A Québec traditional pudding cake made with love and maple syrup.
Pouding Chômeur (unemployed pudding cake) was created during the Great Depression in Québec. This recipe has different variations, and the original and most affordable ones are made with flour, butter, egg, milk and brown sugar. It is sooo delicious, and the best ones are definitely made with pure maple syrup, and always served in sugar shack desserts. As maple syrup is an expensive product outside Canada, I’ve been developing versions that require a bit less or substitutes like a Berry Picker Pudding Cake and Blueberry Pudding Cake. This recipe only needs half a cup of maple syrup mixed with brown sugar, water and butter to make the sauce. A fascinating thing is that when pouring the dough mixture over the sauce, it looks like it is blending all together, but once it is baked, it forms a separate layer of cake over the thickened sauce. Serve it with ice cream or plain yogurt, and enjoy!
Maple syrup Pouding Chômeur • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2020
RECIPE
INGREDIENTS OF THE SAUCE:
3/4 cup of water
½ cup of pure maple syrup
1/3 cup brown sugar
50g of butter
INGREDIENTS OF THE CAKE:
1 cup of plain flour
2 tsp of baking powder
2/3 cup of sugar
½ cup milk (full cream)
1 egg
Maple sugar or flakes (optional topping)
PREPARATION: Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
In a small saucepan, mix water, maple syrup, brown sugar and butter.
Simmer for a few minutes to dissolve the sugar and melt the butter.
Pour the sauce into an oven-safe glass dish (at least 20 cm in diameter and 5-10 cm deep).
In a bowl, beat the egg with sugar and milk.
Add the flour and baking powder to the egg mixture and stir well until smooth.
Spread the pudding dough mixture over the sugar sauce (and don’t worry if it melts into the sauce).
Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes (or a little less if using fan forced oven), until golden (if a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, it is cooked).
Let cool and serve on its own or with ice cream or plain yogurt.
