Lemon delicious pudding - sour story with a sweet ending

I was initially planning on making this for a friend who is very fond of lemons.  But our meeting fell through at the last minute and I found myself looking sadly at my separated eggs and zested juiced lemons.

I ended up making this anyway and enjoyed it greatly with my family.  The lemon is balanced by the sugar while retaining its lovely tang.  Paired with a generous scoop of ice cream, it makes the perfect pudding for a cold winter's night.

Lemon delicious pudding
Adapted from My Darling Lemon Thyme

40g butter, softened
140g ground raw sugar (I found that this was a little too much, might reduce it to 120g or even 100g next time)
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 eggs, separated
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
80ml lemon juice
250ml milk (I used "light" 98.5% fat-free milk)
Icing sugar, to finish
Ice cream or cream, to serve

Set the oven at 180 C.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl until light and fluffy.  Add lemon zest and egg yolks and beat until combined.  Sift over corn starch and baking powder and beat until combined.
Add the lemon juice and milk and stir - it will become a rather runny batter.

With clean beaters and in a clean, grease-free bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Delicately fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg whites until just combined.  This is a time for gentle hands!

Pour into a greased baking dish (I used a 1.6L casserole).  Create a bain marie by putting the baking dish into a deep roasting tin and filling the tin with boiling water until it comes halfway up the side of the dish.  This is infinitely easier if you pour in the water after the tin has been placed in the oven!

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until puffed and risen and golden on top.  Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve warm with a big dollop of the good stuff.

(Can be made in small ramekins for individual serves - don't forget to adjust the baking time, though!)

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I am pretty excited to be linking my first real food post to Little Thumbs Up for the Egg-themed month of August!  Little Thumbs Up has been organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY, and is hosted this month by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out.