Erratum: after trying hard to remember the first time we had this cake, I accepted that I just couldn’t and wrote about it anyway. After posting, my cousin (well, my dad’s cousin, technically, but since we’re the same age, I had the absolute joy of growing up with her) messaged me saying how she remembers this cake fondly because she used to bring it. Of course! Our Easter celebrations used to be bigger. She used to come with her mom and brother. They brought the cake one year and then it became a whole thing. At some point, Easters got smaller, with just immediate family. My dad took on the “job” of bringing the lamb cake.
I don’t remember when, but one Easter some time ago, my dad started buying this lamb cake from Gastronomia Roberto, a gelato bar and restaurant in Montreal.1 If there’s one thing about the Marsillos, it’s that we love inventing new traditions. And so this cake (made of gelato, not actual lamb) quickly became a staple Easter dessert for us. Going without it at the end of our meal was simply unacceptable. This became very clear when my dad didn’t buy it a few years ago. Myself, my sister, and my cousins were shocked and dismayed. Fine, take away our Easter bunny baskets, but not the lamb cake. Ever. It turns out that Roberto’s has pretty much stopped making them. But my dad found out that they’ll do it on special order. Our tradition is safe.
You won’t find “lamb cake” in the list of traditional Molisan desserts, for any holiday. For Easter, we make things like sweet casciatelli (otherwise know as fiadoni or sciarone in dialect), pigna, and pastiera di riso. My Nonna Lucia also told me that her mom would make the iconic “Italian cake” (now mainly used for birthdays in North America), which is made with pan di spagna and custard. She remembers her mom whisking the eggs for the fluffy pan di spagna base by hand - a task that takes lots of patience and willpower. Not to mention upper arm strength and stamina.2
Photos by Vee Di Gregorio
No gelato and definitely nothing shaped like the cute, little animal you also previously ate during the meal. The lamb itself, of course, is a significant Christian symbol at Easter, representing Jesus as the “lamb of god,” who sacrificed himself on the cross. Christians eat lamb to mark this sacrifice. The connections between Passover and Easter also make lamb meaningful: the last supper was a Passover Seder and since a lamb was sacrificed at the first Passover, all these symbols, celebrations, and lore are intrinsically linked. In Islam, the lamb is also an important symbol for Eid-Mubarak. In each case, the sacrificial aspect is present:
“Lamb, at least for the descendants of Abrahamic religions, is a symbol of humility, willingness to surrender to higher power or higher order.”3
The significance of the lamb as symbol, as sacrifice, is ancient. But how to reconcile that with the frosted, fluffy looking ice cream cake we look forward to sharing at Easter? As I started thinking about our lamb cake, which I didn’t get to eat this year as I’m away for the long weekend, I became more and more curious about where this particular tradition came from: where did the lamb cake originate and why?
Digging Deeper
It turns out that lamb cake isn’t even typical of Italy, but Germany, Poland, Austria, and France, relating back to Christian symbolism. The closest tradition I found in Italy are the Sicilian "picureddi” or pecorelle di Pasqua: small almond paste treats, which are said to have been made in Favara since the 19th century.
It also turns out that the typical stylized cake, with its white frosting and sweet little smile, is really not that old.
Trying to trace the dessert’s diaspora, I recently asked for the memories of other food writers. They told me of cakes made by Swedish grandmothers in the Midwest, Italian grandmothers on the East Coast, and Polish families in Missouri and Vermont. Lambs had been spotted in the 1950s Betty Crocker for Kids cookbook and in a 1960s German bakery in Queens.4
While earlier, pagan versions of these now elaborate cakes were simple dough effigies meant to substitute real animals in sacrificial rituals, today’s versions are
dusted with a coating of confectioners’ sugar or drizzled with a light glaze of sugar icing[,] […] covered with fluffy white frosting, sometimes garnished with shredded almonds or coconut or spread with chocolate icing embellished with white icing swirls. The eyes are made from raisins, whole cloves, or coffee beans.5
And these versions are inspired from the ones made in the 50s and 60s, by which point cast metal lamb cake moulds had already been in circulation for some time. It’s pretty interesting that many traditions and traditional recipes I’ve learned about recently come out of the mid-century period. It makes sense, though: it was a period when cook and homemaking books, catalogs, and industrial kitchenware boomed. Out of this also comes a certain “standardization” of traditions and recipes; a way to share and even influence (were homemaking book authors and catalog assemblers the influencers of the mid-20th century?)
It also makes sense that this little kitschy lamb comes from a time when people in North America made everything out of jello. Buona Pasqua to all who celebrate!
Many, if not all, traditions have adapted and changed throughout the centuries to remain relevant. Think of your family or cultural traditions: how have they changed? Ask your family or community members; do some online digging.
What “new traditions” have you brought to your table and celebrations?
As someone who doesn’t connect much to Catholicism or religion in general (though I love to dig into the history), I often wonder what these traditions and celebrations actually mean to me. Frankie Anne Castanea posted about this today. They wrote: “Part of reconnecting is realizing that these things were important to our ancestors, but that we do not need to celebrate them or celebrate them in the same way.” If you are also grappling with this, how do you reconnect with tradition, culture, heritage, ancestors in your own way?
Cass
Links
Anna in the Kitchen, “Polish Easter Lamb Cake Recipe,” https://annainthekitchen.com/easter-lamb-cake/.
Anne Bramley, “The Delightful Kitsch of Easter Lamb Cake,” May 1, 2019, https://www.thekitchn.com/the-delightful-kitsch-of-easter-lamb-cake-229511.
Aynura Maye, “Lamb – Not Your Usual Animal,” May 21, 2018, https://fashionsymbols.com/secret-story-lamb/.
“Did you say "Lammele", or Easter lamb?” https://www.visithaguenau.alsace/en/inspiration/lammele.
Erich Barganier, “The Real Reason People Eat Lamb On Easter,”Feb. 2, 2023, https://www.mashed.com/351241/the-real-reason-people-eat-lamb-on-easter/.
“I picureddi,” https://pasqualions.wordpress.com/pasqua-a-tavola/i-picureddi/.
Joyce M. Langlas, “Easter Lamb Cake Meets the 21st Century,” https://ncsml.org/easter-lamb-cake-meets-the-21st-century/.
Mid Century Menu, https://www.midcenturymenu.com/blog/.
Roberto’s opened in May 1982. Rocco D’Angelo and his wife Angela came to Montreal from Pescara, in Abruzzo. More info about the origins of Roberto here.
I learned this the hard way when I made it before we had gotten ourselves a mixer. Ouff.
Aynura Maye, “Lamb – Not Your Usual Animal,” May 21, 2018, https://fashionsymbols.com/secret-story-lamb/.
Anne Bramley, “The Delightful Kitsch of Easter Lamb Cake,” May 1, 2019, https://www.thekitchn.com/the-delightful-kitsch-of-easter-lamb-cake-229511.
Joyce M. Langlas, “Easter Lamb Cake Meets the 21st Century,” https://ncsml.org/easter-lamb-cake-meets-the-21st-century/.