Self-saucing lemon pudding

Don't you just hate coming back from a lovely long holiday? 

Just as I am really getting into the relaxing groove, I have to pack up my stuff, say goodbye to my beloved family, and negotiate the endlessly stressful and frustrating world of commmercial passenger aviation. And let's face it, who wouldn't find it stressful running for your flight barefoot while clutching your rapidly-falling-down jeans, having had to remove both your shoes and belt for the security check??  Ah, the glamour of modern air travel.  Then I arrive back in London and encounter more rude people on one Tube journey than I encountered in my full 2 week holiday.  By the time I get home to my empty fridge and Mount Laundry, I am usually ready for another holiday.

But this time, things were a little different.  Yes, I still walked around clutching my belt in one hand and jeans in the other, and the people on the Tube remained implacably rude.  But as soon as we got off the train, my spirits soared.  We had left a country in hibernation, a scene of bare branches silhouetted against a leaden sky, only to return to a country reborn.  Trees seem to have been sprayed with a pale green fuzz of leaves; dotted here and there are other trees in full, exuberant white blossom; and everywhere you look there are nodding yellow daffodil heads. 

I never thought I'd say this, but it's good to be back :)

And here is a light, zesty lemon pudding that's in perfect harmony with my Spring-y mood, and as yellow as the little scented narcissi flowering in my garden.  If the word pudding brings to mind something heavy and claggy, then banish those thoughts immediately.  This lemon pudding (from the BBC Good Food) is more of a soufflé floating gently in a sea of its own buttery lemon sauce.  It's light as a feather, full of fresh lemon flavour, and provided the perfect final course to my Valentine's lunch this year (following on the grilled halloumi with zaa'tar and the Moroccan chicken tagine).  It's ridiculously quick to make and won't overwhelm your guests after a heavy meal - in fact, my guests licked their bowls.  Make some quickly - while the glorious Spring weather lasts!

If you liked this recipe, take a look at the index of other dessert recipes I have previously posted on CookSister!

SELF-SAUCING LEMON PUDDING (serves 6)

Ingredients:

100g butter, softened 
300g caster sugar
zest of 1 large unwaxed lemon
150ml fresh lemon juice (add the zest from the zested lemon) 
4 large (or 5 small) eggs, separated
75g plain flour, sifted 
375ml milk
icing/confectioners sugar for dusting

Method:
 
Pre-heat the oven to 180C/375F. 

Blitz the butter, sugar and lemon zest together in a food processor until they are pale and creamy. Add the lemon juice, egg yolks, flour and milk one by one and mix until you have a smooth batter. Whisk the egg whites until firm but not stiff, and fold the two mixtures together.

Pour the batter into a lightly buttered ovenproof soufflé or baking dish.  Place the dish into a deep roasting tin half-filled with hot water. Bake for 45-50 minutes until the top is lightly browned and set, and there is a sort of gooey lemon curd below.

Remove the dish from the tray, dust with icing sugar and serve hot, with cream if desired.

Comments

[barbara]

Welcome home Jean. This is a favourite dessert of mine. Loverrrly. Here it is called Lemon Delicious.

[Rosemary]

I secretly think that the forbidden tree in garden of Eden was a lemon tree - it really is a fruit with everything - true knowledge of good and evil!
I make a similar pud and it's always welcome in our home.
Glad you made it "home", and thanks for the visit to us, I so enjoyed meeting you and getting to know you better.

[ControlCalorie]

Thanks for sharing this cool recipe. The name made it so. So I am definitely trying this tonight! Thanks.

[Melanie Heavenly]

Where did you go? I leave for Durbs this coming Thursday. YAY! This recipes looks divine! Lemon is one of my top five flavours.

[Jamie]

Well, we are glad you are home and back on our side of the world. And yipes I have to go through all of that this summer! But ah the comfort of self-saucing lemon puddings! I recently made similar puddings and they were outrageously delicious, one of the best things I've ever made or eaten. Lovely! Now you make me want to make them again.

[bellini valli]

I could wax poetic about the vurtues of self-saucing puddings...but with lemon flavour I will just make it.

[Gourmet Chick]

I love self saucing puddings as well - they just do all the work for you

[meeta]

i know what you mean about coming home from holidays! ugh! but i am glad to have you back. i feel i have so much to tell you and just missed you! would you believe i have never made a self-saucing pudding before. eaten it many a times and love the stuff - but never actually made it. love the tangy lemony flavor this has!

[norma]

This is a must for me...anything lemony...thank you, thank you sister

[Michelle @ Greedy Gourmet]

BBC Good Food's recipes have a reasonably solid reputation. Sometimes they're really good and others just okay but never terrible. I'm pretty sure I've bookmarked this one somewhere along the way...

The last time the three of us flew, G was 9 months old. We didn't need to do the hogwash of taking off our shoes because they didn't think we'd blow up our own baby. ;-)

[Sarah, Maison Cupcake]

Welcome back... spring has certainly sprung whilst you were away. I find the worst thing about coming back from holidays is the laundry and putting everything away. I love lemon puds tho, they might take my mind off it.

[nina]

I love how this recipe, splits to make a cakey topping with a divine sauce at the bottom.. Great recipe, will remain a favorite with my family!!

[Julia]

this is mouth-watering!

[Food-and-family.blogspot.com]

I love that transformation from winter to spring in England - always magical and daffodils and narcissi are my favourites. I tried to grow them here last year, but only two came up and they looked slightly apologetic as if they knew they were in the wrong country.
I'll have to try this pudding out on the family - we've got a bit stuck in a puddign rut of a few family favorites, so I'm looking for new ones to add to the list.

[Mowie @ Mowielicious]

What a hilarious post Jeanne - you do make me laugh! That lemon pudding looks divine - I've only ever made self-saucing chocolate, so I'm going to have to try this one soon.

[Manggy]

I'm always in the mood for a bowl-licker of a dessert!!! :D``

[diva]

Apart from the dirt, the awful chairs and the weird nutters on the tube, the rude ones are just another reason why I have started taking buses more! And gosh, when is air travel glamorous anymore? The dry but somehow greasy skin, the matted hair, the wrinkled clothes and the parched dry-lipped mouth. GOSH. I've never been glamorous when travelling. Glad to see you're all happy and springy though! :) And the perfect pudding to accompany that mood.

[Pille @ Nami-Nami]

Johanna treated us to your cranberry self-saucing pud back in November. If this is just as good, then I know i'll love it ;)

[Marisa]

I love citrus and I love puddings, so this one is a no-brainer. On to my to-make list it goes! Saw some photos of London in springtime the other day - I can see why you're so happy to be back there.

[Claudia]

Looks easy as well a delicious. I can't wait for our lemons to be back in season, so I can try this. We get so many all at once, it's usually a battle trying to use them all creatively.

[Ash]

Oh yum! I am so glad you posted this as I had a recipe for a similar pudding and lost it years ago. I think I should make this today.

[Edeth]

Ooooh, that looks like a wonderful saturday project for me! Great pictures, and thanks for the inspiration!

[Wizzie Grobler]

I am sooo pleased to find you COOKSISTER "
Today in Canada i is minus20 and I want to make a simple hot sliced oranges with a "lekker sauce to put with homemade spiced orange ice cream found the recpe in A AFRICAN SAFARI - author,Yvonne Short Any ideas because I do not want to make marmelade!!

[preston]

Oh golly this looks so scrummy, I may give this a wurl on sunday if the aga behaves!