Lamb Cakes

Back in the Spring of 2001, I was blessed to attend a conference on Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome that was being held in Verona, Italy. I flew into Milan and had to stay the night there before taking a train to Rome and then on to Verona (no trains leaving until morning). I found a hotel near the train station and walked around a bit. Wonderful grocery stores and bakeries. In the bakery there were these gorgeous lamb shaped cakes. I fell in love with them. I just happened to be in Italy the week before Holy Week, so Easter items were all over the place. Walking around Rome, I saw the same lamb cakes in the bakeries and again I saw them in Verona. One afternoon, I left the conference a bit early and decided to walk back to the hotel instead of taking the bus that had been chartered to bring us back and forth. I found myself wandering through the neighborhoods and streets of Verona. I was soaking up all the sights, sounds and smells. I walked into this tiny grocery store and bought a few items. I was excited to be there!

When I returned home, I decided to find a lamb cake pan and the rest is history. Each Easter, we make a lamb shaped cake using a pan similar to this: Lamb shaped cake pan