Lemon Pudding Cakes with Fresh Blueberries

Every once in awhile you come across a recipe missing something crucial. This one was missing the temperature for the oven. Kiiiiiiiinda critical.  Thank goodness Nate managed to find someone else's online- though, when in doubt, 350 is always a good rule of thumb as far as I'm concerned.

This recipe came from Cuisine at Home, the June 2010 issue.

Anyway, the first time I tried this I really liked it but I felt like the cake part of the pudding cake was still a little denser than I fancy it.  I subbed in one semi-heaping tablespoon of cake flour for one of the AP the second time and though the texture was perfect, the lemon flavor was almost too sour. Next time I'll taste the lemon juice and depending on how sour it is, I might add a 1 teaspoon of sugar per pucker.  Or, I'll just use Meyer lemons and skip the puckering all together!

Lemon Pudding Cakes with Fresh Blueberries


Tools: 4 ramekins, one large baking dish, a tea kettle or pot for water, a hand-mixer, a spatula, a large bowl, a medium bowl

Ingredients: 2 eggs, separated; zest from 2-3 small or medium lemons; juice from 2-3 small to medium lemons; 3/4 cup sugar; 5 tbsp AP flour, 2 tsp unsalted, softened butter; 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup fresh blueberries & powdered sugar for dusting



Move the oven rack to the center, pre-heat to 350 and put the kettle on with water to boil.  If you don't have a kettle, a pot will do just fine.

Beat the egg yolks, zest, sugar, butter, and lemon juice in a large bowl on medium speed until well incorporated.



Whisk together the flour and salt in a small bowl and add alternately with the milk to yolk mixture, beating well each time.

 



Take the egg whites in a medium bowl and beat them until you get stiff peaks.





Fold into the lemon batter until incorporated. It's okay if a few lumps of egg white remain-- they'll brown nicely in the oven.



Drop some blueberries (to taste) into the ramekins-- I use four 6-oz ramekins.



Put the ramekins in a suitably accomodating baking dish, and divide the batter among the ramekins.



Pour the boiling water into the baking dish until it's about halfway up the ramekins.  Immediately place in oven and bake for about 40 minutes until the top begins to crack slightly and become golden.



If you want a really carmelized flavor, for the last 30 seconds put the ramekins under the broiler until the tops start to get slightly browned.  Keep an eye out because this happens quickly. No walking away!



Remove from oven, and take the ramekins out of the baking dish and let them cool on a baking rack.  Wait at least ten minutes before serving.

Dust with powdered sugar and stuff it in your mouth. Slowly.