You Don't Need a Special Cake Pan to Make This Adorable Easter Lamb Cake

Lamb cakes are an old-school Easter table centerpiece, but their charm will never go out of style. The best part of these classic cakes surfacing on the internet each year is the hilarious variety of decor styles, which range from precious to maybe a little bit demonic.

Typically, these iconic cakes start with a lamb-shaped mold, but just because you can't track down a lamb cake mold (or don't wish to buy another baking pan that gets only one annual use) doesn't mean a lamb cake can't be the star of your Easter spread.

How to Make a Lamb Cake Without a Mold

• 2 (16.5oz) boxes of cake mix, any flavor
• 3 (16oz) jars of white frosting
• Red food coloring
• Green food coloring
• Black food coloring
• ½ cup shredded coconut
• Long bamboo skewers or toothpicks
• Optional: Easter eggs or candy

1. Starting with two boxes of store bought cake mix (I used Duncan Hines because I heard it makes for a solid, dense cake base), prepare one cake in a 9x13-inch baking dish and the other in a standard muffin tin according to the package instructions. Wrap and chill the cakes in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
2. Cut the 9x13 sheet cake into thirds across the shortest width to yield three identical rectangles. On a large plate or sheet pan, stack the 3 cakes, spreading a thin layer of frosting in between each cake layer. Using a skewer, secure a cupcake to the top of one side of the cake layers to form a head. Using a serrated knife, carefully cut away cake to form the shape of the lamb's body. Reserve two larger pieces of cake scraps for the ears.
3. Once the cake is cut to your desired shape, cover it entirely with a thin layer of frosting to make a crumb coat. Take two pieces of cake scraps and cut them each into triangles, trying your best to achieve the same shape and size. Cover the triangles with frosting as well. Move all of the cake to the freezer to chill for 2 hours.
4. In the meantime, prepare a frosting bag with white frosting (I used a star tip). Remove the cake from the freezer and begin piping small, circular dollops of frosting around the entire body and head. *If you do not prefer to decorate with icing, you can use an extra 2 cups of shredded coconut to cover the body with "fleece."
5. Using skewers, attach the triangular cake pieces on either side of the head to make ears. Pipe frosting on the ears, leaving the center of the ears empty. Create a black frosting and pink frosting in two seperate bowls by mixing the white frosting with a few drops of each food coloring. Transfer the pink frosting to a piping bag and fill in the inner part of the ears and the nose. Use the black frosting to create eyes.
6. Combine the shredded coconut with green food coloring to create "grass." Carefully move the completed lamb cake to a platter. Sprinkle the green coconut around the platter, using it to cover any mistakes on the bottom of the cake. Decorate the platter with any additional candies or Easter eggs.