The perfect gluten free lemon pudding cakes: light and lemony, tart and tangy cakes with a pudding-like texture. Spring perfection!
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These gluten free lemon pudding cakes remind me a bit of this self-saucing gluten free chocolate pudding cake. But light and lemony and tart and tangy.
Lemon sugar is nothing more than lemon zest ground up with granulated sugar, but I swear it makes the whole house smell like a dream. It just smells like spring to me. Even when it's winter. (I do know it's spring as I write this, but maybe when you are reading it, it's winter!).
I know that it can be a bit of a pain to bake something in a water bath, but it really helps these little soufflés bake up slowly and evenly. That way, you get a cake with a pudding-like texture. And the method is easy.
Even though this is not much of a make-ahead sort of deal, you could blend up most of the ingredients ahead of time, and just whip and fold in the beaten egg whites right before you're ready to bake and serve. I really like to serve these little cakes warm with a light dusting of confectioners' sugar, but they are also fabulous with a dollop of whipped cream. Then again, what isn't? Sometimes, when my children are driving me particularly crazy, I dollop them with whipped cream, and then we all feel better.
Gluten Free Lemon Pudding Cakes
Equipment
- 6 6- to 8-ounce ovensafe ramekins or jars
- Casserole dish
- Blender
- Handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment
Ingredients
- Zest of 1 lemon
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (2 fluid ounces) freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 large lemon is usually enough)
- 3 (150 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, separated
- 1 cup (8 fluid ounces) milk at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½ cup (70 g) gum-free gluten free flour blend (46 g superfine white rice flour + 15 g potato starch + 9 g tapioca starch/flour)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Grease 6 small (about 6-ounce) oven-safe jars or ramekins and place them in a large pan with at least 2-inch sides. Fill the pan with water that reaches about 1-inch up the sides of the greased jars or ramekins. Set the pan aside.
- In a blender, place the lemon zest and granulated sugar.
- Blend until the zest is fully integrated into the sugar, and is very fragrant.
- Add 3 tablespoons of the lemon juice (reserving the final tablespoon), egg yolks (set the whites aside), milk, butter, flour blend and salt, and blend until the mixture is smooth. It will be a relatively thin liquid. Set the carafe of the blender aside while you beat the egg whites.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a large bowl with a handheld mixer), place the egg whites. Beat on medium speed until the egg whites become frothy.
- Add the remaining tablespoon lemon juice, and continue to beat on medium-high speed until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. The addition of the remaining tablespoon of lemon juice to the egg whites as they beat creates fluffier and more stable whipped egg whites.
- Slowly pour the blender mixture of the other ingredients along the side of the bowl of whipped egg whites, and carefully fold the mixture in to the egg whites until few if any white streaks remain.
- Divide the mixture among the prepared jars or ramekins in the water bath. It will be very pourable.
- Open the preheated oven and pull the lower rack out about half way.
- Carefully place the pan on the rack, and pour about another inch of water into the pan to bring the water bath a total of about 2-inches up the sides of the jars or ramekins.
- Push the oven rack all the way, close the door and bake until the cakes are puffed and very pale golden (about 35 minutes).
- Remove the pan from the oven, and transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes before dusting lightly with confectioners’ sugar and serving warm.
- The cakes can be covered and stored in the refrigerator, but they will shrink a bit as they chill in the refrigerator.
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Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Hallie says
I made these for Easter and my family LOVED them. Came out perfectly!
Renee says
These did not come out right for me. They had about a 1/2 inch of baked airy cake on top of just liquid. They make 6 just like the recipe says. I even baked them 5 minutes longer. In researching other lemon pudding recipes it says to pour enough HOT water to reach half way up the ramekins. Anyone else with similar results I’d like to hear.
Nicole Hunn says
Renee, I know it can be frustrating when you make a recipe and it does not come out as you had hoped. This recipe will work when made as written. It sounds like you did not blend the ingredients together properly and/or did not whip the egg whites enough to help the cakes rise. Baking them longer will not help if you have not incorporated the ingredients as directed and/or did not have your ingredients at the right temperature. They also must be baked in a water bath for even baking. These are not like the self-saucing pudding cakes you are describing. I have a recipe for those (please use the search function to find “self-saucing chocolate pudding cakes”), but this is different. These are more like a soufflé, which does not have hot water poured on top.
Michelle says
Okay, I’m adding this to my ‘to bake’ list!
Liz Fiorentino says
How would you make this dairy-free? We have dairy, soy, and coconut allergies in my house, and it would be a sin not to try this :( (Love your cookbook, btw!!! My kids have been begging for apple cake recently… :P)
Nicole Hunn says
I haven’t tested this recipe with any substitutions, Liz, so I don’t know! The recipe indicates that any sort of milk will work, provided it is not nonfat, and the butter is the only dairy. If you have a go-to dairy free butter sub, try that!
Liz Fiorentino says
Sweet, thanks Nicole :)
Marie says
Do you recommend a substitute for sugar, that won’t have an artifical taste? I need to have low glycemic sugars right now
Nicole Hunn says
Marie, I’m afraid that I don’t care for xylitol or stevia or any of those sort of sugar substitutes at all and I can’t imagine they would work in this recipe. Coconut palm sugar is a great low glycemic sugar, but I don’t know if it would work in this recipe, as I haven’t tried it.
Annette says
Can you use self raising flour instead – sounds yummy?
Nicole Hunn says
No, Annette. There are no chemical leaveners in this recipe.
Donia Robinson says
This has to be one of the prettiest foods I have ever seen. And I am not prone to hyperbole; I mean it! So fluffy and gorgeous.
Nicole Hunn says
Thanks, Donia! I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that before, so I’ll take it in the spirit in which it is offered!
Stephanie Bachman says
Would a larger number of 8 oz ramekins work for this recipe? I don’t have enough jars, but I have a lot of ramekins from the time I was obsessed with honey-rum soaked sponge cakes from my Cuban cuisine cookbook.
Nicole Hunn says
They would be fine in 8 ounce ramekins, Stephanie. I’d recommend filling them about halfway full, and you’ll probably get 4 or 5 out of the deal. They might take a few minutes longer to bake, but in the water bath a few minutes here or there isn’t going to do much damage either way.
Shannon Williams says
Not only must i now purchase ramikins to make this (likeNOW) I can’t wait to figure out a chocolate version. It just sounds like the perfect kind of almost pudding/almost cake thing that all girls need at certain times in the month. Gah. Dying. I won’t share. Just hand over the spoon.
Michelle B says
There is already a chocolate version on the blog- just use the search function. I haven’t gotten around to it yet, but it looks very good.
Nicole Hunn says
Thanks, Michelle! Actually, you’re probably thinking of the self-saucing chocolate pudding cakes. Those are different. I’m working on a chocolate version of these little pudding cakes. :)
Michelle B. says
Thank for this- I can’t wait to make it!! It’s is definitely spring here- more like summer really, as it’s been near 90. The lemon will be so refreshing.
Nicole Hunn says
Michelle! This one’s for you. :)
Michelle says
These look sooooo good! Do you think they would work with stevia or xilitol? Trying to keep my family away from refined sugar as much as possible.
Shannon Williams says
Try low glycemic coconut sugar. By weight.
Nicole Hunn says
Good idea, Shannon. Michelle, stevia or xylitol would not work in this. They’re just not 1:1 sugar replacements. You’d really need a recipe formulated for one of those.
Jennifer S. says
These look sooo divine. I can’t wait to make them when we get back. I’m so happy to leave this MN winter behind because we didn’t get the memo that it’s spring. Annoyed.
Nicole Hunn says
So unfair, Jennifer! When we don’t get the in-between seasons on time, we end up just jumping right from one extreme to another. It makes me kind of ragey.
Anneke says
“Ohhhhhh . . .” That’s what I said (out loud, alone in my house) when I read the title of this one! It may take me a year and a day to get them made, but I am going to love these babies! A water bath can be a wonderful tool, especially if you, say, put a lemon pudding cake to bake early in the morning but forget to turn the oven off before you leave for work. Keeps you from burning down the house. Just ask Hilma!! It is spring here, so the calendar says, but there is fresh snow on the ground this morning. I refuse to look out the window. Hope you enjoy your spring day!
Nicole Hunn says
Oh no she did NOT, Anneke! Did she really? Well, then. Water bath as fire insurance, then! I love it when I get to see a comment from you, my friend, first thing in the morning. :)
Anneke says
She did! You may find this hard to believe, but when my parents got married, my mom could not boil water. My dad had to teach her to cook! She was so proud of making that pudding, and came home to a caramelized mess, but no burned out kitchen, so that is something. She’s come a long way! I love to see your posts first thing in the morning, even when I don’t comment. It is hard to start my day until I have heard from you! :)
Donia Robinson says
I am shocked, Anneke. Shocked! ;)
Jennifer S. says
I think outside says it’s still winter Anneke. I’m so disgusted with the white stuff.