Pouding chômeur à l'érable

I'm thrilled that spring is finally here and I'm eager for the warmer weather.  Here in Québec, this is also the time of the year to go out and visit sugar shacks.  For those who aren't familiar with this tradition, sugar shacks produce maple syrup during the end of winter and open to the public in the springtime for a traditional meal of pea soup, cretons, ham, fluffy omelettes, potatoes, sausages, fried pig lard (oreilles de crisse), and baked beans.  While the meal is pretty hearty, I make sure to leave room for the desserts.  Yes, there's often more than one!  These desserts usually highlight the star ingredient, which is the maple syrup.  There are sugar maple pies, crêpes, various cakes or tarts but my all-time favourite dessert is the pouding chômeur.  I even prefer it to the maple taffy (la tire), warm maple taffy poured over a bed of snow, which is rolled on a stick.

Pouding chômeur literally translates to "poor man's pudding".  I believe that it originated as a dessert during the hard times when people couldn't afford much and it required simple ingredients with little butter or flour.  It's essentially a cake that is baked in syrup and is best served warm where you can have the texture of cake and syrup together to form a sort of pudding. Either way, it's delicious but what I love about this recipe is that is uses maple syrup as the sweetener so in the end it's not such a cheap dessert after all!  Let's just say that this recipe is the classier and tastier version of pouding chômeur.

I recommend using an ice cream or cupcake scoop to portion out the batter over the hot syrup and in the oven it will spread, bake and float over the maple syrup.  I like to let the cake cool for about 10-15 minutes before serving it.  I serve the pudding upside down so that the syrup is on the top.  A scoop of vanilla ice cream always compliments the pudding really well and an extra drizzle of maple syrup is always good for those who have a real sweet tooth.

The ice cream scoop is perfect for putting the cake batter on the syrup mixture and it always helps with portioning.

The warm pudding makes the ice cream melt just a bit.  

Perfect springtime treat!

Pouding chômeur à l'érable

Serves 12

Ingredients

2 cups maple syrup (good quality maple syrup is important)

2 cups 35 % cream

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  In a saucepan, bring the maple syrup and cream to a boil.  Pour into a 9x13-inch rectangular baking dish.  Set aside.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until smooth.  At low speed, add the dry ingredients alternating with the milk and vanilla.  With an ice cream scoop or large spoon, portion the batter evenly over the hot syrup.  

Place the dish on a baking sheet (to collect any syrup that could overflow from the pudding cake).  Bake for about 20-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  Serve warm.

Source: slightly adapted from Ricardo Cuisine