An intensely flavoured self saucing lemon pudding that magically separates into two delicious layers – one cake, one sauce. Make it with only 5 main ingredients – no eggs needed!
Amazing lemons!
It’s not uncommon here in Australia to see bags of lemons sitting on driveways with a sign in front: ‘Free lemons’. Which I love!
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.
I love how versatile lemons are. I have some favourite savoury recipes that include lemons, like this incredible and easy Greek lemon chicken and potatoes.
I also have other go-to lemon dessert recipes, like this lemon mascarpone cake, and these lemon bakewell bars.
How to make a self-saucing lemon pudding
You might have seen something like this magic lemon pudding called self-saucing lemon pudding, or even lemon delicious pudding (here in Australia!).
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.
Love this recipe? Or hate it?
This recipe tends to divide a room. We have made it many times and love it, but it does receive mixed reviews.
Pro tip: 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.
This is what people say about this recipe:
Caro said: “ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this is a lemon lovers dream! Tangy, warm, soft, not too sweet, I loved loved loved it.”
Juanita said: “Loved this! So easy and so yummy. We made it two days in a row!”
But CA Cook said: “I tried to make this and it was a disaster. The liquid stood on top of the cake and after 45 minutes there were still several inches of liquid. It didn’t taste lemony at all. The texture of the cake was really weird. I looked up other recipes for this kind of pudding and they call for eggs. Maybe this needs eggs.“
Nope. The recipe doesn’t ‘need’ eggs. I have tried to figure out why some people don’t like this recipe but can’t.
All I can suggest is to:
- make sure the oven is properly heated before putting the pudding in.
- Make sure you use self raising flour and not plain flour.
- Leave the pudding for 10 to 15 minutes before eating to let the sauce thicken and cool a little.
- Then eat it immediately. We find it tastes lovely the next day, but some of the sauce soaks into the pudding.
The only other advice I have is to try it for yourself… and make your own decision about whether you’re a quick and easy lemon pudding without eggs lover or hater!
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 use 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!
Like this recipe? You’ll enjoy my chocolate self saucing pudding too!
I worked on the ‘little sister’ of my lemon pudding aka a 6-ingredient chocolate self saucing pudding, also with no eggs, for a long time before publishing it.
I wanted to get it ‘just right’. I hope you agree it was worth the wait! There are plenty of chocolate self saucing puddings out there already, but what sets this one apart is that:
- it’s surprisingly low in sugar
- it’s egg free, just like the lemon pudding, in case you can’t get any or you can’t eat eggs
- it’s got plenty of sauce (mmmm… )
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!)
IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE, LET ME KNOW HOW YOU GET ON BY LEAVING A COMMENT AND RATING BELOW… AND DON’T FORGET TO SIGN UP TO RECEIVE ALL MY NEW RECIPES BY EMAIL!
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Easy lemon magic pudding (5 ingredients)
Equipment (affiliate links)
Ingredients (UK/Australia? Click below for grams/ml)
for the cake batter
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 lemon zest only (use the juice in the sauce)
- ½ cup milk warmed
- 2 tablespoons butter (melted and mixed in with the warm milk)
for the sauce
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup water boiling
- ½ 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).
Juanita Apostolis says
Loved this! So easy and so yummy. We made it two days in a row!
Juanita Apostolis says
So easy and so delicious – we made it two days in a row!
Helen says
Oh so happy to hear this, Juanita! Thank you so much for sharing your review!
Alex says
I just made this, and was a little worried when I saw the ratio of batter to liquid after having seen the negative reviews. But it didn’t take long for the batter to rise and the sauce to start bubbling, I wonder whether having the oven good and hot (I preheated to 220C) and a tin rather than ceramic dish might be the hit vs. miss factor?
SO…
It turned out perfectly, the sauce was so think and gooey.
And it was a definite hit with the family,so I’ll be saving it for future use!
Next time I’ll sprinkle coconut on top too.
Helen says
Thank you so much for leaving your review, Alex – I so appreciate it! This is probably my most ‘controversial’ if you like post, but I think the balance is starting to tip towards the happy people 🙂 So glad it turned out well for you and you’ll consider making it again. You could be right about the heat! I used just a ceramic dish, but good to know it works out well in a tin too! 🙂
Leah Murray says
This recipe worked for me. My neighbour gave me lots of huge lemons(1 lemon yields on average 200ml of lemon juice). I had so many lemons to get rid of so I googled lemon recipes and this was the easiest. I cooked it this morning and have already eaten a quarter..without ice cream it’s still lovely and soft and lemony.
Helen says
This is the reason I made this recipe too, Leah – I got tons of lemons from a neighbour and needed to find something to do with them! So glad it worked well for you! I must make this again some time soon!
Elsa says
Very easy to make and was delicious both warm and cold after being left overnight in fridge. I let the liquid ingredients boil with the sugar for a couple of minutes before pouring over batter. Will definitely make again and possibly double the batter next time.
Helen says
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave your review, Elsa, and for the top rating. I will have to try making a double batch next time too!
Karla says
It came out great!! So easy and quick. Perfect with a scoop of icecream
Helen says
Great to hear this, Karla. Thanks so much for making the effort to leave your review!
Dan Wait says
Hello!
We were looking for a quick pudding recipe and found yours, so gave it a whirl.
Have to say we loved it – really beautiful, and we ate it straight away (no waiting 15 mins for us).
Thank you
Dan Wait (UK)
Helen says
Hi Dan, thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review and rating. I’m very pleased that you enjoyed this as much as we do, and it’s interesting that you didn’t bother waiting for 15 minutes for the sauce to thicken. Maybe I’ll try gobbling it up straight away next time too!
Peter Milner says
Yes, very easy. Worked a treat. Very nice. Magic.
Helen says
Hi, Peter. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave your feedback and a rating. Really appreciate it – and glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Louise says
This worked perfectly for us, even without eggs. It’s really quick and easy and tastes really lemony. Delicious, even the next day. It is important to let it stand a bit though before you eat it.
Ree says
Same I tried to make this using this recipe and it was a disaster too, liquid stayed on top and batter was heavy and a horrid consistency, found another with eggs which worked perfectly, this DOES NEED EGGS!
Helen says
Hi Ree, sorry to hear this! Of all the recipes on my site, this is the one that seems to divide a room. The reviews on the original recipe I worked from are also very mixed. It’s always worked perfectly for us if I leave it to ‘settle’ for 15 minutes before serving. It’s not the prettiest of desserts but it isn’t supposed to be – it’s a quick ‘got to have dessert now’ recipe.
Glad you found something else that you liked better!
CA Cook says
I tried to make this and it was a disaster. The liquid stood on top of the cake and after 45 minutes there were still several inches of liquid. It didn’t taste lemony at all. The texture of the cake was really weird.
I looked up other recipes for this kind of pudding and they call for eggs. Maybe this needs eggs.
Helen says
Oh no! What a shame. The recipe definitely doesn’t include eggs, so that’s not the problem. I’m really sorry but I don’t know what could have happened. I’ve made this a few times with this same recipe and it’s always turned out well. 🙁
Anja Skrba says
oh lemon desserts are the best!
Helen says
Glad you think so, Anja! 🙂
Diana Lopes says
Can’t wait to make this on my own! I love cakes, puddings, and whatever other desserts made with lemon!
Helen says
I hope you do give it a try, Diana! 🙂
Liz says
You moved!!! So nice to connect again as I haven’t popped by in so long. Bill loves lemon his mom made a dessert like this yummy magic lemon pudding. I’ll have to treat him soon—now if I could just get someone to drop off a bag of lemons 😉
Helen says
Hi Liz – so lovely to hear from you! I must pop in on you too! Yes, we moved – again. One day we will settle!
marcie says
Having a lot of lemons is a good problem to have! I love citrus desserts and this pudding certainly does look magical! I can taste that lemon flavor just looking at it. 🙂
Helen says
It certainly is a good problem, Marcie! My favourite flavour (after chocolate!)
Marissa says
I love lemony desserts so this has me swooning! Lucky you with all of those lemons!
Helen says
I know – so lucky, hey? Australia is great for fresh and even home grown produce!
mira says
I have some lemons and can’t wait to try this! So easy and looks perfect!
Helen says
Oh please do try it, Mira! 🙂
Janette | Culinary Ginger says
I do love a good lemony dessert and these pictures have my mouth watering and I can’t think of a better use of home-grown lemons
Helen says
I know – trust me to pick a dessert!
Susan says
I will try this as soon as I get some lemons. I make a chocolate self saucing which works. The worst part is waiting for the pud to cool.
Helen says
Agreed! I just ‘might’ have sneaked a little taste before it had cooled down enough. 😉
ann says
Done deal!!
Helen says
🙂 Glad you like it!