Lemon-Cake Pudding

We were having friends over on Sunday so I made two round yellow things -- a frittata for the main course and this uber delicious Lemon-Cake Pudding for dessert from a c. 1940s recipe. Not only was it delicious, but it was magic -- though I put just one batter in the oven, during baking it turned into two: a light delicate cake atop a lemony custard pudding.

There are a few steps involved, but none are that difficult. And when the payoff is lemon magic, then it's well worth the effort.

Start by juicing some lemons.

Then, set out all of your ingredients. Put the dry ingredients (plus some butter) in one bowl, separate the eggs, and measure out the milk and lemon juice.

After you mix all these up, you'll have three bowls -- all of which are combined in the end. The egg-milk mixture is added to the main batter.

The final step is carefully folding in the egg whites. I always add a bit of cream of tartar when I beat the whites, so as not to dry them out.

After blending, pour into the ungreased pan.  Mine could have been blended a bit better; note the swirls of white.

Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes. Next time, I'd bake this a bit longer than the 50 minutes I did.

It's a bit messy to get the first slice out, but rather easy after that.

Production notes: I followed the recipe almost exactly, and have written it out below the vintage card.

Lemon-Cake Pudding

Preheat oven to 350F
Place a large baking dish in the oven and fill water until it is 1/3 of the way up the sides. This will be your water bath. Make sure your 8- or 9-inch square or round ungreased cake pan will fit comfortably in it. (Or cheat like I did and just put cake pan in the larger pan, place in the oven, and fill the baking pan with water.)

1 c. sugar
4 TBS flour
1/8 t salt
2 TBS butter, softened to room temperature
5 TBS fresh lemon juice
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
1 1/2 c whole milk

Juice about two small lemons to get 5 tablespoons of juice.
Place sugar, flour, salt, softened butter in a bowl.  Mix thoroughly.
Add lemon juice and mix. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Beat the egg yolk, add the milk and combine well.

Add the egg-milk mixture to the flour mixture and combine well.
Carefully fold in the egg whites.

Pour into cake pan and place in the oven.

Bake about 45 to 50 minutes. The top should be golden brown.