A little off the subject, but the mention of the Valdez and Cpt. Hazelwood reminded me of a joke I heard not too long after the tradgedy.

Of course Capt. Hazelwood could not get a job skippering after the Valdez event, so he got some job training through the State Employement office and landed a job at a Jiffy Lube doing automobile oil changes.  But he was fired a couple weeks later because he kept forgetting to put the oil plug back in...

I know, very bad joke...:)

There is no such thing as a bad joke about Hazelwood nor Exxon for that matter.  Exxon Valdez fudge sauce indeed.

The recipe sounds great!!!  

Can I make a suggestion Roz, since we all know that the environmental effects of factory farming are just horrific as the effects of the oil industry, that whenever you list an animal product in your recipes that you add the words "organic" or "free range" and also list a vegetarian/vegan alternative.  So for example, instead of listing just "2 pints ice cream" you'd write "2 pints organic ice cream (or soy ice cream).  

Thanks for raising the topic of organic/vegan alternatives.

ORGANIC INGREDIENTS

If you read my columns regularly, you'll notice that sometimes I mention buying organic produce and ingredents in my columns and sometimes I don't. My feeling about that is that most Grist readers are probably already buying as many organic products as they can afford and I don't want to nag them and sound like a broken record. Parents of young children, in particular, tell me how guilty and helpless it makes them feel if they are constantly being told to buy food they can't afford.

However, if it strikes me as important, I mention it. In the above article, for example, I say that it's good to buy organic powdered sugar because powdered sugar has cornstarch in it and I prefer to use something that has organic cornstarch rather than cornstarch that could have been made with GMO corn. Most people don't know that powdered sugar contains cornstarch, and that's the reason I mention it.

It's also true that, from a pesticide-conscious perspective, not everything need be purchased organically. Some plants require few pesticides because they are, by nature, fairly pest-resistant. They may not be treated with pesticides at all, and yet that is not the same thing as being grown organically, which entails a lot of work on the soil as well as the mere absence of non-organic certified pesticides. It's also true -- as you have no doubt read in recent postings on Grist -- that organic produce appears to contain more potent micronutrients and is therefor more nourishing. Of course from an environmental perspective, it's always better to buy crops that have been raised organically. It's a better choice if you care about the health of the farmers and farm workers too.

In terms of how best to spend one's food budget on organic food, just find a copy of the "dirty dozen" list. (I'll give the URL in a separate posting.) It tells you which foods are best to avoid due to pesticide use.

So, for all of these reasons, I don't go into the ins and outs of buying organic food in every column. I try to take it on a case by case basis. There is a method to my madness!

VEGETARIAN AND VEGAN ALTERNATIVES

As you may have noticed, the vast majority of recipes I post are vegetarian, and many are vegan.

That said, I don't always write things like "or use a soy version" because most of the vegetarians and vegans I know automatically make the needed adjustments in order to bring a recipe in line with meeting their own needs. For me to write "or use soy ice cream in place of regular ice cream" seems both needless and patronizing.

It's much harder, however, for the average vegan reader to come up with a vegan cake recipe. That's why I went to the trouble of creating a vegan pumpkin cake.

I try to use my time and effort judiciously and focus on where its needed most.

Far out on the deep blue sea;
When the Titanic was sinkin',
They played Nearer my God to Thee."

Or something like that.

Thanks, Roz, this sounds lovely.  And thanks for your answer to AMC.

And funny you should speak of flammable liquids.  My husband, the Julia Child aficionado, claims he once made something called (perhaps) "Delice de Vesuve," probably one of her recipes.  He describes it as basically a Baked Alaska with a high conical hill of meringue, into the top of which is set a half of an egg shell, like a cup.  The shell is playing the part of Vesuvius's crater.  At the presentation, pour liqueur into it, and light.  Definitely a crowd-pleaser, he says, especially when the crowd includes a lot of kids.

...to make the volcanic dessert you describe. My happiest science project memory is of making a volcano for my 8th grade science class with my friend Claudia, and if I can combine a volcano with dessert, well, that would be heavenly!

Made me hungry so now I've got to make this. Will try some of the different tips you suggested. I will let you know how everything turned out. Thanks

I wouldn't think it was patronizing to mention soy or other veg alternatives, rather I think it's good just to acknowledge to the general reader that such alternatives are out there.  But that's just me.  Anyhow, I love your recipes.

So I'm wondering, could I double the cake recipe and bake it in a Bundt pan? Thanks in advance!

It should work. It's a dense, moist cake, though, so I'd try reducing the amount of pumpkin by 1/2 cup (once you've doubled the recipe) to try to make the batter a little less heavy and wet. This means that for the double recipe, you'd use only 1 cup of pumpkin, rather than one and one half cups (i.e., 2 x 3/4 cup). Let me know how it turns out.

My mom used to bake a bundt cake popular in the 70's called a Harvey Wallbanger cake that had a syrup that you poured over the finished cake. It was really good! I'm going to see if I can find a copy of that recipe.