Guest chef Sophie Hansen’s favourite dessert

This hot lemon pudding is my all-time favourite dessert. Serve it straight from the baking dish with cold cream, ideally by a fire.

Indulgent: self-saucing lemon curd pudding. Picture: Sophie Hansen

This hot lemon pudding is my all-time favourite dessert. Serve it straight from the baking dish with a jug of cold cream, ideally by a fire, on the couch. The hummingbird loaf cake is so easy to make, lasts well for a few days (tightly wrapped in foil) and is lovely topped with a cream cheese icing. I also love it toasted in a sandwich press and spread with a little butter.

Self-saucing lemon curd pudding

2½ tablespoons (50g) butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

¾ cup (165g) caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Grated zest and juice of 3 lemons – you’ll need ½ cup (125ml) lemon juice

3 eggs, separated

1 cup (250ml) full-cream milk

¹⁄³ cup (50g) plain flour

Preheat the oven to 170C (150C fan). Grease a 6-cup (1.5 litre) ovenproof dish with butter. Combine the butter, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest in a food processor or blender and blitz for a few seconds. Add the lemon juice, egg yolks, milk and flour and blitz again so you have a smooth batter. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gradually fold them into the batter. Spoon the batter into the greased dish and smooth the top. Gently place the dish in a roasting tin and carefully pour in enough hot water to come halfway up the side of the dish. Bake the pudding on the middle rack of the oven for 35 minutes or until it is golden and has bubbled up beautifully. Serve the warm pudding with cold cream or vanilla ice cream. Serves 6

Tip: When I make this pudding, I do everything a few hours in advance and leave the pudding, covered, in a cold spot in the pantry. Just as we are sitting down to our main meal, I pop it into the oven. This means that all the washing up is done and dusted. You do sacrifice a little bit of fluff and height by not cooking it straight away, but it really doesn’t make enough of a difference to bother anyone.

Hummingbird loaf cake

Hummingbird loaf cake

2 cups (300g) wholemeal plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 cup (220g) firmly packed brown sugar

¾ cup (185ml) vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1½ cups (235g) grated carrot

1 cup (115g) walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

1¼ cups (200g) chopped fresh or tinned pineapple

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan). Grease a 30 x 12cm loaf tin and line with baking paper. Combine the flour, baking powder, spices and brown sugar in a bowl and whisk to remove any lumps. Whisk the oil, eggs and vanilla in a large jug, then fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Add the carrot, walnuts and pineapple and fold until combined. Spoon the batter into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for 40 minutes or until the cake feels firm to the touch and is just pulling away from the sides of the tin. Let the cake cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool. Serves 6-8

Sophie Hansen’s In Good Company

Edited extract from In Good Company by Sophie Hansen (Murdoch Books, $39.99).