AI-generated image
Pouding chômeur
Cake baked in maple syrup
Québec 'poor man's pudding': a simple cake batter baked over hot maple syrup that turns into a sauce
Pouding chômeur ('unemployed person's pudding') was created in Québec during the Depression of the 1930s, from the cheapest ingredients: flour, sugar, a little butter and hot syrup. As it bakes, the light batter rises through the syrup, which settles underneath as a rich caramel sauce. Today it's made with maple syrup and is a fixture of Québec sugar shacks (cabanes à sucre) in March and April, and of family Sunday dinners. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Chef's tip: pour the syrup on boiling hot and spoon the batter over in blobs; never stir them together.
- Total time
- 50 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the syrup
- 1 cup maple syrup
- ¾ cup single cream
- ½ cup water
For the batter
- 2 ⅞ oz buttersoft
- 3 ½ oz sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 7 oz plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- ¾ cup milk
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (4)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Heat the oven to 350°F (325°F fan). Butter a 25 × 20 cm baking dish at least 6 cm deep.
Step 2: Beat 2 ⅞ oz butter and 3 ½ oz sugar until pale, then beat in 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla extract.
Step 3: Fold in 7 oz plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1 pinch salt alternately with ¾ cup milk to make a thick batter.
Step 4: Bring 1 cup maple syrup, ¾ cup single cream and ½ cup water to the boil in a pan, then pour into the dish.
3 minStep 5: Drop spoonfuls of batter over the hot syrup, leaving small gaps; they'll spread. Common mistake: smoothing the batter into a solid sheet; the syrup needs gaps to bubble up and caramelise.
Step 6: Bake for 30–35 minutes until the cake is golden and springy and the syrup bubbles thickly around the edges. Rest for 10 minutes and serve warm with the sauce from the bottom spooned over.
35 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 380 kcal
- Protein
- 5 g
- Carbs
- 58 g
- Fat
- 15 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does pouding chômeur take?
- About 50 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of maple syrup?
- Honey or golden syrup, same amount.
- What can I use instead of single cream?
- Half double cream, half milk.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Kartoshka cakeCocoa and cake crumb truffles
Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.
Russian
Undu walaluFried urad dal rings in treacle
Walalu means bangles, and these dark, sticky rings of fried urad dal soaked in kithul treacle are a sweet that Sinhala families bring out for Avurudu and for special almsgivings, often made in large batches by an aunt known for her steady hand. A thick, fluffy paste of ground black gram is piped into loops and fried until crisp, then plunged straight into warm treacle, so the rings stay crunchy on the outside while drinking up the syrup. They taste a little like a darker, smokier jalebi, with a toffee finish from the palm treacle. Watery batter is what ruins them; it spreads into flat blobs, so grind the soaked dal with as little water as possible and beat it until light. This recipe uses no asafoetida, so it is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: pipe the rings onto small squares of baking paper and lower them into the oil paper and all; the paper peels away in seconds.
Sri Lankan
MarquesitasCheese and cajeta crepes
Evening in Mérida's Plaza Grande means the smell of marquesitas: thin batter pressed in hot hinged irons until crisp, then rolled like a cigar around grated Edam cheese and a sweet filling such as cajeta, chocolate-hazelnut spread or jam. Edam came to the Yucatán through the port trade with the Netherlands and became part of the local cooking, and the salty-sweet combination is the whole point. At home you can cook them in a thin, wide frying pan. Edam is usually made with animal rennet, so check the label or use a vegetarian Gouda-style cheese. Chef's tip: roll while the crêpe is still in the pan and hot; within seconds it hardens and will crack.
Mexican