can you say "YUM"?

hello, my lovelies.  may i introduce you to mr. lemon pudding cake?  

he tastes waaaay better than this pic makes him look.  ;)  

in fact, i would have to say that this is hands down the best dessert i have had in a while:  homemade, restaurant-made, or purchased.  idk how well you can see it, but the bottom (the top when it is cooked of course b/c it is inverted onto the plate) is a light, spongy lemon cake while the bottom remains smooth and custard-y, but it is just one batter which separates during cooking via "The Magic of Food Science" (will get back to you on the actual reactions b/c i am curious)...  even tho the recipe did not call for it, my bestie and i decided on-the-fly to squeeze some honey directly into the bottom of the cooking dishes (in our case, coffee cups) and add some lavender to the batter...  the honey was decadent, but we decided that instead of adding dry lavender into the mix, a better idea would be to infuse the honey w/ the spice.

let me interject here that i was only peripherally involved in making these...  i was in the kitchen, i squeezed a lemon or two, and i whipped the egg whites & incorporated them into the batter, but other than that, the only cool thing i can claim credit for is actually finding the recipe in the first place.  this recipe is in my september 2008 edition of Food & Wine Magazine and what's hilarious is that it wasn't even a featured dish; i fell in love w/ the picture in an advertisement for their website and made a point to look it up.  and let me just say that for the record, although i heart the articles in Gourmet and Bon Appetit, F&W is *BY*FAR* my fave for simple, decadent, restaurant-in-my-kitchen-type recipes.  it is more than worth the price of the subscription.

alright, if when you see the lemon pudding cake recipe, you are even a wee bit daunted by it:  don't be!  it is not only easy, but super-forgiving.  first of all, we doubled the recipe the easy way, no complicated math and/or conversions involved; we used 8 oz portions instead of the 6 oz portions in the recipe w/ out altering cooking time or temp, and; i whipped the egg whites just a hair past stiff, but despite the lumpiness of the batter, there was no sign in the finished product like there would be in a souffle.  and oh btw:  this is one of those fancy-yet-cheap desserts, too...  woohoo for recession-proof delights!  ok ok ok enough of my talk, just try it!  you won't be disappointed.  =))

(oh and PS:  if you haven't yet, click here to get the recipe.)

UPDATE:  don't be fooled by the gorgeous brown top on the website's picture...  that is food photographer trickery (cinnamon?)...  the top will be the same soft yellow as the rest of the cake.