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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
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).
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!
Rebecca Lingerfelt says
Guuuurl! This came out so dang good.. I used Splenda and added a little cornstarch slurry to the sauce. It is so refreshing on a winter’s day here in North Carolina. Hubby wants a full on Keto version but did agree this is worth the carbs. It’s great warm and cooled.
And it’s not ugly at all.😉
Helen says
Thank you SO much for the feedback, Rebecca! It’s so valuable, especially as this recipe gets such mixed reviews. Interesting that you added cornstarch! So glad you enjoyed it! I’m thinking of posting a chocolate version of this. Interested?
Sue says
Wonderful wonderful! Dinner in the slow cooker and then when my husband went to pick up our friends from the station quickly whipped this up ready to put in the oven when they arrived. It was so so good! I too was a bit sceptical about whether it would work without an egg but it rose and was light and fluffy with delicious lemon sauce underneath. Thank you
Helen says
Hi Sue! So wonderful to hear that this worked out well for you. I remember being a bit skeptical about the lack of egg too, but it’s amazing what you can make without eggs, oil, butter etc.! I’m thinking of coming up with a chocolaty version of this too… mmmm!