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Lemon Posset is one of my all time favourite puddings and it’s also incredibly easy to make with just 3 ingredients! So quick and easy and a great one for when you have friends over as you make it well ahead of time so there’s no stress involved. Served in hollowed out lemons or fancy glasses, it also looks pretty too.
What is Lemon Posset?
Lemon Posset is a classic English dessert that takes way less fuss and ingredients than you would think. It sets into a creamy pudding with just a few basic ingredients: cream, sugar, and lemon juice.
To make lemon posset, you start by heating double cream and sugar together until the sugar dissolves completely. Then, you add fresh lemon juice, which lemon causes the cream to curdle slightly which will eventually set the lemon posset. The mixture is poured into serving glasses or ramekins but here we have served them in scooped out lemon halves. As it cools, the posset sets into a luxurious dessert with a tangy lemon flavour.
Serving Lemon Posset in scooped out lemons
To prepare the scooped-out lemons, slice the tops off the lemons to create little lids. I would also suggest slicing the bottom just slightly to create a flat surface that the lemon can stand on. Then use a spoon to scoop out the inside. You could juice this (blitz it in a blender and press it through a sieve) and store in a jar in the fridge. If the insides need a bit of loosening to remove them, use a little paring knife to gently carve around the edges.
Ingredients
- double cream
- caster sugar (also sold as superfine sugar, you want to use caster sugar rather than granulated sugar so it dissolves properly in the cream)
- lemon juice (always use fresh in a posset, and remember to keep the squeezed lemons for serving!)
Frequently Asked Questions
Panna cotta (meaning cooked cream in Italian) uses gelatin to thicken it which has to be stirred into the warm cream. Posset relies on the acid of the lemon to do that job, as it slightly curdles the cream. It’s a very clever way to do this and it doesn’t take long to assemble, you just need sufficient time for it to set in the fridge.
Again, a posset is set with the acidic lemon juice and gentle curdling of the cream. A syllabub is curdled with alcohol and involves whipping the cream which makes it a lighter, airier texture than posset, which is more a firm, set cream.
It looks so pretty if you have good lemons, but otherwise we usually serve posset in small glasses. It makes the squeezing job much easier too!
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Lemon Posset
Ingredients
- 600 ml double cream
- 200 g caster sugar
- 75 ml lemon juice
Instructions
- Put the cream in a big saucepan with the sugar and heat gently until the sugar has just melted.
- Bring to a simmer and bubble for 1 minute.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice.
- Divide between little pots, bowls, or I love to serve them in scooped out lemons.
- Leave to chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight for hassle-free entertaining.
