If you’re hosting a dinner party or gathering and want a dessert that elicits childlike delight from your guests, this lemon pudding cake recipe rarely fails. It’s also refreshingly easy to make in a batch, with most of the mixing in a single bowl. Still warm from the oven and dusted with confectioners’ sugar, it manages to charm two of the senses before you’ve even tasted the fresh citrus and creamy custard.
Lemon pudding cake recipes have been around for centuries and readers from Australia or New Zealand will know this dessert as a Lemon Delicious. That’s no exaggeration, either. As an alternative to chocolatey desserts, lemon pudding cake is a bright, zesty and comfort food for winter when lemons are in season, too.
Ingredients for Lemon Pudding Cake
- Eggs: Separate the yolks from the whites and make sure they’re at room temperature for a lighter, more airy batter.
- Sugar: White sugar is preferable to brown because you want a clean, bright taste rather than a richer caramel finish. That said, these lemon pudding cakes aren’t overly sweet once baked.
- Milk: Choose a whole, 2% or your nut milk of choice to dissolve the sugar and form the batter. Make sure it’s at room temperature, too, so you don’t have to overwork the batter.
- All-purpose flour: You can use self-rising flour to make the cake mix, but the egg whites usually puff up the cake with all-purpose flour alone.
- Lemon juice: Roll your fresh lemons on a surface to release all the juice, squeeze and remove the pips. The aroma you’ll smell during prep gives you a hint of the wonderful citrus flavors to come.
- Lemon zest: Grate the zest from your (washed) lemons to add a pleasant touch of bitterness and the lemony essential oils trapped in the skin.
- Salt: As with any sweet dessert, a pinch of salt brings out flavor without troubling the result with saltiness.
- Optional: Confectioners’ sugar, lemon slices or whipped cream to add as a topping before serving.
Directions
Step 1: Mix the ingredients
Preheat the oven to 325°F and beat the egg yolks in a bowl, gradually adding the sugar, milk, flour, lemon juice, zest and salt to form a smooth batter. Don’t worry if it’s still runny at this point. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then gently fold into the lemon mixture, resisting the temptation to overmix.
Step 2: Bake in a water bath
Transfer the pudding batter to ungreased custard cups or ramekins and place in a baking tray. Add boiling water into the tray to a depth of at least 1 inch. Bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is firm and golden and a knife tip emerges clean from the center. Allow it to rest for a few minutes, dust with confectioners’ sugar or top with lemon slices and whipped cream.
Editor’s Tip: Skip the dusting and turn the ramekins upside down instead so the custard oozes over the cake.
Recipe Variations
- Top with fresh berries: If you’re making this lemon pudding cake recipe during berry season around late fall, give a splash of color by topping with raspberries, blueberries or strawberry slices.
- Use yogurt: Swapping some of the milk for plain yogurt or buttermilk will give your lemon pudding cake a slightly sour, cheesecake-like flavor that pairs well with the lemon.
- Increase or decrease the pudding: You can vary the consistency of the pudding by adjusting the water level. Add more water for a deeper bath and more custard or use less if you want a taller cake stack.
How to Store Lemon Pudding Cake
Allow your lemon pudding cakes to cool indivisually and store them in an airtight container. You can refrigerate them for up to three days and reheat in the microwave when ready to serve. Keep in mind that the sauce will soak into the cake over time.
Can you freeze lemon pudding cake?
Freezing this lemon pudding cake recipe isn’t a great idea as the cakes will deflate and lose their light texture. To enjoy these at their finest, eat while they’re still warm from the oven.
Can you make lemon pudding cake ahead of time?
No. The batter needs to be fresh to prevent it from deflating. Mix your batter while the egg whites are in their prime.
Lemon Pudding Cake Tips
How do I make my cakes more lemony?
Don’t skip the step with the lemon zest. That’s where most of the citrus flavor is locked away. To help fully infuse the batter with a citrusy aroma, mix it with a little melted butter (unsalted) before adding to the cake mix.
Is my lemon cake pudding batter curdling?
Adding lemon juice to a cake mix containing milk and eggs can sometimes result in curdling. But curdling is unlikely since this recipe uses room-temperature ingredients and doesn’t involve excessive mixing. Trust the process. Any lumps or curds in the batter will disappear during baking.
Why won’t my cakes rise?
We’re using individual ramekins and the scope for cake to collapse, crack or not rise at all is limited. So if your lemon pudding cakes are stubbornly refusing to rise, either the oven temperature is off or you may have overmixed the batter. Check your oven temperature with a cook’s thermometer and go slowly and gently when mixing the batter.
