Pouding chômeur

The suggestion to make Pouding chômeur (pronounced show-mah-r) came from friend M who was staying over. One of our maple syrup cans had sprung a leak, so I needed to use it up. This dessert would be ideal.

Pouding chômeur is not pudding like the kind that comes in a cup. It's a poor man's dessert made from staples that would have been in francophone households in 'the old days'.

I surfed online to find a recipe that was dairy-free. I didn't find one that was to my liking so I modified one to make it dairy-free and got busy. I also swapped out the regular white flour for whole wheat, you know, to make this dessert 'healthier'.

Cake:
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tap baking powder
1/4 cup dairy-free margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 cup rice milk

Sauce:
1 cup maple syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1cup boiling water
1/4 cup dairy-free margarine

I creamed the margarine and white sugar in a bowl, as best I could, margarine doesn't cream well.

I whisked the flour and baking powder together in a bowl then added the milk and sugar mixture to it, alternating them.

Now that the cake part was complete, I prepped the sauce.

I brought the maple syrup, margarine and brown sugar to a boil and let it boil for a few minutes.

I sprayed non-stick spray on the bottom of an 8x8 pan and poured in the batter. Then I poured the maple syrup mixture on top the batter. Do not stir the two, just leave them and put the pan in a 325° for 30-45 minutes.

Review:

This is a Sweet, very Sweet, dessert. It goes well with a tall glass of milk. Some of the liquid soaks into the cake and the rest becomes a sauce underneath.

Granted not deliciously buttery, creamy and fluffy like the versions with butter, cream and white flour, but, quite a good alternative.

The cake was dense and a tad mealy, but the fact that it was whole wheat flour made it less of a guilty pleasure. It had a good flavour and a bit more of an earthy flavour than traditional white flour.