Rachel's pouding chômeur

My mother-in-law took the time to teach my oldest son how to make her very authentic Quebecois pouding chomeur recently. She found this scrap of paper with a sponge cake recipe and then tipped it into a dish that had a cup of maple syrup in the bottom. Baked for 35 min., served with heavy cream.

1 cup of all purpose sifted flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3 eggs

1 cup of sugar

2 tbls. of cold water

1 tsp vanilla

Heat the oven to 375.  Grease a baking dish. Mix the dry ingredients together, flour, salt, and baking powder. Next, beat the 3 eggs until they are thick and pale yellow (about 5 minutes). Add the sugar slowly while continuing to beat the eggs. Add water and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Pour 1 cup of maple syrup into the bottom of the dish, then slowly pour the batter evenly around the dish. Bake for 35 minutes. 

My son made this recently in a ceramic dish and added 10 minutes to the cooking time. Also used a whole can of syrup, 375 ml, but he would tweak it to 300 ml next time.

I love that the cake is dairy-free and soft and deliciouis. Variations include: pineapple upside down cake, where you place a layer of pineapple slices and maraschino cherries at the bottom of the dish instead. Other fruit can be substituted as well.