Steamed Lemon Sponge Pudding is light, fluffy and delightfully lemony. It's a real crowd pleaser and perfect for stress free family entertaining. I make mine in the slow cooker for even more of an easier time.
This steamed pudding is one of my favourite Sunday Lunch desserts ever. You can make it by steaming in a saucepan too. But I just love the ease of the slow cooker here. It is an absolute lemony breeze.
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What is a steamed pudding?
A traditional steamed pudding is a mixture that is sweet or savoury and cooked with steam in a saucepan or slow cooker. The steam is created by water that surrounds the mixture which is cooked in a heatproof bowl.
The puddings usually consist of a sponge batter with a variety of toppings. Treacle Sponge is perhaps the most well known of them. They are a popular pudding in the U.K. and for very gorgeous reasons.
The Christmas Pudding is an exception to the sponge rule, being rammed full of dried fruit and a generous splosh of alcohol.....hooray!
The printable recipe card with full ingredients & instructions can be found at the bottom of the post.
I make my steamed lemon sponge pudding in my free standing mixer but a large mixing bowl and electric hand held mixer is great too.
If you're feeling energetic then a plain old wooden spoon and mixing bowl will do the same job.
Equipment Required
- mixer, mixing bowl and hand held electric whisk or wooden spoon
- scales
- kettle
- 2 pint pudding basin with lid or baking paper and silver foil square & string to secure
- large spoon
- slow cooker or saucepan
Ingredients & Substitutions
150 grams Lemon Curd - I use my favourite lemon curd or make my own.
150 grams Butter - unsalted or you can use baking spread.
150 grams Flour - self raising or you can substitute plain with a tsp of baking powder
150 grams Sugar - Caster sugar refined or unrefined or you can substitute granulated
3 Large Eggs
3 tbsp Milk - semi skimmed or full fat.
Method
- Grease a 1.2 litre/2 pint pudding basin with butter. I use the plastic lidded bowls that are made for steamed puddings as I struggle/cannot be bothered with all the pleating and tying of string that is required for the ceramic bowls. Sometimes I miss the greasing out and it hasn't stuck yet but don't hold me to it.
- Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and thickened a little. This takes a couple of minutes.
- Whisk or beat in half the beaten eggs followed by half the flour for a couple of minutes.
- Add the rest of the flour and eggs and repeat the mixing together until thick and a soft dropping consistency.
- Spoon the lemon curd into the bottom of your pudding bowl.
- Carefully spoon the sponge mixture into the bowl so that it stays on top of the lemon curd.
- Smooth over and place the lid or your coverings over the top.
- Place the pudding bowl carefully in the slow cooker and pour just boiled water into the slow cooker bowl so that it comes ¾ of the way up the pudding bowl.
- Place the lid on and cook for 3 hours on High.
- If using a saucepan to steam your pudding then steam for about 2 hrs . Make sure you top up your saucepan if it needs it otherwise it may boil dry or the water get too low.
- To serve take it carefully out of the slow cooker or saucepan. Remove the lid and invert the pudding carefully onto a large serving plate. To do this I put the plate on top of the bowl and very carefully rotate so the plate is on the bottom and then slowly lift the bowl clear.
Cooking Tips
- Grease your pudding bowl generously.
- Use a plastic lidded pudding bowl for ease.
- Add a splash of milk extra if needed to make sure the batter is a soft dropping consistency.
- Reheat leftovers covered in the microwave
- If using a saucepan to steam your pudding then steam for 2 hrs. Make sure you top up your saucepan if it needs it otherwise it may boil dry or the water get too low.
Serving Suggestions
I serve it with either vanilla custard, vanilla ice cream or double cream.
More Comfort Food Puddings
- Steamed Chocolate Sponge Pudding
- Slow Cooker Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Spotted Dick
- Treacle Tart
- Steamed Jam Sponge
- Apple Crumble
- Apple Pie
- Apple Crumble Pie
- Jam and Coconut Sponge
Steamed Lemon Sponge Pudding
Ingredients
- 150 grams lemon curd
- 150 grams self raising flour
- 150 grams caster sugar
- 150 grams butter salted
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tbsps milk
Instructions
- Put your slow cooker on High.
- Grease a 1.2 litre/2 pint pudding basin with butter. I use the plastic lidded bowls that are made for steamed puddings as i find them easier all round. But if you are using a ceramic pudding bowl then seal the top with pleated paper and silver foil as above.
- Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and thickened a little. This takes a couple of minutes.
- Whisk or beat in half the beaten eggs followed by half the flour for a couple of minutes.
- Add the remaining eggs and flour all at once as well as the milk. Whisk or beat again for another minute.
- The batter should be a soft dropping consistency. Add a splash more milk if it's not.
- Spoon the lemon curd into the bottom of your pudding bowl.
- Carefully spoon the sponge mixture into the bowl so that it stays on top of the lemon curd.
- Smooth over and place the lid or your coverings over the top.
- Place the pudding bowl carefully in the slow cooker and pour just boiled water into the slow cooker bowl so that it comes ¾ of the way up the pudding bowl.
- Place the lid on and cook for 3 hours on High. If using a saucepan to steam your pudding then steam for 2 hrs 30 minutes.
- To serve take it carefully out of the slow cooker or saucepan. Remove the lid and invert the pudding carefully onto a large serving plate. To do this I put the plate on top of the bowl and very carefully rotate so the plate is on the bottom and then slowly lift the bowl clear.
Notes
- Grease your pudding bowl generously.
- Use a plastic lidded pudding bowl for ease.
- Add a splash of milk extra if needed to make sure the batter is a soft dropping consistency.
- Reheat leftovers covered in the microwave
- If using a saucepan to steam your pudding then steam for 2 hrs. Make sure you top up your saucepan if it needs it otherwise it may boil dry or the water get too low.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is approximate and intended only as a guide.
Hilma says
Beautiful. Made this recipe in two .Pyrex glass bowl. Added one whole lemon peel. Very very light. Will definitely make again.
Jenny says
Fabulous! So pleased you loved it. The sponge is so light isn't it. It's the same with my other slow cooker sponge recipes. Do try the sticky toffee pudding one, it is INCREDIBLE!x
Amanda says
Delicious light steamed pudding. I too added a zested lemon and also increased the butter/sugar/flour to 175g just to make it a bit bigger. Big hit with the steamed pud addicts in the family. Just found some blood orange curd in the supermarket and a blood orange so am about to make an orangey version. 😃
Tim Carter says
5 out 5 very well explained step by step guide,love it
Jenny says
Oh how fantastic, thank you! It is just such a delicious pudding isn't it?!
K.D says
Turned out well. My first time making a steamed pudding.
I had some extra lemon curd so I microwaved a bit and drizzled it over the completed pudding to add a little extra flavor. It was very good! Felt the pudding was too eggy for my taste.
Next time will add some lemon zest to mix and maybe a touch of vanilla.
Overall will make again!
Jenny says
Thank you for this! I suspect it was maybe a tiny bit undercooked if there was a slight eggy flavour. I hope that helps.