This light, pillowy Lemon Cloud Pie is one of my all time favorite desserts – refreshing and light, perfect for a warm summers eve, and a great finish to any meal.
There is a little back story with this particular dessert, and whenever I think of it, it brings back fond memories. When my friend Tonia and I first opened our restaurant Mizuna, now almost 18 years ago, we desperately needed to expand our dessert menu and began purchasing this Lemon Cloud Pie from a local bakery to serve at the restaurant.
After a few months on the menu, we had customers that would come in specifically just for this pie. After a particularly hard or stressful night at the restaurant, when all the customers had gone home, I would slice myself a piece of this heavenly dessert and sit at the counter in the dark and quiet, and let the tensions of the day melt away. A little reward after a hard days work. Somehow this ritual saved my sanity.
Since then, the bakery has changed hands, our restaurant as well, but Lemon Cloud Pie lives on and continues to be made by Pastry Chef, Gina Garcia over at Chaps. The pie alone is worth a visit to Chaps, but be prepared to be dazzled by this very enchanting place! Or make it at home….Gina so generously shared the recipe with us.
It’s fairly easy and quick to make once you have a pre- baked pie crust.
The “cloud” is basically whipped egg whites, infused with fresh lemon and folded together with whipped cream. Pile it in a pre-baked pie crust then refrigerate. When it comes out it will be so refreshing and cooling – a delicious ending to dinner.
Thanks Gina for sharing the recipe!
Hope you have a wonderful Fathers Day Weekend!
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Gina’s Lemon Cloud Pie
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: whipped
- Cuisine: northwest
Description
Lemon Cloud Pie- a light and refreshing lemony dessert, that feels like a cloud!
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon gelatin
- 1 Tablespoon cold water
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 7 egg whites
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 pre baked pie crust
Instructions
- Soften gelatin in water. Add fresh lemon juice and sugar, stir over low flame until gelatin dissolves. Cool completely over ice bath.
- Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.
- Whip the cream until stiff and then fold it into the whites along with the cooled lemon juice mixture. Mound the mousse into a pre baked pie shell.
- Top with thinly sliced lemons or lemon zest.
- Refrigerate 1 hour before serving
Nutrition
- Calories: 350
This pie is delicious, but it bears note that it is a bit fussy, like essentially all meringue-based desserts. My lemon-gelatin mix was chilled, but not ice cold, when I folded it in with the cream and meringue. It seemed to consolidate nicely, but the liquid partially separated while chilling. The result was a wet bottom crust. Still tasty but not a great presentation. Take care with temps!
Thanks Jeff! This can be a tricky one. I really love this dessert- we used to serve it at our restuarant, but you have to get it just right. So happy you gave it a go!
I’m excited to try this, and wondering if I could use maple syrup or honey instead? Any thoughts/ideas? Love so many of your recipes, btw!
Because of the delicacy of the egg whites we only recommend sugar with this recipe.
Can I use agar instead of gelatin? How much agar or how would you amend the recipe?
Hey Laura- I have not tried this with agar, so can’t give any good advice on this… let me know if you try it with agar- curious!
this Lemon Cloud Pie recipe is the best. So light and refreshing!
amazing! everyone raved!
This was amazing. Cant wait to make it again!
What a gorgeous pie! I love the history behind it. I’m sure it makes it taste even sweeter. 🙂
That sounds divine! Looks like a cloud captured in a pie 😉 So cool that you got the recipe straight from the chef!
It’s a good one!