Eastertide: Lamb Cake and Ascension Picnicking

This is the latest installment of “Life in the Church Year,” a series by Dr. Kristen Einertson and Tessa Muench of All the Household. This series will provide guidance for living out the seasons of the Church Year at home with your families. Find month-by-month lists of Lutheran feasts, festivals and commemorations here.

If you’ve ever read any children’s fairy tales, you’ll know that with every great victory comes a feast and celebration. It should be the same with the Lord’s great victory over sin, death and the devil: In the season following after Easter, we, His bride the church, should engage in joyous festivity. Lasting a full 50 days after the resurrection, the Easter season encourages Christians to break out in song and throw the grandest party for our King, a glimpse of the feast to come.

The seven Sundays that fall within Eastertide each have their own flavor and theme worth learning about and knowing. One highlight is the third Sunday, lovingly known as “Good Shepherd Sunday,” when we reflect on Christ’s pastoral love for us. In the resurrected Jesus we find our dear caretaker who laid down His life for His sheep.

This theme can also remind Christians of the image of the lamb at the center of the Easter feast. There are, of course, many ways to incorporate this symbolism during the 50-day feast. Perhaps the most obvious is to enjoy lamb meat — chops, roast or crown! But another popular custom is baking a lamb-shaped cake. This now popularized dessert likely originated in Germany with the creation of a special twopart pan that is shaped in the form of a sheep. A simple cake baked in this pan (inexpensive aluminum versions can be purchased online), then adorned with white frosting, is always a memorable item at the table!

Photo: Tessa Muench

As the Easter celebration continues (this year through the entire month of May), Christians will run into another important marker of the season: Ascension Day. On the 40th day of Eastertide (May 29 this year), we celebrate our Lord who “ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,” as we confess in the Apostles’ Creed. Just as any king who has conquered his enemies will take his rightful place on the throne in triumph, our Lord ascended to reign at the right hand of His Father. Yet He did not leave us alone! In Christ, a human being like us sits victorious on the heavenly throne to rule over all creation and provide for all of our needs.

To celebrate Christ’s victorious ascension, Christians have often gone picnicking during Ascensiontide. They often look for a raised hill like the one from which our Lord ascended as the spot for their meal. Feel free to join them in a hillside outdoor feast where you can look up to the heavens in honor of the ascended Christ.

Easter Lamb Cake

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix
1/3 cup oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
Frosting of choice (we used cream cheese frosting)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Thoroughly grease the lamb mold, dust with flour, and set aside in a cool spot in the kitchen.

Whisk together the cake mix, oil, eggs and water until smooth.

Place the bottom half of the lamb mold (the side with the lamb’s face and without the vent hole) on a baking sheet. Pour the mixture into the bottom pan of the mold, place the top half on top and secure the mold. This can be done with baker’s twine or by placing a 9×13-inch baking dish upside-down over top.

Bake the lamb cake for 45–50 minutes until a toothpick (inserted through the vent hole) comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for 15 minutes before gently removing the top half of the mold. Run a knife around the flat edges of the bottom half and slowly release the lamb.

Let the cake cool completely before decorating with white powdered sugar or frosting.

Cover image: Tessa Muench