How to make the perfect self-sucking lemon pudding | Felicity Cloakes How to make the perfect …

JJudging by the comments, when I posted a picture of my recipe testing efforts for this column, I seem to be one of the few people who didn’t grow up with some version of this dessert that Arabella Boxer describes as “a good dessert.” Quick and easy to make hot pudding that’s all but forgotten’. Known as a lemon surprise, a lemon treat and even a magical lemon pudding, it’s a winter dessert of the hot and savory variety, rather than reassuringly firm, with a “lovely little surprise” to quote Margaret Costa in the form of the sauce that magically comes out after baking appears in the bottom of the mold. A real pudding, with the royal hallmarks of Mary Berry, Delia Smith and Nigel Slater, but without the Stodge.

The pudding

Most recipes I try use a combination of butter and sugar mixed with egg yolks, milk, lemon, and some flour to make a batter that’s then leavened with whipped egg whites, but there are a few outliers. First, Regula Ysewijn’s Castle Pudding from her first book Pride and Pudding, which isn’t actually a self-sucking pudding, but a steamed lemon sponge, and so buttery and delicious I couldn’t resist mentioning it to anyone wanting something this time of year seek more thrills.

Heston Blumenthal’s flourless example, based on a recipe from the kitchen at St John’s College, University of Cambridge, is a water pudding that, according to the Foods of England website, is a “simple, fluffy custard made with frothed egg and lemon in water and baked.” , known from news articles since the early 19th century.” His take, however, contains butter in slightly larger quantities than older examples, and somehow I ended up with a delicately quivering, smooth lemon custard with the texture of a light jelly over a buttery sauce. It’s delicious, but not quite as intended, I suspect.

With the exception of pastry chef Karen DeMasco’s recipe from The New York Times, which omits the butter and uses buttermilk instead of milk, all of the others differ only in the required ratio of eggs, butter, sugar, milk, and flour. The lightest pudding on record in the Boxer’s Book of English Food, attributed to a woman Arthur James (aka hostess of the Edwardian society, racehorse breeder and alleged royal mistress Venetia Cavendish-Bentinck), requires only 15g of butter and two eggs and is the richest , from the book You’re All Invited by chef Margot Henderson, 200g butter and eight eggs. Australian Women’s Weekly’s lemon treat, which features in so many happy childhood memories, uses five times the flour of Costa’s equally popular version from her Four Seasons cookbook and, unsurprisingly, yields stronger results.

As is so often the case, the best pudding for you depends on what you’re craving. If you cook for adults and want to impress, Henderson’s deliciously tart, ridiculously rich recipe is for you. It’s like eating hot lemon curd straight from the jar, and tastes especially good with cold cream on top. If you’re looking for some heavy-duty home cooking, you’ll like the Australian Women’s Weekly version. Conversely, if you want something more delicate, opt for James’s or DeMasco’s takes – the latter, with its tangy buttermilk, is as fluffy and fun as a lemon sorbet. I decided mine was going to sit somewhere in the middle – clean and light, but still emphatically a custard – so I used a relatively modest amount of butter (melted, using the Australian Women’s Week method, which makes it easier). incorporate) and flour and an average number of eggs.

The aroma

Ysewijn tops her steamed biscuits with dollops of lemon curd and adds grated zest to the batter, but classic self-sour numbers are generally flavored with lemon juice, but my testers and I miss the bitter notes of zest in James Pudding. While guests should have no doubt that this is a lemon dessert, I’ve avoided the intensely sweet and sour character of some recipes because I don’t find it particularly comforting. However, if you enjoy being whipped around the chops with winter fruit, then by all means increase the amount of juice and zest.

Likewise, you could add a second flavor. Henderson opts for vanilla extract, but ground cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, or even black pepper would be happy combinations, and it occurs to me that you could even infuse the milk with basil or thyme.

The cooking

Many recipes call for individual ramekins, but I think this dessert looks more pleasing, not to mention generous, when served from a large bowl, as Henderson recommends. Make sure you grease it well for easy serving, and boil it in a can of water so the bottom stays fluffy and custard-like, even as the top rises and dries to an airy, almost souffle-like crown – don’t worry a little cracking; that is to be expected.

While this pudding is best dug in hot out of the oven, it’s surprisingly good cold too, in case you want to work ahead. A jug of cream, although recommended by all my testers, is entirely optional, and you might want to add fresh berries to the side (raspberries for Mrs Arthur James, blueberries for DeMasco), although since few are in season, canned fruit perhaps be preferable. Personally, I like it best right out of the bowl.

Perfect self-sucking lemon pudding

preparation 15 minutes
Cook 30 minutes
serves 6

25 grams of butterplus extra for greasing
100 g powdered sugar
3 eggsCut
40 grams of flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
A pinch of salt
260ml milk
Zest and juice of 2 lemons

Melt butter in a saucepan, then allow to cool slightly. Meanwhile, grease a medium ovenproof dish (the one I used was 21cm x 15cm) with butter and remove a roasting pan large enough to sit in a full kettle.

Mix butter and sugar in a large bowl. Mix the yolks with the butter mixture and place the egg whites in a second large bowl.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt into the butter mixture, gradually add the milk and knead to form a smooth dough. Finely grate in the lemon zest, then add the juice (about 75ml should remain).

Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold a spoon into the batter. Gently fold in the remaining egg white to keep as much air in it as possible.

Pour the mixture into the buttered dish (it should fill it almost to the brim), then place the dish in the roasting pan.

Pour in enough just-boiled water to fill the mold two-thirds full, then carefully place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, until the pudding is golden brown and fairly set on top but still firm underneath noticeably wobbles. Serve hot or cold.

• Lemon pudding, surprise or delight: if you have fond memories of this dish, what did you call it and who was responsible for it? And are there other flavors of self-sucking pudding out there?