I’m kicking off the “where has Chrissy been?” tour with Canada, my home away from home for much of my childhood, and for that, I’m digging into pudding chomeur.
Have you heard of it? I hadn’t either and that’s the point of this, isn’t it? To try new things! And I’m forever and always up for trying out a new dessert.
Pudding chomeur is one of those micro-regional desserts and seems to be rarely found outside Quebec. While most of my travels through Canada have been limited to Ontario, I’d never heard of it and don’t even recall seeing it when I went further north a few years ago.
Pudding chomeur literally translates to unemployed man’s pudding due to the simplicity of ingredients. To clarify for those of us stateside, this dessert is pudding more in the sense of English puddings, rather than our traditional Jell-O.
Oh gosh, is there even a comparison of the two?
For this recipe, I hobbled together a few recipes that I found, but mostly followed that from Food52. I made them into single-serve ramekins rather than a big casserole and actually halved the amount of maple caramel, if you want to call it that because in its original proportions it just seemed so extra. While I love sweetness, there is such a thing as ‘too much,’ and pouring 1 cup of maple syrup over four ramekins is just that. However, I guess if you really want to be real with it, double the amount of syrup that I’ve detailed here. Good luck to you and your pancreas.
Despite my alteration, I didn’t find this dessert lacking in any way. The simple vanilla cake base reminded me of that from my favorite peach upside down cake, and the end result steals some essence from sticky toffee pudding. Cake + syrup + gooeyness served with either whipped cream or ice cream is just my jam and with this, I fell in love.
Speaking of Canada more generally, the border is still closed and I’m wishing, hoping and praying that my 40th birthday hiking trip to the Western Rockies over Labor Day. Keep your fingers crossed for me? Much obliged.
Pudding Chomeur
Montreal specialty pudding chomeur, also known as unemployed man's pudding, is a sticky delicious burst of maple over vanilla cake.
Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 eggs
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- For the caramel:
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, to serve
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Step 2 In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the maple syrup and heavy cream. Bring to a boil and then turn off.
- Step 3 While the maple comes a boil, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and blend well. Add in the cinnamon, flour and baking powder and mix well until thoroughly combined.
- Step 4 Divide the batter evenly between four, buttered, oven-safe ramekins. Pour the syrup/cream mixture over the four cakes, distributing it evenly. Bake 25-30 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.
