Lemon Sponge Pudding

May 17, 2015

Lemon Sponge Pudding

Today is my mother's birthday. She would have been 98 years old today if she had lived. There would have been a grand birthday party with a few friends and maybe an open house in the afternoon if she was feeling well enough to entertain a larger crowd. I thought she'd live to be at least one hundred years old, but each life has an ending and so did mom's nearly six years ago. I don't have very many things belonging to Mom but I have lots of memories and I do have some of her recipes.


Margaret McLeod Garland McBay 91st Birthday, May 17, 2008

One of the things I remember mom making was a lemon pudding. I don't remember mom baking this when we were older. Maybe that's because I remember it from my early childhood. I have faint memories of the pudding coming from the oven to the dinner table with the fluffy sponge cake floating on top of the sweet lemon sauce. To a small child it was like magic to see a cake go into the oven and come out a sweet, saucy, lemon pudding.

Imagine my delight, as I was sifting through a pile of mom's recipes, when I came across a recipe for Lemon Sponge Pudding. And as today is Mom's birthday I thought it fitting to make it for the family. Peter, Vicki and Lori are staying here for the long Victoria weekend and a nice dessert is always appreciated. I think Mom would have approved.

Lemon Sponge Pudding in Mom's handwriting.

Here is Mom's recipe with a few minor changes. (Mom would have never left out the salt!) I also increased the lemon juice because I like a tart lemon dessert.

Lemon Sponge Pudding
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup sugar
¼ salt
Juice of 2 lemons or 5 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest, about 2 lemon's worth
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 cup milk
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 6-8 cup casserole dish. You will also need a larger pan to place the casserole dish into while baking.

Mix flour, sugar and salt together. In a small bowl mix the lemon juice, lemon zest, melted butter, milk and the egg yolks together. Add to the flour mixture and blend well. The mixture will be very thin.

Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. This works best if you add a little of the wet mixture to the whites and gradually add more until everything is well incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Place the second larger pan in the oven and half fill with hot water. Place the pudding casserole inside the larger water filled dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together.

Separate the eggs. Whip the egg whites and lay aside. Grate the lemon zest and juice the lemons. Melt the butter and measure the milk. Mix all these ingredients together.

Add the wet ingredients to the flour and sugar mixture. Blend well. You will have a very thin batter.

Fold the egg whites into the thin batter. It works best if you add a small amount of batter at a time to the egg whites, folding all the while until incorporated.

Pour the batter into a greased casserole dish. Place the dish in a larger pan filled with hot water. The water should come almost to the top of the larger pan.