We all love an animal cake. From freaky carved snake cakes to grumpy cat cake pops, our joy in hunting down and marvelling over the most life like and charmingly crafted mammalian creations never seems to end.

Last year, Trish Clarke’s sleeping dalmation puppy cake ‘Dimples’ went viral after being posted on our Facebook page, and feeling inspired by all things fluffy this Spring, especially in the run up to Easter Sunday, we asked the talented owner behind TC Cakes Goodie Box to recreate the magic, and fashion us an adorable Spring lamb cake fashioned entirely out of fondant icing and cake.

The results are just incredible… ridiculously life like and entirely edible, all in one (not too tiny) lamb shaped package. It’s all well and good cooing over how cute it is, but what about how it’s made? Completely self-taught, the artistic Trish spent some time searching out real life lambs, making drawings to help her in achieving such realistic features when baking, carving and decorating ‘Lucinda’, our lovely Spring lamb.

As one of the Cake International competition judges (not to mention previous winners), and teacher of cake decorating classes locally to Trish in Leicester, who better than to show you how to recreate this fabulous creation at home, and wow your friends and family at your own Spring inspired creation? Using her own step by step images and instructions, here’s how…

How to Decorate a Spring Lamb Cake

Baking the Cakes

Using your favourite cake recipe, bake:

• 2 x 12in oval shaped cakes
• 1 x 3lb loaf cake
• 2 x 6in round cakes – shallow bake
• 1 x 6in round cake – deep bake

Equipment Needed

• 20 x 14 Rectangle Board Cake
• Serrated Knife
• Dry Spaghetti
• Plastic Cake Dowels
• PME Modelling Tool
• Airbrush Kit (including Brown, Black and Green Airbrush Paint)
• Plastic Lollipop Sticks
• Small Sharp Knife
• Noodle Maker
• Cheese Grater

Ingredients Needed

• 500g Buttercream
• 7kg Renshaw Celebration Ready to Roll Icing
• 250g Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste
• 250g Renshaw Pink Ready to Roll Icing
• 1kg Renshaw Jet Black Ready to Roll Icing
• White Royal Icing – Loose
• 500g Renshaw Lincoln Green Ready to Roll Icing
• Brown Colour Paste
• White Colour Paste

Carving the Cake

1. On a large, rectangle cake board tack the two oval cakes, and cut into a shape using a serrated knife to form the lamb’s body. (Use images of lambs or your own drawings of the real thing to approximate the lamb’s shape).

2. Then take the loaf shaped cake and cut this out for the hind legs. (Remember to cut all the edges to soften the cake). Add to the back of the body, use a little trimming of cake to support underneath the back leg, and push a couple of lengths of spaghetti through the hind legs into the body section of the cake to stabilise.

3. Take two small pieces of leftover cake and cut into shape for the two front legs, to appear as tucked underneath the lamb’s body. Again, secure in place using lengths of spaghetti.

4. Build up the neck by taking two 6in round cakes and cut into shape for neck.

5. Shape the lamb’s head from the deep 6in round cake, making it pointy towards the front for the lamb’s nose and mouth. Secure the head and neck into the body using a couple of plastic cake dowels.

Decorating the Cake

1. Cover the whole cake in buttercream and leave to set.

2. hand formed piece of Renshaw Celebration Ready to Roll icing, mould some extra bits of icing to smooth the joins between the face, neck and legs and create details around the face and nose.

3. Cover the lamb’s face with celebration icing, and using a PME modelling tool, flick to create textured fur, making markings on the face for the lamb’s mouth and nose, as well as hollowing out spaces for the lamb’s eyes.

4. Cover the remainder of the lamb’s body with celebration icing, pulling and smoothing into position around the contours of the cake.

5. Airbrush the cake brown to provide a deep background colour on which to work, and airbrush black around the face and eye sockets to create variance of colour.

6. Mix Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste with Renshaw Pink Ready to Roll Icing and mould to create the lamb’s ears. Skewer onto a plastic lollipop stick and leave to dry. Once dry, secure to the lamb’s head using royal icing.

7. Using Renshaw Jet Black Ready to Roll Icing, mould two large balls pieces of icing to create hooves for the hind legs, using a small sharp knife to create the cloven divide.

8. Using a large noodle maker, push celebration icing through the press to create noodle shaped lengths of icing cut to 1cm. (Dip the icing in clear alcohol if you want to make the icing easier to push through the noodle maker).

9. Starting from the bottom of the lamb cake and working up, stick the icing up to and around the lamb’s face using clear alcohol.

10. To make the eyes, take two small pieces of Renshaw Jet Black Ready to Roll Icing and form into ovals, pinching at each end to flatten slightly. Stick in place using cooled boiled water. Add another small circle of black icing for the eye ball.

11. The make the lamb’s eyelids and lashed, take a small piece of remaining celebration icing and form into a small arch shape and place over top part of eyes, securing in place using clear alcohol. Using the modelling tool, create fur markings. For the eye lashes, take royal icing and pipe outwards with a slow flicking movement.

12. Take a large bowl of royal icing, and make it a little loose with water.With a large brush, stipple the fur all over using a large brush to create a wiry wool texture.

13. Create the grass base around the cake by taking more royal icing and roughly spreading this around the cake.Airbrush it green and brown.

14. Take small pea sized pieces of Renshaw Lincoln Green Ready to Roll Icing and create lots of blades of grass by rolling each ball into a long thin shape, then folding in half. Bunch them together, and starting at the base of the lamb, completely cover the board with tufts of grass, sticking in place using cooled boiled water, before airbrushing again.

15. For the straw effect, take a piece of celebration icing, and using the large holes on a cheese grater, grate the icing over the grass and let it randomly fall here and there. Marble some black, celebration and chocolate icing and pull some pieces off, form into small stone shapes and place them in between blades of grass. Airbrush to help blend in.

16. With brown colour paste, stipple the fur using a nail brush again, and once dried, then stipple with white colour paste, following the lines of the fur. Paint and stipple the lamb’s face too.

So, what will you be making this Easter?