Lemon Custard Sauce
This post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclosures.
This Lemon Custard for pouring over your favourite puddings and desserts is fragrantly zesty and beautifully comforting at the same time. It can accompany so many delicious desserts from cakes to crumbles to pies and even over simply sliced bananas.
Lemon Custard Sauce is an altogether different recipe from a lemon curd or lemon posset which are sturdier and designed to set and serve chilled. This classic pouring custard (like a crème anglaise but thicker and more homespun) is served warm, to be ladled liberally over apple pies, sponge puddings or a bowl of fresh fruit. This is real comfort food.
You only need basic kitchen ingredients here, no cream required, so hopefully you’ll already have everything in to make it. The best thing is that you are not reliant on stocking custard powder. Why bother when making fresh homemade custard is so quick and easy. The flavour is cleaner, fresher with a silky smooth texture and of course brightly infused with lemon.
Lemon Custard is just as simple to make as regular vanilla custard, although the milk needs to be infused with the lemon peel for at least 2 hours so you will have to think ahead a little. By infusing the custard with lemon peel rather than juice you are eliminating a concern for splitting. But a further reason for this method is that the infusion with the peel gives a wonderfully floral rather than sharp lemony taste.
Why You’ll Love This Lemon Custard
- This is a no cream custard so you’re sure to have all these ingredients in.
- The lack of cream makes this custard lighter and cleaner tasting which is a perfect match for the citrus notes.
- The recipe can be easily halved for fewer people.
- Quick to make too. Although there is a little bit of steeping time for your lemon infused milk but that is totally hands off and no drama at all.
- You can infuse the milk with the lemon the night before so it’s all ready for you when you want to make the custard on the day of serving.
- This gorgeously creamy custard can also level up a simple store bought sponge cake, a bowl of sliced bananas or other cut fresh fruit into something guest worthy.
Watch The Video
Sometimes it helps to see a visual of what I'm talking about. So watch the video to see what it looks like to make your Lemon Custard.
Ingredients needed
Egg yolks. This recipe uses medium size. Each whole egg (including shell) weighs 60g which is a large medium/small large. Use the best free range eggs you can get, Burford Browns have a lovely rich orange yolk.
Lemon. Use unwaxed organic lemons.
Caster sugar. This is a fine white baking sugar. Granulated sugar is okay too.
Whole milk. Using full fat gives our custard more creaminess. You can substitute for your favourite plant-based milk if you need this recipe to be dairy-free. Oat milk or almond milk are my favourites.
Cornflour (corn starch). This helps to stabilise the custard and thicken it.
How To Make Lemon Custard
For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post.
Infuse the milk with the lemon by warming with the lemon peel, turning off from the heat and allowing to steep for 2 hours (or overnight).
Beat the eggs with sugar and cornflour until lovely and thick.
Strain the milk then pour it into the egg mixture in a thin stream, whisking all the time.
Once it's all added, pour into a large saucepan and heat slowly, whisking all the time, until the custard has thickened.
Tips and Troubleshooting
Don’t boil the milk when you are infusing it with the lemon, watch it heat carefully so that you remove it from the heat just as it starts to shimmer with bubbles forming under the surface, the temperature will read about 60-65°C (140-149°F).
You can infuse the milk overnight (in the fridge) with the lemon peel if you like, it will make for an even more intense flavour. Try not to leave it longer than 12 hours otherwise it can get a little bitter.
Strain the lemon peel out of the milk before making the rest of the custard.
Pour the milk into a measuring jug so that when you pour into the eggs you can control the pour and avoid any spillage.
Place the bowl or jug of eggs/sugar onto a damp tea towel on your work surface, this will help hold it in place so you can whisk with one hand and pour the milk with the other without it moving around.
Once the custard is in the saucepan then make sure to whisk it continually on a low heat and don’t leave it to its own devices or lumps will start to form.
I have found that if you heat this milk-only custard sauce too quickly then the cornflour can become unstable and separate so heat on low. It should only take about 10 minutes to thicken.
Once the custard has thickened, it should have reached about 80°C (176°F) which you can check on a digital thermometer, then remove from the heat and keep whisking for up to a minute.
I don’t recommend serving immediately as I have burnt my tongue more times than I can count on hot custard. Instead press a sheet of cling film or baking parchment to the surface of the custard and wait for 10-15 excruciating minutes for the custard to step away from its scalding temperature.
More Homemade Custard Recipes You’ll Love
Making Ahead
You can make the lemon infused milk up to 12 hours before making the custard.
The custard finished custard will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
Re-heat in a saucepan low and slow until it just about reaches a gentle simmer, whisking well to smooth out any lumps.
Freezing
I no longer recommend freezing my finished sauces made with cornflour as the results are too unreliable. More often than not the sauce separates on thawing making it a bit grainy. You could blend it upon re-heating with an immersion (handheld) blender but I don’t think you ever get quite the same creamily smooth texture.
Desserts To Serve With
- Lemon Ginger Cake
- Gluten-Free Spotted Dick
- Gluten-Free Raspberry Pudding
- Gluten-Free School Cake
- Gluten-Free Apple Blackberry Crumble
- Gluten-Free Bread and Butter Pudding
Enter your email below to get this recipe sent to your inbox plus get new recipes, baking tips, and updates.
Lemon Custard Sauce
Ingredients
- 900 g whole milk
- 2 lemons
- 8 egg yolks
- 80 g sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornflour - cornstarch
Instructions
- Slice the peel away from the lemons with a very sharp knife, making sure to remove all the pith.
- Place the lemon peel into a saucepan along with the milk and heat until just below boiling point.
- Remove the milk from the heat and leave the milk to infuse with the lemon for at least 2 hours (or overnight in the fridge which is what I usually do).
- Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar with a balloon whisk in a large mixing bowl until pale and thick then whisk in the cornflour.
- Strain the chilled lemon infused milk into a large measuring jug then pour the milk in a very thin and steady stream into the eggs, whisking all the while until all the milk has been incorporated.
- Pour the liquid custard mixture into a large saucepan and bring to a very gentle boil and the custard has thickened, stirring all the time.
- Remove from the heat, place a piece of baking parchment or cling film on top of the surface of the custard and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes just so it’s not piping hot. Remove the parchment or cling, give the custard a quick whisk to ensure it’s still lovely and smooth and either pour into a serving jug or serve directly from the saucepan.
Video
Notes
- The best substitution for cornflour is tapioca starch.
- The yolks should be about 20g each so in total you need 160g yolks to make the whole of this recipe which serves 8 people.
- This recipe can be easily halved for 4 people.
- You can infuse the milk overnight (in the fridge) with the lemon peel if you like, it will make for an even more intense flavour.
- Try not to leave it longer than 12 hours otherwise it can get a little bitter.
- I have found that if you heat this milk-only custard sauce too quickly then the cornflour can become unstable and separate so heat on low. It should only take about 10 minutes to thicken.
