Last year there was a new show on the Canadian foodnetwork channel. The show is called Recipe To Riches and it’s about ordinary people showcasing their favorite family recipes in front of some popular judges and they battle to have their recipe become a President Choice product to win $25,000 and ultimately win the grand price of $250,000.
Last year’s winner for the grand prize was this cute little old lady, 80 years old, who came on the show with this delicious luscious lemon pudding that won the hearts of the judges and everyone else. I was a bit surprised because I am not one for lemon desserts so I couldn’t really understand why a pudding like this could win over pulled pork. 
I had to see what all the fuss was about. The interesting thing about this dessert was that the top 2/3 is supposed to be cake consistency and the bottom pudding. So I looked up the recipe and found it on the foodnetwork site. I read the ingredients and they’re basic ingredients, flour, sugar, eggs, butter and lemon. But then I read the quantities and began to worry, the recipe only calls for 3 tbsp of flour. I then read the comments to see if anyone has tried it and noticed that some people were concerned about the same thing, but those who have tried it, loved it.
So since I always love a challenge, I proceeded to make this luscious lemon pudding. Granted, I was a bit nervous as I was making it and wanted to follow the recipe exactly for the first time. So I did, the consistency of the pudding was pretty wet, and as I was pouring it in my ramekins I began to wonder if it would actually turn out to be cake consistency for the top 2/3 of it. But I baked it, anxiously checking the oven every few minutes to see what is happening.
The time came to take it out of the oven.
The lemon pudding looked delicious and it looked like there was cake consistency, but I was anxious to see the bottom of the pudding. I removed the ramekins from the water bath and let them cool for a bit then sprinkled some powdered sugar over them. When I finally tried it, it was exactly as it was supposed to be. To my amazement, the top 2/3 of the pudding was actually cake consistency and the bottom actual pudding. As far as taste, well I can understand why it is called luscious lemon pudding. It truly is luscious, but to be honest just a little bit sweet for me. So if I were to make this again I would cut down on the sugar and maybe add an extra tablespoon of flour to make up for the sugar.
But all in all it was worth it, I’m glad I tried this recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups 2% milk
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
- Butter 8-inch (2 L) square glass baking dish, or ramekins.
- In bowl, sift together sugar and flour; set aside.
- Place egg whites in bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Transfer whites to another bowl.
- Add egg yolks to same bowl and return to stand mixer. Using whisk attachment beat on medium-high speed until yolks are thick and lightened in colour. Reduce speed to medium and add butter, lemon zest and juice; beat for 1 more minute. With machine running on medium speed, alternately beat in flour/sugar mixture and milk, making 5 additions of flour and 4 of milk.
- Remove bowl from mixer. Fold in egg whites. Transfer to prepared baking dish. Place dish in large shallow roasting pan. Add hot water to half way up side of baking dish.
- Bake in centre of oven for 50 to 55 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Top two-thirds will be cake consistency and bottom third will be pudding consistency.
Notes
Recipe from www.foodnetwork.ca
Original recipe yields 9 servings, but I baked it in 6 ramekins, so I have 6 servings.
Enjoy!
Looks intriguing! Would love to try the recipe just for the fact that it won $250000. Your pudding looks great!
Thank you.