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This lemon pudding couldn’t be easier. It’s made with just four ingredients: whipping cream, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
All you do is warm everything up, then let the pudding set. It’s like magic.
Elegant, simple, and with a velvety texture that is positively dreamy, this lemon pudding is perfect for Easter dinner, Mother’s Day brunch, and everything in between.
No one needs to know it only took you 15 minutes to make.
The recipe is a modern adaptation of a medieval drink called a posset, which was popular from the Middle Ages to the early 19th century. This was a hot milk or cream mixture thickened with acidic wine or cider. It was considered medicinal for treating a cold or flu. Syllabubs, another sweet frothy drink, are closely related.
History lesson over! Lemon posset is fast becoming a trendy dessert, especially in Britain.
The magic is in the thick cream, reduced slightly, and combined with tart lemon juice. The two interact to form an exquisite creamy consistency, especially after you strain out the little bits of zest.
Look through your cupboard for pretty stemmed glasses if you want to be fancy, and make this for your next party!
Easy Lemon Pudding Recipe
Recipe is easily doubled.
Recipe can be prepared up to 2 days in advance.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (473ml) heavy whipping cream
- 2/3 cup (135g) granulated sugar
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 6 tablespoons (89ml) lemon juice
- 1 cup (about 150g) blueberries, raspberries, sliced strawberries or blackberries, to garnish
Method
1 Warm the cream and sugar: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together the cream, sugar and lemon zest. Bring to a boil. Adjust the heat to a gentle boil, and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes.
Watch carefully and stir frequently to keep the cream from boiling over.
2 Add the lemon juice and continue to simmer for 5 more minutes. Stir frequently.
3 Take the pan off the heat and let the cream cool for 5 minutes.
4 Strain and chill. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a 4-cup liquid measuring cup or other container for easy pouring.
Pour into 4 four-ounce ramekins or pretty stemmed glasses.
5 Refrigerate, uncovered, for 2 to 3 hours, or until set. This pudding can also be prepared and refrigerated up to 2 days in advance. Top each glass with berries just before serving.
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Sally Pasley Vargas is a freelance writer and the author of three cookbooks (Food for Friends, The Tao of Cooking, Ten Speed Press, and The Cranberry Cookbook). She currently writes the column The Confident Cook for The Boston Globe along with seasonal recipes for the Wednesday Food Section.
Easy Lemon Pudding
This was dreamy smooth delicious pudding! It’s a keeper recipe.
I made this and I love it. I making 12 servings for Christmas. I had to figure out the measurements. If you could have added a serving calculator that would have been great. The one where you put in the serving size and it automatically adjust the ingredient measurements. Thank.
Hi, DJ! So glad you love the pudding! Thanks for the suggestion on adding the calculator. We will look into it!
Hi, DJ! So glad you liked the recipe! And yes, a serving adjustor is definitely something that we’d like to add in the future.
I used 40% ultra pasteurized heavy cream and 1/3 cup Lakanto Monkfruit sweetener instead of 2/3 cup sugar and it turned out perfect! My mother-in-law and I are keto and this is the perfect go to dessert.
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This pudding was delicious and easy to make…my favorite kind of dessert!
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Simple dessert to make, smooth, lemony – I used monk fruit instead of sugar and it set beautifully. It should wow guests.
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