Last Updated on
An intensely flavoured lemon pudding that magically separates into two delicious layers – one cake, one sauce. Make it with only 5 main ingredients – no eggs needed!
It’s not uncommon here in Australia to see bags of lemons sitting on driveways with a sign in front: ‘Free lemons’.
Nice!
Another fabulous lemon dessert!
But if you’re going to take those lemons, you really need to think of something to make with them. And relatively fast before they turn into green powder in your fruit bowl.
You might have seen something like this magic lemon pudding called self-saucing lemon pudding, or even lemon delicious pudding. You mix together:
- flour
- sugar
- lemon zest
- milk
- and butter
then you pour over lemon juice, sugar and water and bake. While in the oven, the dish ‘magically’ separates into a cake layer and a lemon sauce layer.
Add ice cream and eat. Hopefully you’ve fooled guests into thinking you’ve slaved away over this magic lemon pudding, when really it only took you 5 minutes to throw together. Massive win.
In the past, I haven’t had much success making anything that has ‘magic’ in its name. A chocolate self-saucing pudding ended up with hardly any sauce and a magic apple cake tasted divine but didn’t have the 3 clearly defined magic layers it was supposed to.
And to be totally honest, this recipe tends to divide a room. We have made it several times and love it, but it does receive mixed reviews.
The key to success is to leave the lemon pudding to cool slightly for ten to fifteen minutes after it comes out of the oven. The sauce might look a bit runny at first but if you let it stand it thickens up nicely.
But then eat it immediately. We found this tasted really nice re-heated the next day but some of the sauce had sunken into the cake.
I hope you enjoy this. It perhaps won’t ever win any beauty contests, but we think it’s a delicious ‘got-to-have-dessert-right-now’ recipe!
This is the kind of baking dish I used for this pudding:
Update: The original magic lemon pudding recipe I adapted had very mixed reviews, and so does this one! If you give this a go and like it, would you consider popping back and leaving a review? Thank you!
More really easy desserts
5-minute chocolate banana ice cream (healthy nice cream!)
6-ingredient gooey Swedish chocolate cake (you’ve got to try this!)
Addictive peanut butter Cheerio bars
No bowl chocolate pecan bars (magic bars!)
5-minute chocolate pots (only 4 ingredients!)
Easy lemon magic pudding (5 ingredients)
Ingredients (UK/Australia? Click button below for grams & ml)
for the cake batter
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- 0.5 cup sugar
- 1 lemon zest only (use the juice in the sauce)
- 0.5 cup milk warmed
- 2 tablespoons butter (melted and mixed in with the warm milk)
for the sauce
- 0.25 cup sugar
- 1 cup water boiling
- 0.5 cup lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons)
to serve (optional)
- icing / confectioners’ sugar for sprinkling
- vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 355F / 180C and grease a medium sized high-sided baking dish with butter.
- Mix together the flour, sugar and lemon zest in a medium bowl.
- Pour the milk / butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
- Empty the batter into the baking dish.
- Mix the sauce ingredients together, then carefully pour over the batter in the baking dish. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the sauce starting to bubble around the sides.
- Take out of the oven, then leave for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken slightly before serving.
- Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve immediately with vanilla ice cream (if you like).
col says
Hmm, not sure why it didn’t have eggs in the recipe. (First time I tried this recipe so I followed it exactly apart from a longer bake because i wanted the top to brown). To me it tasted gluey. The sauce was also quite watery so I’ll add less water next time.
I think with a traditional sponge recipe it’ll be great.
Thanks very much.
Helen says
Hi Col, that’s OK – thanks for leaving your feedback anyway. I think there are similar versions to this online that include eggs, so maybe one of those will suit you better. This is one of my older recipes. It’s still very popular in general, but it’s definitely a love it or hate it kind of recipe! Hope you find something you like better!
Karin Bringezu says
Can’t believe so many people had disasters – if there’s a disaster to be had then I’m your girl! But no disaster here! I cooked it about 45 mins because it refused to brown for reasons known only to itself but it tasted delicious 🙂 Plus it was so easy to make – even for disastrous me! I managed to whip it together while simultaneously cooking lemon chicken, lemon & garlic pak choy (sensing a theme here?!) plus pasta – usually attempting to do more than one thing at a time spells doom for all of them but not this time 🙂 Plenty of sauce, nice fluffy pudding – YAY!
Will definitely be making this again & again (til I run out of lemons!) Thank you!
Helen says
Hi Karin! Thank you so much for your beautiful review! Its’ so great to know that even someone who’s prone to disasters didn’t have a disaster with this! Also, the description of the rest of your meal made me drool. We have a glut of lemons at the moment too – I must follow your lead and make a lovely lemony meal like this! 😉
Caro says
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this is a lemon lovers dream! Tangy, warm, soft, not too sweet, I loved loved loved it, Ive this week become a sexagenarian- yes and people think aging is boring! I celebrated by making this to have with friends. I put blueberries in the batter, just cos lemon and blueberry work better than most marriages I know. SO YUM Thank you for this awesome recipe,
Helen says
Hi Caro! Sooo glad you enjoyed it! I LOVE your idea of adding blueberries and am going to try it next time. Thank you!
Rebecca says
Can’t wait to try this! Loads of lemons that will only end up turning into “green powder ” in fruit bowl, lol 😂 I am mostly dairy free however (can manage a little butter) will this work with coconut milk? Guessing canned variety will be too heavy and too intensely flavoured but refrigerated variety could work?? Or perhaps almond milk?
Helen says
Hi Rebecca! I think this recipe will work just fine with non dairy milk! I often sub dairy for non dairy myself these days and never have problems. Do let me know how you get on! Good luck!
Linda says
It’s amazingly good and so easy to make!! It browned nicely and sauce thickened up very nicely. The pudding itself was nice and surprisingly spongy. Will definitely make this again and it’s absolutely not ugly. Thank you for the recipe!!
Helen says
So good to hear this, Linda! THANK YOU for letting me know you enjoyed it. Let’s say it’s ‘rustic’ and not ugly… lol!
Amanda Mandzij says
This was amazing! A deliciously tangy desert. Such a quick easy recipe too. My husband & I reeeally enjoyed it. Thanks Helen!!
Helen says
So glad this was such a hit, Amanda! Thank you so much for leaving a review! You’re making me crave it for breakfast now… 😉
Gail says
I was dubious before I put this dessert into the oven. It didn’t work for me. The bottom of it was a strange looking pale and thin liquid, while the top browned up nicely after I left it in for longer than the required time. I had doubled everything in the recipe as I had people staying, but that shouldn’t make things any different.
I left it for the sauce to thicken, but wanted to serve it warm. The sauce still hadn’t thickened at that time, and the texture of the cake was strange. I’ll use eggs and a more traditional recipe next time. But was worth a try!
Helen says
Disappointed to hear this, Gail, but thanks for leaving your honest feedback. Unfortunately this recipe isn’t everyone’s cup of tea!