Pumpkin Postscript

A final word on my high-ratio pumpkin cake. We had noticed back in October that Sir's gluten-free birthday jam sponge had failed to keep as well as its traditional counterpart had been known to do. After only two days in the fridge, the g/f version became dry and heavy and rather inedible, truth be told. I'd heard from various sources that this was the inevitable result of using gluten-free flours and that we'd better just suck it up and get used to the idea.

With that in mind, we addressed this morning's remnants, which had been kept in the cold chest overnight. What is more splendid that leftover cake for breakfast? Not much, I can tell you. Many years ago we stayed in a hotel in Budapest where the breakfast buffet included all the surplus Austro-Hungarian dessert delicacies from the night before - now that was a holiday of a thousand happy memories! But I digress.

We poked and prodded the pumpkin cake tentatively and were pleased that it didn't crumble all over the place. It still felt moist and had a nice give under pressure. Twenty seconds in the microwave to take off the chill and - hey presto - no discernable difference from yesterday. A wonderfully satisfactory result! This recipe is a real winner, I kid you not.

Another final word about the good folks at King Arthur Flour, whose gluten-free multi- purpose blend I will be using exclusively henceforward. Wishing to congratulate them on a job well done and encourage them to keep up the good work, I sent off a brief electronic missive to that effect. A lovely fellow called Brandon wrote back, directing me to the company's website, which is chock full of goodies and info for both gluten-filled and gluten-free bakers. It is an extremely valuable resource and I will be perusing its glorious depths in the run up to the holidays. Brandon also forwarded me a letter to give to my supermarket store manager, to encourage her to start stocking KAGFMPF ASAP. Since my local Wegmans seems totally in thrall to Bob and his Red Mill, I will be starting a campaign to widen the selection in their g/f aisle immediately. This is the same aisle, you might recall, where gluten-infested flax seeds may be found, as well as the Bread of Doom - for some reason, they just don't get it.

I will keep readers up-to-date on my progress as a tireless advocate for the Valley's gluten-freedom fighters. After all, one can always use a new purpose in life.