Few dessert flavors evoke summer time freshness like lemon. To be truthful, a lemon dessert can be an incredible break from winter spices and chocolate. Fortunate for us, lemons can be found year-round, so let’s embrace the lemon as soon as once more with a tangy dessert that’s stuffed with surprises. Whether or not it’s summer time, winter or any time in between, do this lemon pudding cake meringue pie.
What precisely is lemon pudding cake?
If I have been to name this dessert one factor, then it’s a pie. There’s a crust and a filling, so it’s a pie. It simply so occurs that the filling is my recipe for the Insta-worthy and TikTok-friendly lemon pudding cake. When you haven’t had lemon pudding cake but, you might be in for a deal with. It’s what I consider the British name a self-saucing pudding—that means, a cake that gives its personal decadent sauce of kinds, on this case a lemon pudding. To make clear, particularly with this recipe, it’s one skinny batter that’s leavened with egg whites and it bakes into two layers. The egg white layer rises and bakes right into a cake that floats on high of a pudding-like layer. On this case it’s extra like a lemon curd. It’s divine, and you may make it pie.
Find out how to flip it right into a meringue pie
You may make lemon pudding cake as a big casserole, however right here you get the addition of a beautiful crust and fluffy toasted meringue topping. In addition to, typically the event merely requires pie.
Credit score: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
The process for making the lemon pudding-cake filling is similar as within the unique recipe linked above; the one adjustments are blind-baking the crust and making a easy meringue topping. (When you want a refresher on blind-baking, test right here.)
Observe that after blind-baking the crust will get “sealed” with a light-weight brush of egg white. That’s as a result of the pudding layer is liquid earlier than it cooks. Swiping on a layer of egg white whereas the crust is scorching out of the oven will create a clear wall of cooked egg white. This may assist stop a soggy crust. I attempted a graham cracker crust, which, as you would possibly know, is dangerous. The outcomes have been blended: some spots have been dry and others have been gooey, as you may see within the image. That didn’t cease me from totally having fun with the pie, nevertheless should you’re going for clear strains, I’d advocate an old style pie crust from the freezer aisle.
The ensuing pie is finest served chilled so the pudding can set, however with a freshly toasted meringue topping. Personally, I favor this model of lemon pie to the basic Jersey-diner-style lemon meringue pie any day. As a substitute of assaulting you with a mouthful of gluey pudding and shortly deflating meringue, this pie has that center layer of cake to assist agency up the textures. It can save you any leftovers within the fridge, however know that the meringue gained’t be fairly the identical—which suggests you’ve got license to complete it by yourself. You already know, for the sake of the pie’s status.
Lemon Pudding Cake Meringue Pie Recipe
Elements:
For the pie:
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1 store-bought pie crust
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3 eggs, separated
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1 teaspoon lemon zest
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¼ cup recent lemon juice
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1 tablespoon butter, melted
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¾ cup flour
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¼ cup sugar
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¼ teaspoon salt
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1 cup milk, room temperature
For the meringue topping:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Blind bake the crust as wanted relying on the crust you selected.
2. In the meantime, separate your eggs for the filling, so you’ve got three yolks in a big mixing bowl and three whites in one other giant bowl. Whisk the whites barely simply to interrupt them up and put a teaspoon of the whites right into a small bowl. Have a pastry brush able to “seal” the crust.
3. When the new crust comes out of the oven, instantly use the pastry brush to use the teaspoon of egg white throughout the underside and partitions of the pie crust. Take note of the place the underside meets the partitions. Set the crust apart to chill.
4. Add the lemon zest, juice, and butter to the egg yolks and whisk them collectively totally. In a smaller bowl, combine the sugar, flour, and salt collectively. Slowly pour in half of the dry combination whereas whisking vigorously to interrupt up any lumps. Alternate with half of the milk, after which end by whisking in the remainder of the dry combination and the remaining milk. Will probably be very liquidy.
5. Arrange your pie crust in a big baking dish or, like I did, in a bigger pie plate. Put a kettle of water on to boil so you may make a water tub while you’re able to bake.
6. Whisk the three egg whites within the bowl till you’ve got comfortable peaks and gently fold the whites into the batter. Put the pie shell within the bigger baking dish, and into the oven. Fastidiously pour the just-boiled water into the outer dish till it comes midway up the aspect of the interior pie dish. Bake for 25 to half-hour, or till the highest is evenly tinged with brown and it jiggles barely within the middle while you transfer it, however isn’t watery. Take away the pie from the dish and let it cool. Cool it in a single day within the fridge should you’re not in a rush.
7. Make the meringue simply earlier than you’re able to serve it. Whisk the egg whites in a big bowl till frothy. Then add the cream of tartar. Start whisking once more and slowly add the sugar and the vanilla. Beat the combination till stiff peaks type however the meringue continues to be shiny. Slather it alongside your entire floor of the pie and toast it with a torch, or pop it right into a 350°F for 10 to fifteen minutes to toast the highest. Serve instantly.
