Hangry in Maine

If you’ve never heard of pouding chômeur, allow me to introduce you to the best thing to come out of the Great Depression, since, well….did anything else good come out of the Great Depression? (actually, don’t answer that…a quick Google search suggests that I am 10000% wrong and that sliced bread, tooth brushes, and Toll House cookies also came out of The Depression.)

Story time: The first time I ever had pouding chômeur (don’t worry, I don’t/didn’t know how to correctly pronounce it either), I was at this little restaurant called Gravy. Yes, Gravy. A whole restaurant themed around gravy. Honestly? Iconic. Every dish came smothered, drenched, or lovingly spooned with some kind of gravy—there were poutine flights, for goodness sake. It was like Willy Wonka’s factory, but for people, like me, who consider fried potatoes and cheese curds a love language.

Naturally, I scoped out the dessert menu before even pretending to look at entrées, and saw something called a “Canadian maple pan cake.” I’m a complete slut for anything maple….seriously, pour it on a tire and I’d probably take a bite or at the very least give it a lick; so I was committed to this dessert before the server could even ask what I wanted to drink.

I was expecting some over the top, Instagrammable stack of pancakes with an artisan drizzle, and a mint leaf garnish or whatever. What I got instead was… a coffee cup. A freakin’ coffee cup. With whipped cream on it. It looked like something someone’s Nana made in the microwave by accident while trying to bake one of those 60-second, individual banana breads.

But then. BUT. THEN. I took a bite, and everything around me ceased to exist. I had a full spiritual awakening. Time stopped. I considered writing a second thank you note to Canada (the first one was for Brad Marchand). This humble little blob of beige had the audacity to be one of the top five things I’ve ever eaten in my entire life—and I once ate a Fenway Frank in October (IYKYK).

I straight-up harassed the owner/chef (politely!) on my way out to ask what sorcery this was. He said it was pouding chômeur, a Quebec dessert that roughly translates to “unemployed person’s pudding,” which is… rude, honestly. But appropriate, because if I had access to this daily, I’d quit my job too.

Anyway, Gravy has since closed (RIP, gone too soon), and I’ve been emotionally unwell about it ever since. So I made it my personal mission to recreate this little ramekin of joy (again, I eat my feelings….). After many failed attempts and several tongue burns from the lava-like maple caramel sauce, I’ve finally come up with something that I don’t hate.

So, here is my version of that glorious, decadent, unemployed pan cake thing. You’re welcome. Think of it as a cake that gave up on being light and fluffy and instead decided to be a thickkkk, sweet, unapologetic, indulgent mess instead….kinda like me.

What You’ll Need

• An 8×8 baking pan
  • You can also bake this in a standard size 12-cup muffin pan or individual ramekins. I prefer making it in the muffin tin, as it allows you to get a perfect serving size every time and gives each serving that little caramelized, crusty edge that you usually only get on the corner pieces if you bake it in a pan.
• A couple medium sized mixing bowls
• A whisk
• A saucepan
• An electric hand mixer
• Measuring cups & spoons

For the Cake Batter

• 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt (I like to use either a vanilla salt or a caramel salt, but regular ol’ salt works perfectly!)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• 1/2 cup milk

For the Maple Caramel Sauce

• 1 cup pure maple syrup (no offense to Aunt Jemima or Mrs. Butterworth, but we’re in Maine, use the real shit)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar, packed
• 3 tsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 tsp of salt (again, I like to use vanilla salt or caramel salt, but regular salt is cool.)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
   • Grease your 8×8 baking dish. Or whatever vessel you decide to bake your pouding chômeur(s) in.
2. Make the batter; it’s going to be thick.
   • In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In another separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Alternate adding the dry mix and the milk into the egg/sugar mixture, and beat until everything is combined. Add in the vanilla, beat until smooth.
3. Pour the batter into your greased baking dish.
   • If using a muffin tin or ramekins, distribute batter equally. Set aside.
4. Make the caramel sauce.
   • In a medium saucepan, bring the maple syrup, heavy cream, brown sugar, butter, and salt to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Stir constantly during this process, you don’t want to burn your caramel sauce. Be careful that your pan doesn’t boil over.
5. Carefully pour the hot maple caramel sauce over the batter.
   • I know, I know…it sounds wrong to drown your cake batter in liquid, but trust the process here. You want to make sure your cake batter is covered, but be sure not to overfill the pan with the sauce, or it can boil over while cooking and make the biggest mess in your oven and you will hate yourself (ask me how I know). You will probably have some maple caramel sauce left over–save it. You can use it for serving or repurpose it and drizzle it over some ice cream or fruit or in a homemade latte or lick it off someone cute, idc.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes
   • Pro-tip: put a large cookie sheet under your baking pan/muffin tin/ramekins, etc. before you put this in the oven. This will help protect you and your oven from an overflow of maple caramel magma.
   • Until golden brown and the maple caramel is thick and bubbling. Use a toothpick and insert it into the center of the cake, if it comes out clean, it is done cooking. **Please note, if you use ramekins or muffin tins, check your cakes after 22 minutes. These are supposed to have a decadent, custardy texture, so you don’t want to over cook them. Although they’re still pretty good even when they’re a little well done.
7. Cool slightly, then serve.
   • I prefer these served warm, with a scoop or 7 of vanilla bean ice cream and a heavy drizzle of the extra maple caramel sauce. You can also serve it with whipped cream–that’s how it came at the restaurant. I’ve also had this cold, for breakfast, with a coffee, and it wasn’t horrible either. So eat it whenever and at whatever temperature you want.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it, the poor man’s pudding with rich man’s flavor. Is that the same thing as having champagne taste on a beer budget–because that’s the story of my life!

It’s maple, it’s carby, it’s gooey…it’s basically a warm hug in dessert form. It’s simple, decadent, and it’s the reason elastic waistbands exist. It may have been invented as a “poor man’s pudding”, using pantry staples, but today, it is basically a giant middle finger to sad desserts everywhere, and I’m totally here for it.

Want to Bring it to Another Level?

This dessert is insane as it is, but there are a few ways to upgrade the recipe and make it even better, if you’re into certain flavor profiles or just like to experiment.

• Use flavored salts
  • I already mentioned this, but I love to use flavored salts in this. Similar to using flavored oils and vinegars, it just gives recipes another layer of flavor. I’ve made this using a caramel sea salt and a vanilla sea salt, and I really enjoyed the extra little boost it gave it. I have a bourbon sea salt, that I’m sure would also give this a great flavor boost. Check back for a blog about salts & sugars in the future!
• Add a few TBSP of liquor to the caramel
  • Bourbon goes amazing with both maple and caramel, a splash of bourbon would really compliment the flavors here. You could also use a maple liquor, a dark rum, or even a hard cider. Add before you boil the caramel to cook out the alcohol, or add after for a spiked treat!
• Bake these on the smoker
  • One of my favorite things to do is use my pellet smoker to bake desserts in the summertime. The smokey flavor infusion just compliments certain flavor profiles so well, one of those being maple. And bourbon. Imagine a smoked maple bourbon pouding chômeur….
• Swap the milk for buttermilk
  • I don’t usually recommend swapping milk and buttermilk, because I know the acid in buttermilk can mess with leavening agents, but there isn’t a lot here and I think it’ll be ok. This is a really sweet dessert, and I think swapping the milk for buttermilk could give the cakes a little bit of tang and make the batter a little thicker and even more decadent.
• Add fruit to the batter
  • I feel like adding some diced apples, pears, or peaches into this would be the ultimate late summer/fall dessert. If you do add fruit into the batter, I would add another 1/4 cup of flour, to help balance out the extra moisture the fruit will add to the batter while it cooks. This will definitely be an experiment to get the right ratio & texture.