Self-saucing puddings have always fascinated me. I mean, sauces usually get poured on top of the dessert. But with these puddlings, they look just like a normal cake, but have a secret, gooey sauce underneath! Last weekend, I tried my friend’s ‘5-starred’ lemon delicious recipe. It looked so simple, I wasn’t completely convinced it would work – but thankfully (as we had guests), it did.

Lemon Delicious

Lemon delicious is another of those ‘Australian classics’ that may not have originated in Australia. It seems to have popped up in American cookbooks in the 1940’s and 1950’s, before it was seen Down Under… but hey, it tastes so good, it doesn’t matter where it’s from.

This recipe doesn’t call for the usual ‘put a dish inside a tray of water’ nonsense. Just mix, put it in the oven and wait… well, almost (serves 6):

• Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grab a big bowl and beat 1.5 cups of sugar with 2 tbs of butter. Mix in 4 tbs of self raising flour and the juice and grated rind of 2 lemons. Mix 4 egg yolks with 2 cups of milk, then beat this in too. Finally, beat 4 egg whites until stiff peaks form, and fold this in.
• Pour everything into your greased baking dish and pop it in the oven. It’ll take about 1 to 1.5 hours and should be set at the top, slightly browned, but gooey underneath.
• Serve this warm, with big scoops of vanilla ice cream.

For a bit of variety, try limes or oranges instead of lemons. Oh, and be warned… this dessert may leave you in a sugar coma.