"There ain't a lighter hand at a pudden, though I say that shouldn't."  From Lettice Lisle by Lady Verney, 1870.

So the lighter the hand, the lighter the pudding.  But also:

• "The more devastating the criticism, the lighter the hand has to be." (Lester B. Lave, quoted in "A Life that Mattered")
• "The lighter the hand, the more berries in the pan." (Fedco Seeds)
• "The lighter the hand, the lighter the biscuit." (Convivial)
• "The lighter the hand of the sawyer, the better the saw operates." (Luke Miner, "Sawing Lessons: Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postcript")
• "The lighter the hand, the flakier the crust." (Food Network)
• "The lighter the hand of the [tattoo] artist on the needle, the less pain you'll have during the procedure." (Beth Asaff, "Pain of Getting a Tattoo in Different Places")
• "When applying a concealing makeup, the lighter the hand, the better." (The Sturge-Weber Foundation)
• "The lighter the hand of the guiding adult, the more motivated and spontaneous the play is likely to be."  (Anne Burke, Ready to Learn: Using Play to Build Literacy Skills in Young Learners)
• "The lighter the hand, the closer you can wear [perfume] to your nose." (Perfume Interview with Judith of Unseen Censer, Part I)
• "For the lighter the hand becomes, the deeper you will go." (Marjor Mark Cunningham, "Intro to Hypnosis")

From The Baby's Museum by Uncle Charlie, 1882.

You've heard the expression "neither here nor there."  The "here" of things is your immediate environment. But what is "there"? Over "there" is nothing less than a pudding in the form of a lion couchant. We find our evidence in Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, 1898.