We're pudding in place new security

Last updated 13:00, Tuesday, 22 July 2008

Word on the gourmands’ grapevine is that all is not as it should be in the elegant dining rooms of the idyllically positioned Sharrow Bay Hotel.

A spot of skullduggery – maybe even culinary espionage – has been suspected and one of the jewels in the Michelin-starred hotel’s crown has been put at risk of wicked devaluation.

At the heart of the mystery is the famously calorific sticky toffee pudding, said to have been invented at Sharrow Bay around 40 years ago. Some ne’er-do-well has been after outing the secret of sweet-toothed success by posting the precious sticky-toffee recipe on the internet.

Now the hotel is asking guests and kitchen staff to sign a secrecy agreement after suspecting a couple of trying to help pale imitators steal Cumbria’s genuine thunder.

Locked in a vault on the premises, the recipe has been kept a closely-guarded secret for decades, with only a handful of trustworthy people taught how to make the dish. One couple, however, proved not to be nearly as trustworthy as promised and almost exposed all after sneaking a camera into a masterclass with the aim of posting the footage on YouTube, the video-sharing website.

The plan was foiled, fortunately and sticky-toffee pud was saved to live another secret day. Phew!

Hats off to Sharrow Bay for pulling off a peach of an undercover investigation... or cooking up a stylish publicity stunt.

Whichever – it barely makes a difference, so long as that decadent pud, now a Cumbrian and British icon of indulgence, lives to brighten another day.