Lemon Pudding Cake

A light and refreshing desert with a pudding like texture and a crunchy crust. This cake  is easy to make.

Right now my lemon trees are full of lemons. I have been picking them as soon as they are ripe and sharing them with friends and neighbors. Actually, my lemon trees are a hedge along the driveway in front of my garage facing a busy street. Often people take some, which I usually don't mind until last year when someone came and picked all my lemons. I was not a happy camper because these lemons are my treasure and I take pride in caring for them. My favorite are the Meyer’s lemons with their thin aromatic peel and fleshy fruit that is sweeter than others. They are a cross between a lemon and a mandarin or orange. Frank Nicholas Meyer, an employee of the United States Department of Agriculture, brought a plant in 1908 from China. 
​Wouldn't you know, it was Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley who made it popular in the 1990s.

I have a jar of preserved lemons in my fridge and a bowl of lemons on my kitchen counter. When I run out of my own lemons, I get some from a mature tree in my neighbor, Josephine’s, garden. She graciously shares them with me. The recipe I'm going to share with you comes from Deborah Madison's cookbook The Savory Way. This one, in addition to her Greens cookbook, have recipes from her days as a chef at Greens, a wonderful vegetarian restaurant near the waterfront at Fort Mason in San Francisco. This restaurant was a pioneer of the farm-to-table movement almost 30 years ago.  Anyway, I have used these two cookbooks for many years and they have never failed me. I have made this lemon pudding cake many times and always get rave reviews. It is easy to make and has a sweet and lemony flavor. I serve it with some fruit, like raspberries or blueberries, and sometimes with a dollop of whipped cream.

​Here are some  more desserts using  lemons . Click on the photos for the recipe.

​My Lemon and Buttermilk Sorbet is easy to make. It is refreshing any time of the year. A light treat after a heavy meal. ​

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​This Almond Lemon Cake has a distinct lemony taste because whole cooked lemons are being used. The almonds add crunch and one can taste a hint of ginger , a delight for the senses.

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​A compact bread  infused with lemon juice. Take a break in the afternoon and have a piece of this tasty cake with a cup of tea.

I use low-fat milk for this recipe. If you want a richer flavor, use whole milk or half and half. Sprinkling the raw sugar over the cake gives it a delightful crunch.

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Ingredients


4 TBS softened butter (60g)
3/4 cup  (150g) sugar
1 ½  to 2 TBS lemon zest
4 eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 
3 TBS (30g) unbleached white flour
1 cup ( 200ml) milk or half and half
a few gratings of nutmeg
1/8 tsp. salt
1 TBS raw cane sugar (Turbinado)

Directions

Heat a kettle of water and bring it to a boil. 
​Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Grease a 12”x7”x2” pan.
Grind the sugar with the lemon zest in a food processor for 30 seconds.
Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form, and set aside. I do the egg whites first because I use my standup mixer and am too lazy to wash the bowl to beat the whites after I make the dough.

Cream the soft butter with the sugar, then add egg yolks, one at a time, until the dough has doubled and is light yellow. This will take several minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, then add the flour, milk, and nutmeg. Carefully, with a rotating motion spatula, fold half of the egg whites into the batter and then the other half. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and set into a larger pan to hold the water for the water bath. In essence, it’s like steaming and baking it at the same time. Once in the oven, add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides. Bake for 15 minutes, then carefully pull out the pans and sprinkle with the raw sugar. Continue to bake for about 25-30 minutes until the cake is lightly browned. Cool and serve either tepid or chilled. 

Guten Appetit!
Recipe by Deborah Madison 
adapted by © Sunnycovechef