Lamb-entations
April 18, 2019 Like the Mardi Gras King Cake, I suspect that the Easter Lamb Cake is just inherently Wrecky. I mean, this one Jamie B. sent in is a good one:
So really, it's like shooting apples* in a barrel to go after these things: just too darn easy.
(*Yes, I know it's supposed to be "fish in a barrel", but I would never shoot a fish. Too messy.)
However, I will go after the smoking lamb cakes:
I've seen several of these cigarette-puffing lamb cakes now, and I'm totally baffled. I get the lamb/Easter connection, but where's the cigarette feature? This one Monique R. found actually has a "Happy Birthday" sign around its neck, but most say "Happy Easter".
Here's a better example:
What I find even more hilarious is the fact that it looks like both lambs are wearing chocolate yarmulkes.** Oy vay! An Easter lamb schmokin? What kind of mishegas is going on here?
(**For the record, this is the hardest word to learn to spell by looking up in the dictionary, ever.)
Here's a variation, lest you think only one bakery out there is making these crazy things:
I'm guessing this is some kind of regional tradition, but I look forward to you lovely readers filling me with your wisdom. Explain this madness to me in the comments, so we can all learn something today, eh?
And before I leave you, here's one more photo sent in by Kat:
It's not really a Wreck; I just love that little girl's expression as she's preparing to lop off the lamb's head. You can almost hear the Responsible Adult going "Now, dear, let me help you..." as she's gleefully hacking away. Heehee! Oh, and that spot of jam is well-placed, too.
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Reader Comments (27)
If the cigarette doesn't kill you, the kid with the knife will.
Next to last cake:
I guess one'd have to sneak up on the thing...ONE, you don't want to get burned by the cig head, and TWO, it's always better to have a clean CHOP...(of the head). And let's not be insensitive to Lambchop....for any who remember.... Have a sip of Sherry!
=^-.-^=
here's a dubious explanation
https://www.neatorama.com/neatolicious/2013/03/28/Lamb-Cake-with-Cigarette/
I looked stuff up on the internet, and found this explanation provided in reference to your Cake Wrecks lamb cakes. The blog Romantoes gathered several theories from commenters.
* It's Joe Camel.
* The lamb is smoking to signify the end of Lent, and the enjoyment of vices one might have given up for Lent, such as smoking.
* The cigarette is supposed to represent a paintbrush, and is colored on the end to suggest the lamb's blood that was used to paint door frames during the original Pesach.
* What looks like a cigarette is actually a scroll, and is in the lamb's mouth to illustrate a passage from Revelations: "Then I saw, between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. The Lamb went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne."
Of course, I'm doing this instead of working, but at least I'm typing so the ruse may be effective.
The only thing that makes the SLIGHTEST "sense" may be that the lambcakes get SO ****BORED, they NEED something to take the edge off...which could be smoking, or drinking (heavily)....maybe the cakes are infused with some 100 proof action---DON'T ASK ME; I don't touch the stuff.
But toss me a slice of frosting, huh?
=^-.-^=
IF, as I read, these cakes are sold primarily at Jewish shops, then that might answer a couple of your quesitons!
Why the lambs are wearing yarmulkes, and that the "cigarette" is really a scroll. Something from the book of Revelations about a lamb looking like it had been slaughtered (red jam?) taking a scroll from god.
It's the way god handed the scroll to the lamb that makes it look like a cigarette! And the bakers not knowing the history of it, so color the end like it's burning.
I wonder if the smoking lamb is somehow being confused with very old school Joe Camel, former mascot of Camel Cigarettes. First thing that came to mind, but I'm willing to be wrong.
I think the point is that the lamb is about to die, so it might as well have a last smoke. This point would be driven home better if the lamb also wore a blindfold.
Is this a Lent joke?
This is the only thing I could find...
https://www.neatorama.com/neatolicious/2013/03/28/Lamb-Cake-with-Cigarette/
I wonder if it related to things you give up for Lent. If the person gave up smoking for Lent, then on Easter, they can start smoking all they want now. Kind of like when I gave up swearing for Lent. On Easter that year, I suddenly realized, Oh F. I can swear now! Yay! Totally not the point of Lent BTW.
Smoking lambs- how about for “Ash” Wednesday?
I warned that lamb that Joe Camel was a ba-a-ad influence.
All I can think of is that it is something along the lines of the condemned prisoner getting a cigarette right before being shot by the firing squad. The Pascal Lamb is about to be dinner so is offered a final cigarette?
@Lisa, I don’t think Jewish bakeries would be super interested in the Book of Revelation (New Testament)
I have no input on the cakes, but here in Buffalo/western NY we have butter lambs. They're pretty much a requirement for for proper a Easter celebration.
All I know is that last year, my boss' mother brought in the family's leftover lamb cake after Easter and my new-ish coworker beheaded it and walked around eating the head, which happened to look like a pale Yoda. That's not her in the last picture, but close enough.
Are we sure that second last one is cake? It looks like meatloaf covered in mashed potatoes... 😕
... Or the cigarette is just supposed to be SUBVERTING the lamb cake.
I was waiting on these to appear...now they will be in my nightmares lol. Every year I wait wondering if maybe this year no scary lambs will appear. Silly me wreckerators will never ever end these scary lambs.
Well, it's obvious to me. Haven't you watched all the old war movies where the prisoner is offered a cigarette just before being put before the firing squad? This is the same thing as proven in your last photo as one of these cakes is gleefully beheaded.
I've grown up doing Pascal lamb cakes at Easter but have never seen a cigarette before. If it is a scroll wouldn't it be easier to use a piece of paper? Side note: how about cigarette cakes for a future blog post. In trying to find out about the lambs I came across quite a few and they are repulsive. You should share them with the world.
The only thing I can think of for the goriness of the the lambs is the connection to Passover where lamb's blood was slathered on the doors of the Jewish people's houses so that the angel of death would pass over them and spare their first-born sons. Other than Jesus being the lamb of God, I don't know how these stories cross over.
Some people really love smoked mutton 🍖!
Joe Camel is all I've got. An un-iced lamb cake really does have that look.
Lamb cake without shredded coconut fleece? Sacrilege!
I don't understand these lamb cakes. I have never seen them in Australia, but on cake wrecks every year they are soooo bad.