Moving forward...but always remembering

So...the "ceremonies" for saying good-bye to my Grandma have been completed.  I was able to find the strength within to stand up at her funeral and read a memorial that I had written.  A lot of it came from my blog entry..with some editing, of course.  It was difficult, but it felt like the right thing to do.  A way to honor who she had been to me and all that she had done for me....to put my fears aside...share my joy and sadness, laughter and tears.  She was an amazing woman, who taught me, molded me and inspired me...I'm hoping to take all the good and carry it with me through my life. 

My grandma spent much of her adult life molding and teaching young people...either her children, grandchildren or great grandchildren.  When I reflect on her life...I find her ability to be patient and her willingness to give us what we needed, then stand back and let us learn amazing.  I hope to keep those thoughts in my mind as I raise my boys.  My nephew Blake told my sister not to be too sad, cause she will carry all the things Grandma taught her with her as she goes through life, so she'll never really be gone...which is so true...I guess Andrea has already done a pretty darn good job of teaching and molding!!!

I've already written about some of my food memories...but another one of the many I have with my Grandma is about her lamb cake.  She would make at least one lamb cake every year...usually one for Easter, but then you could usually find a lamb cake at spring birthday parties.  I never asked her why she started make the lamb cake or where she got the mold.  I don't know if it's something her mother did...or maybe something she got as a wedding gift...I guess I'll never know for sure.  All I do know is that the lamb cake was her "thing"...something special she did for special occasions.  So when I sat in the hospital with her over Easter...I thought about that lamb cake...I knew that I HAD to make that lamb cake!  So two days after she passed...we gathered at my sister's house for that very task.  Now...I also never asked her for the recipe for her lamb cake...I haven't searched her home, but my guess is it's not something she had written down.  So, I searched the internet, and this is the basic recipe that I used:

Whole Wheat Lamb Cake

2 1/4 c Whole Wheat Cake Flour
2 1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 1/4 c white sugar

1/2 c butter

1 c milk

1 t vanilla extract

4 egg whites

Grease and flour your mold.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Sift cake flour, then sift again with baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture, mix batter til smooth after each addition.  Add vanilla.

In a large glass or metal bowl, beat egg whites til soft peaks form.  Fold 1/3 of egg mixture into flour mixture to help lighten it.  Fold in remaining egg whites. 

Fill face side of the mold.  Place the lid on the mold.  Put mold on cookie sheet and bake for 50-55 minutes until you can insert a wooden skewer or toothpick into steam holes and it comes out clean. 

Remove cake from oven, allow to cool for 15 minutes.  Remove lid, allow to cool for another 5 minutes.  Unmold cake and place upright on a platter.  (A couple of the recipes I read said to let the cake cool completely on a cooling rack before sitting it upright, but we had no issues)

Out of the oven...awaiting the cooling process

Lid off!

Unmolded and standing up!

You never knew when you cut into Grandma's lamb cake whether or not your piece would have a couple toothpicks in it.  The hardest part about making this cake seems to be keeping it in one piece.  We lucked out...we only had a little chunk of the bottom of the cake that stuck...we just pulled it out and stuck it back on the cake and you couldn't tell the difference.  Some of the recipes I read talked about cooking it in two halves and sticking it together with icing...but Grandma's mold has steam holes in one side so that wouldn't really work.  My sister Andrea made the icing and my brother in law Chris, the family cake decorator, did the piping.  We used mini M&Ms for eyes and almond slices for the ears and nose.  Here's the final product:

When Grandma decorated it, she just spread frosting over the cake...sometimes she covered the cake with coconut too.  She usually used raisins for eyes and the nose...I think almost anything would work. 

I think you can measure your success in your life by what you leave behind.  I don't mean money or possessions...but the things that really matter...the things that can make the world a better place.  Grandma had seven children, 19 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren...all who will carry a bit of her a long with them through life.  My goal...to take what she has taught me and modeled for me...and share that with the world.  Her passing has solidified my need to continue to write, to share and to "teach" in my own way...and I will continue to do so in her honor.  I imagine my memories of her will find their way onto this blog quite often and her influence in my life and my cooking will continue to shine through.  Every time I tell my kids "toot toot Malone" or sing them "The Animal Fair", I will remember that I need to continue to be the person that she expected me to be. Hope you find the time to make your own lamb cake!!!!