Lemon Blancmange is a luscious eggless milk pudding that is similar to panna cotta, and it deliciously showcases the lemon like nothing else.

Honestly, Lemon Blancmange is a fabulous year-round dessert, but it seemed fitting to publish it on Not Entirely Average in celebration of Saint Valentine’s Day.

You do not want to click past this recipe if you are a lemon lover! I guess what I like most about Lemon Blancmange is that it boils down to being a gelatin dessert. Heavy cream, sugar, and fresh lemon juice are heated to create a thin liquid before gelatin is added to give it structure.

The strawberry sauce is entirely bright and delightful, boasting not only notes of fresh strawberry, but also a hint of rose petals. The best way to enjoy this delicious dessert is to serve the lemon custard atop a thin pool of the sauce, lemon zest freshly grated across the top.

Thirty minutes worth of assembly yields this great recipe. Blancmange is a luscious eggless milk pudding which is similar in texture to panna cotta, and it deliciously showcases the lemon like nothing else. 

How This Recipe Came About…

I seriously look forward to treats after the main dishes have been enjoyed.

The treat needn’t be a lengthy masterpiece born from my slaving in the kitchen. I do enough of that all day for Not Entirely Average.

When searching for easy winners for myself personally, I look for food with simple ingredients, something that’s easy to prepare, and has a unique bit of history to its evolution.

‘Blanc Mange’ during the Middle Ages is enough to suggest this dessert has that ‘history’ I’m looking for.

Ingredients for Creamy Lemon Blancmange with Strawberry Sauce

• cold water
• unflavored gelatin
• boiling water
• heavy cream
• very large lemon or several small lemons
• caster sugar or granulated sugar
• lemon curd, homemade or store purchased
• pinch of salt
• fresh strawberries
• strawberry jam, homemade or store purchased
• rose water

optional

• sliver of lemon peel or lemon zest to garnish
• thin slices fresh strawberry for garnish

What Is Blancmange?

According to Wikipedia, Blancmange is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with rice flour, gelatin, or cornstarch and flavored with almonds. It is usually set in a mold and served cold. I liken it similarly to my Classic Strawberry Panna Cotta recipe.

The original recipe appears to have been savory consisting of capon or chicken. And when I stop to consider whether I’ve been introduced to Blancmange during my travels, it turns out I have. And it was served as a savory. Blancmange is French iteration, and the literal translation to English is “white eating.”

How To Make This Lemon Blancmange Recipe?

The first thing to consider is what you will mold your custards in. This recipe makes two servings, so you only need two of whatever you decide. Rather than using a traditional Blancmange mould, look for instead 4 to 6-ounce custard cups if you have any.

I used a short, ribbed parfait cup for mine because I wanted that pretty scallop you can see in my photos. So, they absolutely did NOT have cooking spray during the Middle Ages, but we do! And I recommend lightly coating the inside of your molds with it so that unmolding it isn’t an issue.

You can always of course also just eat it directly from the custard cup with a drizzle of strawberry sauce on top. But I like to serve the exposed Blancmange atop a pool of the sauce. It’s really no effort and it looks super pretty.

Get your gelatin in order before you start. Add a tablespoon of cold water to a very small bowl and sprinkle gelatin powder over the surface. Let it stand for a minute before stirring in a tablespoon of hot water (boiling water is best) and stirring until the gelatin dissolves. Poof, you’ve bloomed gelatin.

To begin the custard process, gather your ingredients and pre-measure everything. Into a medium saucepan (nonstick), add heavy cream, some lemon juice, white sugar (castor or granulated), a small amount of lemon curd, and a pinch of salt.

Bring the ingredients to a boil over medium high heat stirring constantly to ensure the curd dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour in the gelatin mixture. Stir.

…Now The Chill

Divide the Blancmange between the two molds that you’ve sprayed with cooking spray and pop into your fridge for several (at least 4 hours) with or without plastic wrap.

Yeah, the waiting stinks, but hey the cooking time is nothing to complain about!

For the strawberry sauce, add fresh mashed strawberries, white sugar (castor or granulated), and a bit of strawberry jam into a saucepan (nonstick) over medium-low heat. Increase the temp and bring the lot to a boil.

Reduce heat again and allow to simmer until it’s thickened, anywhere from a few minutes to ten. To this fresh fruit mixture, I add a teaspoon of rose water, lemon juice, and another pinch of salt.

If you prefer your strawberry sauce smooth, pass it through a mini food processor or small blender.

Select a pretty jug or wide-mouth decanter and pour the sauce inside. Refrigerate until ready to use.

As I mentioned above, I prefer to unmold my Blancmange into a pretty bowl. Before I do this, I pour a scant amount of the strawberry sauce in the bowl and swirl it around to cover the bottom.

I unmold and carefully use the back of a wooden spoon to push it and center it. Grab a small unwaxed lemon to use for zesting over top the dessert bowls and serve immediately.

Modifying The Norm To Make It Not Entirely Average…

Raspberry sauce is pretty typical when it comes to Blancmange. So in lieu of the strawberry, consider raspberry.

Also, use ground almonds as the bed to serve the Blancmange atop. Pass the fresh fruit sauce at the table for pouring over the dessert rather than serving it under.

If You Like This Recipe…

…you may also like

• Salted Burnt Caramel Custard
• Easy Layered Nilla Wafer Banana Pudding Trifle
• Cream Puffs with Jasmine Custard
• A Sweet Sunshine By The Slice Strawberry And Lemon Pie