Keto Maple Pudding Chomeur Cake - Sugar-free and Gluten-free

This Keto Maple Pudding Chomeur Cake is paying homage to my native birthplace! Originating in Quebec, Canada, this vanilla crumb cake with a luscious sauce of maple syrup and cream is a quick and easy sugar-free dessert perfect for the upcoming winter months.

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Keto Maple Pudding Chomeur Cake

When I was a kid, my grandfather used to call all pudding cakes "Good Bad Cakes". He would take a bite of the actual moist pudding cake and say "goooooood!" and then when he would bite into the dryer cake part, he would reply "baaaaaad!" with a smile on his face! It's funny the memories that leave an imprint on us from our childhood.

This keto pudding chomeur cake is a maple syrup-based pudding cake. The actual translation of the name of this cake is "pudding of the unemployed" since it was actually created during the Great Depression. Originally made with brown sugar, this pudding cake eventually was converted into using maple syrup when the economy turned around.

Served warm and sauce-side up, this super moist cake is perfect on a cold winter night!

The science of pudding cakes

What is a pudding cake?

A pudding cake is typically a cake batter that adds a sauce to the top of the cake before being baked. During the baking process, the cake layers invert and you end up with a creamy bottom side with a light a craggly caramelized top.

Since you all know how much I love the science behind cooking and baking, I turned to America's Test Kitchen to figure out how exactly this magic takes place in the oven.

As it turns out, there are several important factors that need to be taken into account in order to create this inversion as well as for these two layers to remain somewhat separated.

First, adding melted butter to the batter of the cake helped to "waterproof" the cake which helped to keep the higher fat content maple cream sauce from being absorbed into the cake.

Second, adding enough baking powder to the cake mixture means that as the cake heats up, air pockets form and allow the top maple cream layer to penetrate the cake layer, sweetening the cake along the way as well as allowing the sauce to drop to the bottom of the pan.

Lastly, baking the cake only 6 inches from the top of the oven (and not in the middle of the oven) causes a nice caramelized topping without overbaking the cake.

Sugar-Free Recipes

Studies have shown that we are eating way too much sugar these days. By using sugar-free maple syrup and sugar-free sweetener, we can reduce the sugar content of this recipe from 30 grams of sugar per serving to a mere 1.6 grams of sugar!

If you do not mind adding additional sugar to your diet, feel free to replace the sugar-free maple syrup with natural maple syrup.

Best Sugar-Free Maple Syrups

When I was a kid (and even as an adult!) I have never cared for "real" maple syrup. My parents actually collect their own maple syrup (at the ripe age of 86 and 78!) in Quebec but even still, I just don't care for the flavour. My dad actually calls fake maple syrup "telephone post" syrup but I disagree and LOVE the commercially prepared syrup.

With that being said, I do consider myself a "connoisseur" when it comes to fake syrup and there are some brands that are better than others.

My favourite sugar-free syrups are Lakanto and ChocZero. I do not personally care for Birch Blenders as I feel like the taste is off and the consistency is too thin.

If you are looking for sugar-free maple syrup that you can find in stores, look for any brand that does NOT contain maltitol or maltodextrin.

Why you should not use maltitol as a sugar substitute

If you are looking to keep your blood sugar stable (which is the primary indicator of health), then eliminating all sugar would be best. However, there are people like myself, that just think that life without sugar is a life without pleasure!

So, for people who want to enjoy the sweet treats in life, using sugar substitutes is key.

But, did you know that all sugar substitutes are much better than real sugar?!! Sugar and its substitutes are all ranked via a glycemic index. Pure sugar has a glycemic index of 60. Anything lower than 60 is considered to be a sugar substitute but that doesn't mean that a sugar substitute will cause a spike in your blood sugar.

For example, the liquid form of Maltitol is 52! That is only 8 points lower than pure sugar and therefore will most definitely cause your blood sugar to spike.

Sugar substitutes such as Splenda, stevia, monkfruit, allulose and erythritol have a glycemic index of zero.

The most natural sugar with the lowest glycemic index is either Yacon syrup (GI of 1-10 but difficult to find, expensive and has a slightly different taste), Agave (GI between 10-20 depending on the product) or coconut sugar (GI of approximately 30)

Enough education for one day...Let's start baking!

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