Pouding Renverse Des Bluets
Submitted by Starlette
Pouding renversé des bluets is a Québécois upside-down blueberry cake: fresh blueberries and lemon zest under a tender vanilla sponge, inverted to serve.
YIELD
1 cakePREP
20 minCOOK
40 minREADY
1 hrsThis is a French-Canadian summer classic from Québec wild-blueberry country. “Bluets” is the Québécois word for blueberries (standard French uses “myrtilles"), and this pudding cake is how farm kitchens stretched a couple of cups of berries into a crowd dessert. Fresh blueberries go in the bottom of a buttered square pan with sugar and lemon zest, topped with a simple vanilla sponge batter, and baked until the cake is golden and the fruit bubbles into a glossy syrup underneath.
Inverting it onto a plate is the big reveal. The syrupy berries flow down over the cake like a natural glaze, staining the golden crumb purple where they touch. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream, and it’s the kind of dessert that disappears in one sitting.
Lemon zest is the quiet star. A single teaspoon sharpens the blueberry flavor and cuts through the sugar so the fruit tastes like itself, not like jam.
Kitchen Tips
- Use fresh wild blueberries if you can get them. They’re smaller, more intense, and closer to what this recipe was designed around. Cultivated works fine but tends to be waterier.
- Don’t skip buttering the pan. The caramelized sugar and fruit will weld to the bottom without proper greasing, and the whole dessert depends on a clean invert.
- Let the cake rest in the pan 5 to 10 minutes before flipping. Immediately inverting means the fruit is still bubbling and the cake is too fragile. Too long and it fuses to the pan.
Variations
- Swap blueberries for raspberries, blackberries, or a mix for a different berry profile.
- Add a half teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the batter for a warmer, more autumnal version.
- Use buttermilk instead of regular milk for a tangier, more tender crumb.
Ingredients
Directions
Combine blueberries, ¼ cup of the sugar and lemon rind in a buttered 8 inch square baking pan.
In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
In another bowl, cream shortening with remaining ½ cup sugar until fluffy.
Beat in egg and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, blending well after each addition and finishing with dry ingredients.
Pour batter over fruit in pan and bake in a preheated 350℉ (180℃) oven for about 40 minutes, or until a tester inserted in centre comes out clean.
Let cool slightly; turn out onto serving plate. Cut in squares and serve warm or at room temperature, with whipped or ice cream, if desired.
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