Pouding Chômeur
Québec's famous 'poor man's pudding': a tender cake baked over a hot maple syrup sauce that turns into caramel underneath.
About this pouding chômeur
Pouding chômeur ('unemployed person's pudding') dates to the Great Depression in Québec, often credited to women factory workers in Montréal around 1929. The original used cheap brown sugar syrup poured over plain cake batter. Today it's almost always made with maple syrup and is a fixture of the sugar shack season.
The magic is in the method: hot syrup poured over the batter sinks underneath during baking, while the cake rises to the top. You end up with a soft sponge sitting on a layer of maple caramel sauce.
Use pure maple syrup. Pancake syrup won't caramelize the same way. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream or a splash of cold cream.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups pure maple syrup
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup 35% whipping cream
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cup milk
Equipment
- 23 x 33 cm baking dish
- Saucepan
- Mixer
Instructions
Tip: tap Start Cooking for hands-free step mode with built-in timers.
- 1
Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and butter a 23 x 33 cm (9 x 13 inch) baking dish.
- 2
Bring maple syrup, water and brown sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in the cream. Keep warm.
- 3
Beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, then vanilla.
3 min timer - 4
Whisk flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until smooth.
- 5
Spread the batter in the dish. Slowly pour the hot syrup over the batter — it will look wrong, but the cake rises through the sauce.
- 6
Bake 40–45 minutes, until the top is golden and a skewer in the cake (not the sauce) comes out clean. Rest 15 minutes before serving warm.
45 min timer
Substitutions
- whipping cream: half-and-half (thinner sauce)
- part of the maple syrup: brown sugar syrup, the original Depression-era version
Storage
Refrigerate covered up to 4 days; rewarm in the microwave.
Freezer
Freeze up to 2 months.
Nutrition not calculated. Cook temperatures follow Health Canada guidance where cited.
Pouding Chômeur: common questions
What does pouding chômeur mean?
'Unemployed person's pudding' or 'poor man's pudding', from its Depression-era origins in Québec.
Can I make pouding chômeur ahead?
Yes. Bake it up to a day ahead, refrigerate, and rewarm individual portions. The sauce loosens again as it warms.
Why did my sauce disappear?
It was overbaked, or the dish was too large. Pull it when the cake tests clean but the edges are still bubbling.
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