Do you usually eat dessert after every meal?
I have this notion that no meal is complete without a sweet ending. That said, I don’t eat cakes, brownies or trifle on a daily basis. Otherwise, that’d be lovely outrageous, no?
To satisfy my insatiable sweet tooth and trying not to overwork my digestive enzymes at the same time, my everyday dessert consists of a cup of hot chocolate or honey tea. It may not be the perfect dessert I have in mind but some sugar is better than none. Striving for middle ground here, remember?
This recipe was originally intended for a weekend treat. But when you just had a bad day and a lacklustre dinner, the need of a fabulous dessert became apparent.
Yes, this is another recipe from the same cookbook as the mustard chicken wings which I have made earlier on. I have a sneaky feeling that I’ll end up cooking all the recipes from “Good Cooking – The New Essentials” by Jill Dupleix. Whenever I go through a cookbook, I love to stick my arrow-shaped post-its to recipes that stand out amongst others (do you do that too?). But when it comes this particular book, there’s no point in bookmarking the recipes as almost every recipe is a yes to me *sigh*.
Anyway, a quick description of this pudding: think of a molten chocolate cake (or a lava cake as some would call it), but in this instance, it’s in a lemon cake form. What you end up with is “a pillow of soft golden lemon sponge cake on top, with a tangy lemony curd underneath” (quoting from Jill). Sounds like lemony heaven? You bet.
Sticky Lemon Pudding
Serves 4
(adapted from Good Looking – The New Essentials by Jill Dupleix)
Ingredients:
70g (2.5 ounces) butter, plus extra for the baking dish – soften at room temperature
180g (6 ounces) caster sugar
2 tsp grated lemon zest (about 3/4 of a lemon)
3 medium eggs, separated
60g (2 ounces) plain flour, sifted
250ml (1 cup) milk
100ml lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
Icing sugar for dusting
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius /356 degrees Fahrenheit / Gas 4.
2. Using either a food processor or manual labour of whisking, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest together until pale. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time.
3. Add the flour and milk alternately until you have a smooth batter, beating well. Lastly, beat in the lemon juice.
4. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until firm but not stiff, and fold the two mixtures together.
5. Pour into a buttered 1 litre ovenproof dish and place in a baking tin.
6. Half-fill the tin with hot water and bake for 50 minutes or until the pudding is lightly browned and set on top, with a soft base of gooey lemon curd.
7. Remove the dish from the water, dust the pudding with icing sugar and serve immediately.
{Enjoy!}
Oh my you seriously had me drooling with the first picture! The sticky lemon pudding sounds and looks beyond delicious. I definitely agree it sounds like lemony heaven to me! Thank you soooo much for this recipe, my mama is an absolute lemon dessert fanatic and she would just go crazy over this recipe!
it looks delicious! I like lemon flavor!!!
I do the same thing with the stickies to identify the recipes that appeal most when I get a new book.
Too many good ones for stickies? Maybe I should get this?
I really love lemon, I can’t wait to try this!
I used to go for the chocolate, but lately I find that I always choose lemon if given the choice. This Lemon Pudding looks fabulous! Thank you!
Oh I am so glad I ran across this recipe! It looks right up my alley and now I want to cook it up this morning! Thank you so much!
This does look like the perfect solution to a bad day
I love the lemon flavor…my favorite! Wishing you a great Thanksgiving 
Hey Emily! I’m not a sweet tooth person but I do love good dessert! This looks great and comforting. I agree when you have bad day, sweet stuff is just what you need
Happy Thanksgiving to you and you family!
I have a friend for whom this will be a lovely surprise! She loves all things ooey gooey goodness and all things lemony, and this fits both bills. Thank you!
This recipe sounds incredibly easy and delicious!
This does sound like lemony goodness and I do adore lemons. The texture looks inviting and it must smell wonderful!
This lemon pudding looks perfect for the weather now. I think I can have some of this pudding now for get rid of the cold. Thank you for sharing this awesome and tasty recipe. You’re the best
This known downunder as lemon sponge pudding or lemon delicious pudding and is a favourite of mine since childhood. It also works well if you replace the lemons with limes (drool!). For a fancy presentation bake individual serves in ramekins (but please still use a water bath).
I think I’ll have to make one even though it is summery here!
I love lemon desserts…this looks so good!
Where is the lemon curd in the recipe? Am I missing something?!?!?!
Hi Vicky,
Basically, the uncooked portion of the pudding will taste like lemon curd and the top portion is sponge cake like – similar concept to chocolate lava cake but the only difference is that the “lava” bit is inside the cake. Hope this makes sense to you.
I love recipes that have easy to follow pictures… this looks delicious, thanks for sharing!
was tired of chocolate desserts and so I made this last night–delicious! a nice, bright dessert for a bleak winter day.
I followed a link from The Kitchn here… this sounds fantastic and would be perfect with meyer lemons from my tree!
What the heck is a baking tin? And caster sugar? This is a bit more daunting than I thought it would be.
Hi Kimberly,
I meant an ovenproof dish for the pudding. As in caster sugar, it is superfine sugar. If you don’t have that, normal sugar which you used for tea & coffee would work too. Sorry about the confusion.
I made this for my family and everyone decided, excluding me, decided that there’s more tang than there’s sweet. A little too much lemon juice, would it affect the outcome if I were to put less lemon juice?
I don’t think it’ll affect the outcome if you put less lemon juice. Alternatively, you can add a bit more sugar too?
Hi there! I just wanted to let you know that I made this pudding last night for my grandma and mom and we all LOVED it! It turned out really well…perfect balance of sweet and tart!!
It really reminded me of a lime pudding my mom used to make when I was little. Thanks for sharing a great recipe!
Sounds delicious, I’m going to add this one to my winter list. I noted the comment of one of your other posters about doing individual portions in ramekins. This is something I often do with desserts to control portion size, either freezing or refrigerating the balance. It also means I don’t have to bake a different dessert every night – Yeah…I like an easy life, sometimes! *G*
I haven’t actually tried making desserts in ramekins – have only tried it once with mac and cheese. Having said that I like the idea of portion control with ramekins….plus i think the pudding looks better in individual portions
Can’t say no to an easy life
This looks gorgeous, thank you for posting it (and I love your jovial introduction!).
You mention that this is adapted from the Jill Dupleix recipe, could you please let me know how you have changed it?
Thank you!
Hi Sophie,
I pretty much followed the recipe closely….If I could remember correctly, I whisk the batter by hand rather than using a food processor – because the quantity is small enough to be manageable by hand. Also lesser chance of overbeating the batter.
Thanks for your compliment. I hope you’ll enjoy the recipe. This is definitely one of my favourite pudding recipes!
Hi there from NZ,
Made this dessert tonight for my husband and I to try as we always do with new recipes before making them for dinner guests. It was absolutely divine. The sponge at the top was so perfectly light and tasty and the scrumptious curd which formed at the base was very yummy. I’d liked to have gone back for thirds LMAO but thought I better wait a bit!
Cheers.
This will definitely be written in my book of favourites
Hi back from Australia,
The recipe was a surprise for me. It turned out to be quite a hit among my friends…and it has been my go-to dessert if I have to entertain during the work days. I’m glad that you’ve enjoyed it!
Made this tonight. Absolutely delicious. Unbelievable how much ‘curd’ there is and how light and fluffy the sponge is. Perfect recipe. Tanginess of the lemons is still on my palate two hours later
I used to make this years ago and was just thinking of making it for a party. I have a couple of questions please – if I make larger quantities do I need to allow longer to cook? If I make in advance can I freeze it? Thank you!