The Easter Lamb Cake Saga 2020: A story in n parts. So, I had big plans this year to recreate the Easter lamb cake of my childhood, but in a more hideous red cake that would gush blood when sliced 1/n

I spent considerable time modifying a red velvet cake recipe for high altitude (my house is at ~7500 ft above sea level so baking can be challenging). Once I had my cake, I investigated recipes for edible fake blood--there are many options! (thank you the internet) 2/n

I decided on a Karo syrup based recipe as the perfect combo of realistic & tasty, & added some almond extract to take it up a notch. I made some test cupcakes and started injecting them with "blood" to see what would happen. 3/n

Turns out that the blood just soaked into the cake, which looked pretty gross but not in the awesome way I was hoping for. I tried hollowing out the center first, lining the center w/ frosting first, using strawberry jam, & then just tried injecting frosting to make a "bone" 4/n

None of these attempts were true to my vision, although the jam was pretty delicious. I decided that maybe I didn't need blood to be gushing out, it could just be an optional sauce. 5/n

In the meantime, I also experimented with wooly frosting textures rather than relying the traditional coconut exterior (since my husband hates coconut & also cream cheese frosting is delicious on red velvet cake) 6/n

Today was the big day: I was going to bake the new cake recipe in the lamb mold! If you've never baked a cake in a mold before, there is always a question of whether the dang thing is going to come out intact. I reinforced the ears w/ toothpicks & tried not to watch it bake. 7/n

Finally the moment of truth...IT WORKED. I had a red lamb cake that my husband described as "gross" and "flayed looking." Success! 8/n

As I enjoyed the sight of my monstrous creation, I noticed that it had a bit of a tilt forward. No prob I'll add some skewers to the neck for reinforcement, just in case. My husband suggested adding a mustache, lamb went in the fridge as I went looking for the candy mustaches 9/n

Fast forward 30 min: HOLY CRAP THE LAMB CAKE DECAPITATED ITSELF. It knew it was an abomination and refused to live. 10/n

I'm not letting the lamb cake's refusal to participate stop me. BEHOLD MY EASTER ABOMINATION. The end. 10/10

Epilogue: Found the mustaches AND some candy eyeballs. So happy!