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Lemon Souffle Pudding Cakes bake up with a light sponge cake capped with a luscious lemon topping. An impressive dessert that's easy to make!

Lemon Souffle Pudding Cakes

Servings 4 individual pudding cakes

Ingredients

  • 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter for buttering ramekins
  • 2 large eggs separated
  • 2/3 cup reduced fat buttermilk
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup superfine sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Fresh berries and confectioner's sugar for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and lightly sugar four ramekins.
  2. Beat egg yolks, buttermilk, lemon juice, zest, with a mixer until well combined.
  3. Reduce the speed to low and sift in flour, sugar and salt.
  4. Continue to mix until combined. The mixture will be a fairly thin liquid.
  5. Beat egg whites in a clean bowl, until you get stiff peaks.
  6. Take about 1/4 portion of the egg whites and fold them into the egg mixture to begin to lighten it up. (You could actually whisk in this very first portion to lighten the batter, then switch to a rubber spatula to fold in the remaining egg whites.) Continue adding egg whites 1/4 portion at a time folding gently with a rubber spatula so as not to deflate them. You want to incorporate them until you end up with a light and fluffy mixture. Remember to fold, not stir.
  7. Divide evenly among the ramekins and set in a baking pan. I used a 9" square pan.
  8. Carefully pour hot water into the pan, without it splashing into the batter in the ramekins, until the water comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
  9. Carefully place the pan into the oven and bake for about 40-45 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched and the cakes are nicely golden.
  10. Allow to cool slightly, carefully remove from pan, and set on a dish towel to dry the ramekin (and to prevent any water dripping), cover with individual serving plate, then carefully invert to release cake.
  11. Top with fresh berries and a sprinkle of confectioner's sugar.

Recipe Notes

*My ramekins are 6 ounce, so my cakes baked up tall. Sometimes, I take the same recipe but pour it into 8 ramekins instead of 4 and make shorter cakes/smaller servings. I think 8 ounce ramekins might work best, but I'm just letting you know that it's quite flexible and can work in different sizes. Commenters in the original recipe mention that they've also baked it up well as one big cake, but I haven't personally tried it.

*I buy superfine sugar by the box, but you can make it at home in your food processor. Just add the desired amount (plus a couple of tablespoons) to a food processor and process until sugar feels like fine sand. The extra couple of tablespoons will allow for the reduction in volume once you process it. When you're done, you want to end up with the full 2/3 cup measurement of superfine sugar.

*I've made this a zillion times, but this last time, I thought I might like it less sweet. (Perhaps my lemons weren't as tart as usual.) I haven't tested it out yet, but next time, I'm going to try reducing the sugar to 1/2 cup and may skip the addition of confectioner's sugar on top which just adds more sweetness, (though it is a pretty addition!)

*There should be no traces of fat in the clean bowl you use to whip your egg whites. You can always wipe it out with some vinegar to eliminate any traces of fat before you begin.

*Don't over beat your egg whites. You don't want them to become dry, just beat them until they reach stiff peaks.

*When adding the hot water to the pan, do it in a place that's close to your oven so that you don't have to carry the pan of hot water across the room, while trying not to spill it.

*If you have leftovers, they should be refrigerated. I usually flip the ramekin/s over on whatever plate I plan to serve them on and leave the ramekin in place as a cover. Then they go right into the refrigerator. When it's time to serve them again, I just lift the ramekin cover and I'm good to go. This way, I don't have to worry about covering the exposed pudding top and ruining it. Or, you could just cover the right side up ramekin with plastic wrap or foil, and eat it with a spoon later, scooping down to the bottom to get to the pudding layer.

Recipe from Tyler Florence