Easiest Lemon Dessert Sauce is sweet, tart, and tangy. It makes a great topping for cake, bread pudding, ice cream, and pancakes, and this recipe is so simple to make!
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Easiest Lemon Dessert Sauce
Lemon desserts are my most favorite, even over chocolate. I know, who does that?
Lemon makes me think of spring and with the cold weather we’ve been having, I wanted something to cheer me up. (I know, I know. Cold in the South is nothing compared to cold in the north. But, I hate even 30-degree weather!)
This is truly an easy recipe to make. It took me less than ten minutes from the beginning until I had the finished luscious lemon sauce ready to eat. This sauce is not a curd. Therefore, it doesn’t contain eggs. Additionally, it doesn’t have butter in it. However, it is super easy and quick to make and very luscious.
Uses for Sauce
Easiest Lemon Dessert Sauce is great served warm over pound cakes and angel food cakes. Perk up vanilla ice cream with it. As well, it’s great over homemade pancakes with fresh strawberries.
Specifically, I made this sauce for my Dunkin Donuts Bread Pudding recipe for a birthday brunch. Served with bread pudding and fresh strawberries, it was gone in minutes.
More amazing sauce recipes:
More delicious dessert recipes:
- Trisha Yearwood’s Lemon Pound Cake
- Cinnamon Spiced Bread Pudding with Butter Sauce
- Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding
Easiest Lemon Dessert Sauce
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Save To Your Recipe BoxIngredients
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon orange juice
Instructions
- Bring lemon rind, lemon juice, sugar, and cornstarch to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir constantly.
- Reduce heat to simmer and cook 2 to 3 minutes or until sauce is thick.
- Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon orange juice.
- Serve warm.
- Refrigerate up to 1 week.
Notes
Nutrition
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Monica Jordan says
Is this recipe safe for canning via hot water bath? I would think so since no butter. Thoughts?
Paula says
Honestly, I don’t can so I’m not sure.
Cherie Bouchet says
This was wonderful over ginger bread just like my Mom and Grandmother served it thank you
Wendy says
Very nice, very easy.
Carol E says
Awesome sauce! –
I substituted truvia for the sugar – it turned out great. serviced with sugar free limoncello cake and a strawberry/blackberry mix. it got raves!
Yami says
This works pretty good. I substituted some lemon marmalade for the zest and sugar along with arrowroot starch instead of cornstarch since I didn’t want to make a run for lemon zest and cornstarch. It worked very well on top of breadpudding.
Beverly Crawley says
Do you pour the glaze over the just out of oven pound cake, or wait until the cake cools?
Paula says
I have done it both ways and I prefer when the cake is hot. It’s soaks into the cake better.
beverly pimentel says
I loved the tangy lemon flavor an, but it only made 1/2 cup not the 1 cup the recipe states.. I drizzled it cold the over a floating lemon pudding and it was still delicious. Thinning it with a bit of water next day did not change the flavor.
Did anyone else have an issue with the amount made?
Anthony says
Every time you buy lemons take one and zest in one tub juice in another freeze until you have enuf to make amount you use or for when you don’t have fresh or make lemoncello keeps ages will make great sauce
Ruth says
Would this be good putting over blueberry pies
Paula says
Yes
Sharon Hill says
Really liked the lemon sauce. I didn’t have orange juice, and used arrowroot in place of cornstarch. I usually make my lemon sauce with a cooked lemon pudding mix, that I thin down, this is easier and so lemony!
Lily says
This is so delicious and very easy to make. My whole family loved it and wants more! I’m going to make a chocolate cake with coconut and mango buttercream with the lemon sauce as a filling. Thank you for the amazing recipe!
Paula says
I’m so happy you liked it. Thanks for your kind words!
Lily says
I can’t wait to try this- just wondering if I can keep this at room temperature or refrigerate this for a couple of hours. If I refrigerate it and it gets thick, is there some way that I can thin it a little bit? Thank you!
Paula says
Refrigerate and you can heat in the microwave
Lisa says
My mother always served lemon sauce with her warm gingerbread cake. Yumm
Deborah says
My use to make this when I was a kid and I am 59 now. She never put lemon zest or OJ in it and it turned out perfect. So if you do not have those 2 ingredients, no biggie it stills turns out so good. And a big NO to adding flour instead of startch. It is a sweet sauce not a gravy. The texture will be aweful.
Tonya says
Can you substitute corn starch for something else, like flour?
Paula says
flour will thicken it but will leave it ‘milky’ looking not clear. Corn starch leaves it clear
L says
Can the lemon one be served cold? Does it stay as good?
Thanksss
Paula says
It can but it’s thick when it’s cold
Linda Bealer says
My mother used to serve this over warm gingerbread. It was delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Jade says
I can’t wait to try this sauce! How do you think this would taste over panna cotta? Also, can I add some honey to this recipe if it comes out tart?
Paula says
I think it would be delicious over panna cotta. Honey would be good in it.
Shelly says
1st time ever making a pound cake, so I was a little nervous about trying to make a new recipe work for a last minute change in our Christmas gathering dessert plans. Even worse, I didn’t want to make another run to the crowded grocery store. Your Blue Ribbon pound cake recipe turned out fabulously! As noted in the recipe, I had batter left over from my smaller bundt cake pan, so I decided to add another element to the empty Polish pottery dish I had planned to give as a gift. Naturally I needed a topping for my now gifting pound cake & pan. The lemon sauce was the perfect addition, made even better by the relative ease of preparation for my last minute gift alteration. The entire addition was absolutely delicious and created an even more delightful and heartfelt gift. Subsequently, I went ahead and saved several more of your topping recipes to try later… hopefully NOT under duress next time, either way I know it will be good. Thank you!!!
Paula says
Yay!!! I love this! Thanks for letting me know and I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Phyllis P says
I have been looking for this recipe for more than twenty years. Thank you so much for posting it. It used to be the my most requested item for potlucks and dinner parties. I lost the recipe and have been looking for it ever since.
Paula says
I’m so happy you found it on my site!! Look around for more recipes you might enjoy
G says
the lemon one is great! of course if you substitute some of the lemon juice with vodka…. 🙂
Paula says
yes! 🙂
Nataliya says
What measurement is a “cup”?
Paula says
8 ounces liquid
Nataliya says
What is a “cup” in terms of measurement?
Rain says
I am going to try ALL of the Sauces ; They all look really good! We don’t have any Ducan Donuts here so any suggestions? .
Paula says
Any plain glazed donut will work in this recipe. I often get the day-old Krispie Kreme from my walmart when they discount them.
Julie @ Running in a Skirt says
Delicious!!! I love anything lemon!
Aria says
Yum! Lemon is so good!
purrfectlyinspired.com
Medeja says
I think I should have such sauce in the fridge all the time 🙂
Eileen bovasso says
There is no rind. Recipe says zest. Also put orange juice in pan. Recipe says jut in
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