These Lemon Pudding Cakes use just 7 ingredients to create one batter, yet gives you two layers of delicious lemony delight. The top is a light and airy cake layer, and the bottom, a silky pudding bursting with fresh lemon flavor.
You all know I love my magic cakes, and these lemon pudding cakes, totally remind me of them. One batter baking into two separate layers, well I’m all for that! The combination of bright lemon, light and airy cake, and a luscious pudding makes this dessert a true show stopper.
Luscious Lemon Pudding Cakes
- Easy To Make
- Bottom layer lemon pudding, top layer lemon cake
- Delicious, lemony, tangy and refreshing
- Simple, but fancy enough to impress
- No shopping for fancy ingredients!
Fear not and trust the process. While you may be thinking this may be difficult, it is the exact opposite! This dessert could not get any easier to make. Requiring only a short list of simple, kitchen and pantry staples, I guarantee you’ll be blown away by how easy, yet impressive it is!
Ingredient Notes
- Sugar – Granulated. You can reduce the sugar amount slightly if you don’t want it quite as sweet, but there’s a lot of lemon juice here, so you’ll need the sweetness from the sugar.
- Flour – All-purpose. I know the amount called for is very small, but trust the process!
- Eggs – Use large eggs. Be careful when separating them to not get any yolk in the whites.
- Butter – Unsalted.
- Lemon – Make sure to grab fresh lemons. You’ll need both zest and juice.
- Milk – 2% works best for this recipe. You can use 1% or 3.25%, but don’t use skim. I have made this with lactose free milk as well.
How To Make Lemon Pudding Cakes
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter an 8-inch square glass baking dish, or 6 individually sized ramekins. In bowl, combine together the sugar and flour; set aside.
- Whip the whites: Place egg whites in bowl and beat on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form.
- Whip the yolks: Add egg yolks to a medium size bowl and beat on medium-high speed until the yolks are thick and lightened in colour. Add the butter, lemon zest and juice; beat for 1 more minute on medium speed. Alternately beat in flour/sugar mixture and milk, making 5 additions of flour and 4 of milk.
- Finish the batter: Fold in the egg whites with a spatula. Transfer to the prepared baking dish or ramekins. Place dish in large shallow roasting pan. Add hot water to half way up side of baking dish or ramekins.
- Bake: Bake in the centre of oven for 50 to 55 minutes. If making in ramekins, bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the cakes start to lightly brown on top. Cool for 5 minutes. Top two-thirds will be cake consistency and bottom third will be pudding consistency.
- Garnish: These can be served warm or chilled. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with berries.
FAQs & Expert Tips
FAQs
How does one batter give you pudding on the bottom and light, airy cake on top? Much like my Magic Cake, this is all thanks to the egg whites. As the pudding bakes, the light egg whites, filled with air, will float to the top, leaving the yolks on the bottom. This gives you that beautiful airy cake consistency created by the whites, while leaving you a custard style pudding on the bottom with the yolks.
As with desserts like meringue, baked Alaska, and macarons, it’s important to get the right consistency with your egg whites. In this recipe, we’re looking for the stiff peak stage. To tell when you’ve reached this result, pull your beaters out of the egg whites. You should see a peak of whipped whites standing straight up, without the tip curling over.
I like dusting my puddings with powdered sugar after they have cooled. I find it adds not only a bit of sweetness that pairs beautifully with the tangy lemon, but also a visually stunning finish!
Tips
- It is possible to over-whip the whites and have them collapse. To avoid this, you can check the whites often to make sure you catch the stiff peak stage right when you get there.
- The water bath is imperative to baking these cakes, to create a humid and moist environment which give these cakes their fluffy texture.
- Every oven is different, so keep an eye on your puddings to make sure the tops don’t burn.
Leftovers
Your lemon pudding will last 1-2 days stored in the fridge. This dessert doesn’t transfer well, so I suggest keeping it the container(s) you baked it in covered with plastic wrap.
Reheating
This dessert is wonderful enjoyed cold! No need to reheat, that could potentially wreck the consistency of the pudding.
Freezing
I don’t suggest freezing this dessert. It is quite delicate made with the whipped egg whites, so it’s definitely best enjoyed fresh.
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Lemon Pudding Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- 3 large eggs separated
- ¼ cup butter unsalted, melted
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- ½ cup lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 ½ cups milk 2%
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter an 8-inch square glass baking dish, or 6 individually sized ramekins. In bowl, combine together the sugar and flour; set aside.
- Whip the whites: Place egg whites in a medium sized bowl and beat on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form.
- Whip the yolks: Add the egg yolks to a medium size bowl and beat on medium-high speed until the yolks are thick and lightened in colour. Add the butter, lemon zest and juice; beat for 1 more minute on medium speed. Alternately beat in flour/sugar mixture and milk, making 5 additions of flour and 4 of milk.
- Finish the batter: Fold in the egg whites with a spatula. Transfer to the prepared baking dish or ramekins. Place dish in large shallow roasting pan. Add hot water to half way up side of baking dish or ramekins.
- Bake: Bake in the centre of oven for 50 to 55 minutes. If making in ramekins, bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the cakes start to lightly brown on top. Cool for 5 minutes. Top two-thirds will be cake consistency and bottom third will be pudding consistency.
- Garnish: These can be served warm or chilled. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with berries.
Recipe Notes
- It is possible to over-whip the whites and have them collapse. To avoid this, you can check the whites often to make sure you catch the stiff peak stage right when you get there.
- The water bath is imperative to baking these cakes, to create a humid and moist environment which give these cakes their fluffy texture.
- Every oven is different, so keep an eye on your puddings to make sure the tops don’t burn.
- Your lemon pudding will last 1-2 days stored in the fridge. This dessert doesn’t transfer well, so I suggest keeping it the container(s) you baked it in covered with plastic wrap.
- I don’t suggest freezing this dessert. It is quite delicate made with the whipped egg whites, so it’s definitely best enjoyed fresh.
If you love lemons, this is a great recipe very light and satisfying dessert. Taste is great but no “cake” on top to speak of. Mostly pudding. Will make again.
Added comment to my review above: the pudding was runny and I baked it per the instructions – to was lightly brown and separating from sides. Folded egg whites gently. What gives?
Hi Lisa,
Since all ovens are different, it might have been from the way the oven cooks, meaning it browned the outer layers but didn’t get to cook all the way through. Keep in mind to have all ingredients at room temperature before starting to add them all together and make sure the water bath is hot so it helps with the temperature of your pudding as well.
Let us know how it turns out!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Jo. I was intrigued by this recipe. I’ve made your Lemon Yogurt Cake any times, and the idea of the auto-layering cake was fascinating. I must’ve gone wrong somewhere though. I thought I followed your directions and quantities exactly as given, but for some reason the pudding layer was very liquid – not set at all. Any idea why that might be? Still, it tasted delicious and I’ll give it another try soon!
The only thing I can think of is that it didn’t bake long enough. Try baking them a bit longer and if the top is too brown you could always cover them with aluminum foil.
This is my FAVORITE dessert from my childhood- my Grandmother made it for me when I was honored to be her special guest for dinner or a sleepover. Since she used a store bought package mix (Betty Crocker I think) which has long since been discontinued (and I am now too many decades older than I want to see in print!) I’ll just say a ginormous THANK YOU for this recipe which immediately brought back sweet comforting memories to my heart and tastebuds. Made it-love it-appreciate it… more than you can imagine!
Awe!! I’m so glad you loved it Kim!
This desert was so good!!! Definitely will make it again.
I have been thinking about making this. I have not made Lemon Pudding Cake for a long time. I made this in my 20s and now I am in my 60s, got it from Betty Crocker cook book. Thank you, for posting it!
You are so welcome!