Cupcakes with coconut and jelly beans...

I’ll bet your mom made these for you when you were a little kid, too!

I was talking about these cupcakes with my buddy V today.   Mother made them for me when I was a little girl 50+ years ago.  She would tint the coconut, make a little nest and fill the nest with jelly beans.  I would help her in the kitchen, and be so excited, because it was such a special occasion.  We always tinted our grass green, and the cupcakes were always homemade.

I carried the tradition on with my own boys, and when I asked Ryan today if he would like to have them again, he said, “No, I hate coconut!”  So much for that memory…  But I have to admit, I never really liked the jelly beans on them  either.  V suggested putting a Peep on top,  no surprise there, the woman has been obsessed with Peeps for years!  I think yours truly would much rather nest some miniature Cadbury eggs in the coconut.  Oh, I do love those eggs!  Especially the caramel ones….

Mother also had a lamb cake mold similar to this that she bought when I was a baby.  Money was scarce when I was little, so I’m sure buying this mold was an extravagance.  She was always so proud of it, and she would bake buttermilk cakes, with me standing on a chair while she unmolded it.  Then she would frost it with buttercream frosting , carefully cementing the two halves with icing, and when I was old enough, I got to cover it with freshly grated  coconut.

I still have the mold, but sometimes I worry that my family won’t know the old stories, and when I’m gone things will just be tossed, because they don’t realize the connection and how important they were to me.

I’ll make lamb cakes for my own grandchildren, that’s what I’ll do, and the tradition will continue.  Good memories….