This Warm lemon Pudding Cake will take you back in time. An all time classic baked sponge cake with a warm custard like bottom. Perfect served just as it is or with vanilla ice cream.
More than 20 years ago, I was given a Land O Lakes Cookbook – Homestyle Cooking for Today. Honestly, I made so many recipes from that book with varying alterations and some I kept exactly the same. This old fashioned baked lemon dessert recipe comes from that book with zero changes. I don’t often share recipes that I haven’t created myself, but I feel everyone needs this recipe in their collection.
Lemon desserts like Mini Lemon Cheesecakes and Lemon Cream Cheese Danish are some of my favorites, as well as my readers. So, I thought I’d share this old classic that I think you will all love.
What’s This Lemon Pudding Cake Like
- Difficulty – This lemon pudding is about a medium difficulty. It requires a few baking methods that you need to pay attention to achieve a very light and spongy cake layer. I recommend you read all the recipe notes.
- Taste – This cake is so light that it just melts in your mouth. The lemon sauce underneath is a custard like consistency and almost like Lemon Curd.
- Serving – This baked desserts serves six good sized good portions and it’s best served warm the day it’s baked.
Ingredients
- Eggs – I used large eggs at room temperature.
- Sugar – Granulated white sugar.
- Butter – Just regular unsalted butter at room temperature.
- Lemon Juice – I used fresh squeezed lemon juice.
- Lemon zest – This is the rind that you grate from the fresh lemon.
- Flour – All purpose flour works for this recipe.
- Salt – Regular table salt.
- Milk – I used whole dairy milk.
REMEMBER, The full recipe and instructions can be found at the end of the post in the recipe card.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees f/180 degrees c. Grease a medium sized casserole dish and set aside.
- Place the egg whites in a medium sized bowl and beat on high speed until foamy, about one minute. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar and mix on high until stiff peaks form and it’s glossy. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining sugar with the butter. Beat on high speed until well combined and light in colour, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks, lemon juice and lemon zest. Continue mixing until pale and fluffy, about 2 – 3 more minutes.
- On low speed, add the flour and salt and mix until just combined, about one minute. Stir in the milk until combined. Gently fold in the egg whites.
- Pour into prepared casserole dish. Place the casserole dish on top of a deep rimmed baking tray. Fill the baking tray with about 1-inch of water.
- Bake in the oven between, 45 – 55 minutes until risen, golden in colour and baked through.
- Remove from oven and place on a baking rack to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
Recipe Tips
- Separate eggs when cold – Eggs will always separate easier when they are cold.
- Use room temperature ingredients – This recipe requires the eggs and the butter to be at room temperature for best results.
- Fold egg whites gently into batter – To achieve a very light and airy sponge cake layer you really need to gently fold in the egg whites until combined. If you over mix, you will deflate the cake batter and the cake layer will be dense.
Substitutions
I don’t recommend any changes or substitutions to this recipe. If you would like to achieve the same results, I suggest to stick strictly to the recipe card that you will find at the end of the post.
Serving
This Warm Lemon Pudding Cake is delicious just as it is straight from the oven. However, it’s also great served with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.
Frequently Asked Questions
Steam helps produce lighter baked goods. The steam in this baked pudding acts as a leavening agent and helps the cake rise while keeping it light and airy.
While fresh lemon juice is generally better for a fresher flavour, you can use bottled lemon juice for lemon desserts.
Coconut Lemon Loaf Cake
Mini Lemon Cheesecakes
Homemade Lemon Curd
Warm lemon Pudding Cake
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs separated
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/3 cup butter at room temperature
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees f/180 degrees c. Grease a medium sized casserole dish and set aside.
- Place the egg whites in a medium sized bowl and beat on high speed until foamy, about one minute. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar and mix on high until stiff peaks form and it's glossy. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining sugar with the butter. Beat on high speed until well combined and light in colour, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks, lemon juice and lemon zest. Continue mixing until pale and fluffy, about 2 – 3 more minutes.
- On low speed, add the flour and salt and mix until just combined, about one minute. Stir in the milk until combined. Gently fold in the egg whites.
- Pour into prepared casserole dish. Place the casserole dish on top of a deep rimmed baking tray. Fill the baking tray with about 1-inch of water.
- Bake in the oven between, 45 – 55 minutes until risen, golden in colour and baked through.
- Remove from oven and place on a baking rack to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from Land o Lakes – Homestyle Cooking for Today cookbook.
- Check the blog post for full step-by-step-photos all all recipe tips.
Thanks For Stopping by & Hope To See You Soon!
