No-Mold Easter Lamb Cake
·Sponge roll batter
Separate the eggs into yolks and whites. Beat the yolks with sugar until light, fluffy and pale yellow. Whip the whites into stiff peaks. Gently fold the whipped whites and the sugared yolks into the fine plain flour.
Baking
Pour the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and smooth it out. Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for about 9 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and roll up into a log, parchment paper and all. Wrap in a kitchen towel and let cool completely.
Making the cream
While the roll is baking and cooling, cook a thick pudding from the milk and pudding powder. Sweeten to taste. Take off the heat and let cool. Once the pudding is completely cold, beat in the softened butter and curd cheese.
Filling
Once cooled, unroll the sponge and peel off the parchment paper. Spread with 1/3 of the jam and 1/3 of the cream.
Into the fridge
Let the roll firm up in the fridge, and move on to preparing the next part of the lamb.
Prep
Weigh your eggs in their shells, then measure out the same weight in caster sugar and the same weight in fine plain flour (this will come to roughly 500 g). Allow 2 tablespoons of hot water per egg, so 16 tablespoons in total.
Mixing it all together
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and water. Once the mixture thickens and the sugar has dissolved, whip the egg whites into stiff peaks and fold them into the batter alternately with the flour. Finally, gently fold in the chopped chocolate.
The lamb's head
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spoon on the shape of the lamb's head. Grease a 25 cm diameter pot with oil and dust with fine plain flour. Pour the rest of the batter into the pot.
Baking
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C on fan setting. Put both the pot and the sheet with the head into the oven at the same time. The sponge will be done in about 50 minutes. Don't open the oven during the first twenty minutes, or the batter may sink.
Removing the head, skewer test
After that time, you can open the oven and take out the lamb's head. After another 20 minutes, test the body by inserting a skewer into the centre. It should come out clean — that's how you know it's baked through.
Cooling and slicing into layers
Let the sponge body cool completely before slicing. Cut it horizontally into five layers.
Building the dome, layered with jam
Leave the bottom layer as large as it is. Trim each following layer slightly with a knife so that a nice rounded dome shape forms. Spread each layer with jam and stack them on top of each other, largest at the bottom and smallest on top.
Crumb mixture
Crumble the trimmed-off pieces of sponge and mix them in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of cream and 2 tablespoons of jam.
Covering with cream
Use this crumb mixture to shape the top of the lamb's body. Cover the whole body with the remaining cream. If you have any jam left over, you can stir it into the cream as well.
Decorating with the sponge roll and the head
Slice the sponge roll into thin rounds and press them onto the cream all over the body to create a lovely curly fleece. Decorate the lamb's head with melted chocolate and attach it to the body. Chill in the fridge overnight.
