Carole Kaempf of Westmont was planning ahead when she wrote to us requesting a recipe for a chocolate poundcake baked in a lamb mold — a set of two cake pans that creates a three-dimensional dessert.
We found more than the recipe, which appeared in Good Eating in 2000. We also found the 6-cup, two-piece cast-iron lamb mold that was used to bake it, hiding in the back of a test kitchen cupboard.
We also found several of these super-sturdy pans on eBay, but you don’t have to get into a bidding war to find one for Easter.
Gretchen Homan, test kitchen manager at Wilton Industries, said that the company’s 6-cup, two-piece aluminum Stand-Up Lamb Pan mold is available for $13 at the company’s retail store in Darien (7511 Lemont Rd., 630-985-6000) and online at wilton.com.
For more hands-on experience, sign up for the lamb-cake workshop, 1 to 4 p.m. March 20, at the Wilton School of Cake Decorating and Confectionary Art, at the same location as the store. Cost is $60 plus a $25 registration fee. To register, call 800-772-7111, ext. 2888.
Holding on to summer
Last week, in the midst of yet another snowfall, Lambert Novak of Hammond, Ind., wrote us a welcome testament to the long-range benefits of growing a summer herb garden. Because he froze a batch of pesto he had made with his summer crop of basil, Novak was able to enjoy it throughout the winter.
“This morning,” he wrote, “I took out two frozen cubes of my pesto and let them thaw in the fridge.” Novak spread it on toast and, he added, “Now I am having the summer feast of my life.”
It’s not too early to begin planning a kitchen herb garden. Do any herb growers out there want to share their favorites to grow indoors, on the patio or in back-yard plots? Don’t forget to tell us how you use them.
Chocolate Easter lamb cake
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Yield: 12 servings
We used prepared frosting to decorate the cake; you also can make a batch of a favorite buttercream frosting. Because we had difficulty removing the cake from the two cast-iron molds we used, we rubbed oil in the interior of each before greasing and flouring — a strategy that did the trick. This recipe was developed in the Tribune test kitchen.
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
3 tablespoons each: boiling water, milk
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla buttercream frosting, sweetened flaked coconut, jelly beans
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Whisk together cocoa, boiling water and milk; set aside.
2. Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition until mixture is smooth, about 5 minutes. Beat in the reserved cocoa-milk mixture and vanilla. Lower the mixer to low speed; add the flour mixture gradually, mixing just until combined.
3. Coat the interior of each half of the lamb mold with vegetable oil; let sit 5 minutes. Remove excess oil with a paper towel; grease and flour both interiors. Place the front half of the lamb mold face-down on a baking sheet. Pour batter to within 1/4 inch of rim. Place back half of mold on top. Bake 40 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven; turn the mold face side up. Return to the oven; bake until a tester tests clean, about 20 minutes.
4. Cool on wire rack 5 minutes; remove the front half of mold. Cool 10 minutes. Turn out the cake, supporting it with your hand and turning it face-side-up onto a wire rack. Cool completely before icing with frosting, using the frosting to cover any flaws in the cake.
Nutrition information per serving: 247 calories, 46% of calories from fat, 13 g fat, 8 g saturated fat, 83 mg cholesterol, 31 g carbohydrates, 3 g protein, 148 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
———-
Share your dish!
Send us your favorite recipe with a paragraph describing what’s special about it online at chicagotribune.com/yourdish or send it via e-mail to dpierce@tribune.com, with “Dish” in the subject line. You also can mail it to: “What’s Your Dish?” Chicago Tribune, 435 N Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611.
Please include your full name, address and a daytime phone number. Also include exact measurements of ingredients, in order of their use, plus directions and yield. Recipes become the property of The Chicago Tribune.
