a tablespoon of melted margarine e or butter.I went for I Can't Believe It's N not Butter.Mix quickly and spoon over the first layer.I should have given the crumb mix time to cool down.I didn,t.

Next came the chocolate layer and another layer of the crumbs.Again I used about ten crumbled wafers and more spread.It was then placed in the fridge overnight. 

 

The next day it was unmolded.

Hershey Hard Shell was poured over it to give it a glossy icing, then a crown of whipped cream.

This is the cross section.You can see the layers.

The chocolate was harder to work with yet both together worked.

Will I do this again. Yes. This was my recipe.It has to be adjusted and tweaked.

As for the taste - amazingly good!