Easy Magic Lemon Pudding (5 ingredients, no eggs)
on Aug 12, 2022
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This is one for lemon lovers! An intensely flavoured self saucing lemon pudding (AKA lemon delicious!) that magically separates into two layers – one fluffy sponge, one tangy lemon sauce. Quick and super easy to make with only 5 main ingredients – no eggs needed!
I love lemon season here in Western Australia. We have a young lemon tree in our garden, but while we wait for it to (hopefully) start producing fruit there are often lemons left in front of houses with a note on – ‘Free Lemons!’.
So what do you make when it’s lemon season (whether you have them growing locally or not)? Personally, either this Greek lemon chicken and potatoes (an incredibly delicious and easy midweek meal), or my famous lemon pudding are two of my go-to lemon recipes!
What’s a self saucing lemon pudding?
You might not be too surprised to learn that, as if by magic, a self saucing lemon pudding makes its own sauce while it’s cooking.
To make it, you mix together a few simple lemon sponge cake ingredients and pour them into a pudding dish. Then you pour over 3 ingredients – just lots of lemon juice, sugar and boiling water.
Somehow, while baking, the pudding ‘magically’ separates into a light and fluffy sponge cake layer with a delicious, tangy lemon sauce layer below.
When you put it in the oven covered in liquid, it’s hard to believe it’ll actually work, but I promise it does. It’s SO ridiculously simple!
Love lemon desserts? More Scrummy Lane faves include lemon mascarpone layer cake or lemon curd cake (great for birthdays and afternoon tea!), lemon bakewell slices, 6-ingredient ricotta lemon loaf cake or lemon posset.
Why you’ll love it
Here in Australia, this is a classic dessert, sometimes known as lemon delicious or lemon surprise pudding. It’s a perfect quick (and, if lemons are in season, economical!) dessert for your family or for guests.
Recipes can differ slightly from one another, so what’s different about this lemon pudding recipe?
- It contains just 5 simple ingredients (I wanted to keep it super simple).
- SO easy to make with only 10 minutes’ hands-on prep time (the oven does the rest!). No mixer required. Just mix wet ingredients into dry with a wooden spoon, pour over the sauce ingredients and bake.
- It’s made WITHOUT EGGS (perfect for when you don’t have any, or someone has an egg allergy). No complicated whisking and folding of egg whites like in some other lemon pudding recipes!
- The lemon sauce is super zingy. I love the contrast of the light, sweet cake and tart citrus sauce. And there’s a lot of it!
- The sponge is light, fluffy and crisp on top. It might not be the prettiest, but it sure is delicious!
- This version isn’t overly sweet. That’s just the way I usually like to do desserts around here.
5***** Review
“We made this once, and then told everyone we knew about it – it was that good!”
Janiika
About the ingredients
Yes, just 5 main ingredients! Here’s what you need to know:
The cake batter
Self-raising flour: It’s important that you use self-raising flour, and not plain flour or self rising flour (US). If you don’t have any, simply make your own by mixing 2 teaspoons of baking powder into a cup of all-purpose flour.
Sugar: Just regular white sugar or caster sugar (fine sugar).
Lemon zest: Add the zest of one lemon to the sponge cake batter. Nothing gets wasted because the juice will go into the sauce!
Milk: You’ll need half a cup of warm milk. Any kind of milk works.
Melted butter: You’ll melt the butter into the warmed milk. Both unsalted and salted butter are fine.
The sauce
Sugar: Just a quarter cup, since you want a tangy sauce to contrast with the sweeter sponge. Ordinary white sugar or caster sugar (fine sugar) are both fine. Don’t reduce the amount of sugar in the sauce – the recipe needs this amount for the consistency.
Lemon juice: You’ll need the juice of 2-3 lemons or around half a cup.
Boiling water
How to make it
The step-by-step guide below should help you make the recipe perfectly first time. Scroll down to the end for the full recipe including ingredient amounts.
You really won’t believe how easy it is to make this lemon self saucing pudding!
Here’s what to do.
Step 1: Prepare a souffle or pudding dish by rubbing with a little butter or spraying with oil. Also pre-heat the oven.
Step 2: Mix together the dry ingredients for the cake batter – so flour, sugar and lemon zest.
Step 3: Warm the milk in a jug in the microwave. Then melt the butter into it.
Step 4: Pour the wet milk/butter mixture into the dry flour/sugar/zest mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter.
Step 5: Scrape the batter into your prepared dish.
Step 6: Mix together the sauce ingredients. Then carefully pour over the batter in the dish.
Step 7: Bake for around 35 minutes or until the pudding has risen, the top is golden brown and the luscious lemon sauce is bubbling up around the sides.
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.
Helen’s top tips
I’m going to be honest here. This recipe mostly gets rave reviews, but it can also divide a room. I have not experienced this myself, but occasionally a reader reports it ‘not working’, with liquid still on top of the cake.
Bear in mind that this pudding may not win any beauty contests! But it’s always delicious!
Here are my top tips for success.
- Make sure the oven is heated up properly before baking.
- Make sure you use self raising flour and not all-purpose or self-rising flour (NOT the same thing).
- Let the pudding rest for 10 to 15 minutes before eating to let the sauce cool and thicken a little. The sauce will still be quite thin, but that’s how it’s supposed to be!
- Then enjoy immediately. It still tastes lovely reheated the next day, but some of the sauce does soak into the pudding and the sauce will be thicker – more like lemon curd. Yum!
How to serve
This one’s very simple. If you like, sprinkle a little icing sugar (powdered sugar) over the top of your pudding. Then serve your magic lemon pudding into bowls, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and eat!
Some readers have also served with whipped cream and even Greek yogurt and enjoyed it. In particular the cooling Greek yogurt pairs well with the tangy lemon.
If you want to create even more of an old fashioned lemon sponge pudding vibe, feel free to serve with custard instead!
Also, one last reminder that it’s important to let the pudding ‘rest’ for a while before eating to let the sauce settle, cool and thicken a little. 😉
Variations
This is a beautiful quick pudding, perfect as it is, but there a few changes you can make to vary it if you like:
- Double the ingredients to serve a small crowd. Of course you’ll have to use a larger baking dish. It will also take longer to bake – roughly around 10 to 15 minutes longer or until the top is risen and lightly golden.
- If you like, you can make this with a different citrus juice, or a mixture. Try orange and lemon or lime. Just replace the lemon juice in a ratio of 1:1 and the result will be the same.
- Try mixing a few blueberries or raspberries into the sponge batter.
- Feel free to use gluten free flour to make this a gluten free dessert. The texture of the cake may be slightly different and also may soak up the sauce faster, but the pudding will still be delicious.
- Yes, you can make this a vegan pudding by replacing the dairy milk with a non dairy alternative such as soy milk or almond milk. You can use melted coconut oil instead of butter.
- Try making it in 4 individual ramekins instead of 1 larger one. The cooking time will be a little less (roughly 20-25 minutes). Keep an eye on the puddings in the oven. They’re ready when well risen, browned and bubbling.
Recipe FAQ
You should use a souffle dish or high sided round baking dish that’s between 6 and 8 inches in diameter. Alternatively, a similar sized square or rectangular ovenproof dish will work.
Nope. Although there are versions of this lemon pudding that are made with eggs, this recipe is egg-free. The texture of the cake is light, fluffy and delicious without using any eggs.
Occasionally, a reader reports this issue. I have made this many times and usually when the pudding first comes out of the oven the sauce is still quite runny. That’s OK. Just leave it for 10 to 15 minutes and as it cools it will thicken slightly. Some of the sauce will even soak into the sponge, making it even more delicious.
Nope. This pudding might not win any beauty contests. As long as it’s lightly browned and risen and bubbling, it’ll be delicious. If not browned, feel free to leave in the oven for a few more minutes. If the appearance still bothers you, perhaps it’s one for just serving to the family rather than to guests!
Chocolate self saucing pudding
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 similar 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 too has got plenty of sauce (mmmm… )
Find out more about the chocolate self saucing pudding.
More super easy desserts
One of the things I love about this lemon ‘surprise’ pudding is that as long as you have 2 or 3 lemons, you probably already have everything else you need.
Here are some more super easy ‘I need it now!’ kinda desserts!
- Chocolate lover too? Try this 6-ingredient Swedish chocolate cake, this 10-minute no-bake chocolate truffle cake, or these 5-minute chocolate pots.
- In the mood for ice cream? Try this 5-minute chocolate banana ice cream (healthy nice cream!
- Peanut butter lover? This 2-minute peanut butter mug cake (It’s healthy!) also gets rave reviews. Need dessert for a party or BBQ? Try these easy peanut butter Cheerio bars.
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Easy ‘Magic’ Lemon Pudding (5 ingredients, No Eggs)
Ingredients
for the cake batter
- 1 cup self-raising flour, (NOT self-rising flour: If you don't have self-raising flour mix 2 teaspoons baking powder into 1 cup plain/all-purpose 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 boiling water
- ½ cup lemon juice, (2 to 3 lemons)
to serve (optional)
- icing / confectioners’ sugar for sprinkling
- vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or custard
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.1 cup self-raising flour, ½ cup sugar, 1 lemon
- Pour the milk / butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.½ cup milk, 2 tablespoons butter
- 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.¼ cup sugar, 1 cup boiling water, ½ cup lemon juice
- 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).icing / confectioners’ sugar for sprinkling, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or custard
Tried this with the family, increasing it for 6 people and also trying Jason’s suggestions to reduce sweetness (double lemon juice, half sugar). Worked OK (especially the cake part), was very tasty and was very easy but the two adjustments meant a large amount of lemons (I gave up after seven…are UK lemons smaller than those in Australia?) and the sauce, even after resting for 15-20 mins, was very liquid (I did remember to reduce water)…could this be because the sugar quantity was reduced and therefore will create less of a syrup? Cooking time was just over an hour.
I will try again but will keep the ratio of sugar to lemon/water.
Hi Andrew! Thanks for the feedback on trying the suggestion to reduce sugar. Many of my newer recipes contain minimal amounts of sugar but I’ve never played around with the amounts in this recipe because I think a self saucing pudding really does depend on fairly precise measurements to get the ‘magic’ sauce separating from the cake effect. So yes, definitely do try the recipe again with the higher amount of sugar! Having said that, I did recently publish a chocolate version of the recipe with far less sugar in it, so maybe you’d like to try that some time too? The recipe is here in case you’re interested: https://scrummylane.com/chocolate-self-saucing-pudding-low-sugar-no-eggs/
P.S. Yes I think Australian lemons probably are generally larger than the ones found in UK supermarkets! I rarely buy lemons here because either relatives give them to me from their trees or neighbours leave boxes of them outside their houses for you to help yourself to for free!
We made this once, and then told everyone we knew about it, – it was that good! Making it again tonight!
Aw thank you, Janiika! Love this comment! It is pretty wonderful, isn’t it? Have you tried the chocolate version?
Quick and easy recipe. A bit too sweet for me. Suggest half the sugar in the sauce and double the lemon juice. Reduce the water amount to compensate. Overall very tasty.
Hi Jason! Yes, I agree that this is pretty sweet! You’ll find that many of my newer dessert recipes contain far less sugar (you have to try the 30-minute healthy chocolate cake!). Have you tried making it the way you describe, with less sugar?
Wow! I admit I was pretty sceptical as I put this sloppy liquid into the oven, but it transformed completely! Such a moist sponge and the tangy sauce is perfect with it. Would be great served with some cream….hit the spot perfectly, thank you! X
Hello Eva! So happy you like it! It is hard to believe this actually works, isn’t it? I have a chocolate version on the site which you may like too 🙂
It was exactly the same for me, but it turned out amazing! I seperated my batter in three small bowls and to my suprise it worked out perfectly as well! Delicious!
Hi Emma! Thank you so much for the feedback. It’s very helpful to hear that the mini versions worked. I have to try that too!
Ooh! This was delicious and easy and quick to whip up on a Friday night. It was fresh and just great with cream. Egg free too. I used soy milk and it was yummy!
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Hi Joyce, and thank you so much for the review! There’s a chocolate version of this on the blog now, in case you’re interested in trying that one too 😉
This pudding was lemony-syrupy-scrumptiosness! Our house is allergy central, so I used gluten-free SR flour, unrefined coconut oil in place of butter & lactose-free milk. I added 1 tsp vanilla extract to the batter, and used the zest of 2 lemons. I reduced the hot water to 3/4 cup. Served with dairy-free vanilla ice-cream. A lot of allergy-friendly substitutes kinda suck, but this recipe was no-fail & totally divine!
Thank you, Laura! It’s interesting that you made these substitutions and it still worked well! That may help others so thank you so much!
OK, it is still warm and I am trying to stay away and not FINISH THE WHOLE PAN!
This is very yummy and I didn’t even have real lemons. My store was out, so I used bottled juice.
I can only imagine it with the zest in the cake.
I was looking for a simple lemon pudding in the American fashion when I found this recipe.
It looked so easy I figured I would give it a shot, just ’cause.
My husband hates dry cake, so this was perfect. He added the ice cream, I had it native. And I was tooooo hungry (and lazy) to sprinkle it with powdered sugar. (But if you used a paper doily for a nice pattern, it would be great for any potluck!)
I did 2 other tweaks.
I am US so I made my usual substitution for the self rising flour: Krusteaz Complete Buttermilk Pancake mix.
I don’t do any finicky baking so the substitution always works. I use it for cakes, muffins, etc. If I did fancy stuff it might flop big time. I did it the first time when I was out of flour and it worked so well I use it for everything.
One of the suggestions on another site was to put a pinch of Turmeric in for color. Since I was using bottled juice and no zest I was worried it would look anemic so I added a pinch to both the cake part and the sauce part. Worked great!
I will try this with Lime juice, maybe Orange Juice, or maybe brown sugar and molasses. I can see the base concept expanding to a lot of flavors.
I am certain we are going to enjoy a lot of the recipes here. I like to cook, but I don’t like fussy recipes. And, the Sticky Apple and Ginger cake sounds like heaven !!
Hello Laureen! Thank you so much for your comments! I’m really interested in your substutions! Did you notice that I recently posted a chocolate version of this? Also very yummy and I hope you try and enjoy that one too! 🙂
Made this earlier today using plain flour and baking powder. I measured in American cups and it worked fine. I’m going to convert it to grams for next time, as I’ll definitely make this again. I cooked it for the exact timings but didn’t leave it to cool for long enough as we were too keen to eat it., so the sauce was runny. The leftovers (which I’m going to eat now!) have a perfect sauce. It was sweet and sharp and delicious, and my toddler loved it too. Thank you!
Hello Sarah, that’s really useful to hear that you used American cups and it worked well. I guess you’ve seen the conversion button at the top of the ingredients’ list? Just click and you’ll see the amounts in grams. Look out for the chocolate version coming next week 😉 Thank you so much for the feedback!
Made tonight (4 June 2020]. It very much reminds me of a dessert my mother used to make in the fifties,, called golden doughboys. The texture is identical but the sauce here is lemon rather than golden syrup.
Both my husband and I enjoyed this dessert and would definitely make it again, but it is rather “don’t swim after eating”😉. Quite doughy but in a good way. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Pip, and thank you so much for leaving a review. I love that it reminds you of something your mother made, and love the story behind it. I chuckled at your description – definitely not the healthiest recipe on here, but also not the worst 😉
I liked the look of this recipe because it didn’t use any eggs. Your instructions and comments were very helpful as the results were exactly as predicted. I added baking powder and baking soda to my Canadian all-purpose flour, which worked perfectly. The lemon sauce was not thick but not too runny either, and was nicely lemony. As recommended, I let it stand for 15 minutes after taking it out of the oven which seemed to help thicken it sufficiently. Both my husband and I enjoyed it very much and I will definitely make it again.
Hello Barbara, and thank you so much for your encouraging review! Over the years (yes, this recipe is quite old!) I’ve figured out little tips and tricks to make sure it works for as many people as possible, so it’s really good to hear that it turned out exactly as it’s supposed to for you! I’m so glad you’ll make it again! P.S. Look out for the chocolate version of this – coming within the next few weeks, and also egg free! 😉