Recipe: Poor man's pudding

Winter Celebration

Cake batter

Syrup

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • To make the cake batter, begin by creaming soft butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Whisk together eggs, maple extract and vanilla extract. Add to creamed butter and sugar while stirring; mix just until homogenous and smooth.
  • Warm milk slightly. Sift flour with salt and baking powder. Add the dry mixture and the milk to the batter alternately, starting and ending with the dry mixture, stirring after each addition. Mix just until combined and batter is smooth.
  • Spread batter onto an ungreased and unlined baking pan, about 9 x 9 inches with 3-inch (or taller) sides, or similar size. Smooth surface of the batter, place baking pan on a cookie sheet and set aside.
  • To make the syrup, place brown sugar, water and maple syrup in a sauce pot and bring just to the boiling point. Remove from heat and, while still hot, pour syrup gently over raw cake batter, taking care not to overflow the baking pan (use only enough of the syrup that will leave a 1-cm space between the height of the liquid and the top of the cake at the side of the baking pan). Place the baking pan (still on the cookie sheet) carefully in oven, taking care not to spill syrup over the edge of the pan, and bake until set (40 minutes to an hour, time will change depending on oven and size of baking pan). The pudding will be ready when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out cleanly, with no wet batter clinging to it. The syrup will have sunk under the cake batter to make a sauce underneath the baked cake.
  • Cool for 30 minutes or more and serve. Poor man's pudding will store, well wrapped, for 1 day at room temperature or up to 5 days in the refrigerator.