There are certain questions you get very good at asking when you can't eat gluten.

Which ones are gluten-free?

Usually there is some pointing.

That one.

Maybe two if you're lucky.

And there it is.

The gluten-free option.

Sitting slightly apart from everybody else's enormous selection like it has been sent to the naughty table.

So imagine asking the same question and getting a rather different answer:

All of them.

Hang on.

All of them?

Now we've got a problem.

Because suddenly you actually have to choose.

It Started With One Cupcake

That is part of what makes the story behind Daniele’s Cakes & Bakes so good.

According to the Peterborough baker, its free-from range started 14 years ago with a single gluten- and dairy-free cupcake.

Today, everything it makes is gluten-free and dairy-free.

The business also caters for requirements including egg-free, soya-free and vegan diets.

That is quite a journey for one cupcake.

Although presumably it didn't realise the great responsibility it was taking on at the time.

The Lonely Brownie Has Left The Building

Anyone who regularly needs free-from food will recognise this particular experience.

Everyone else is staring at a counter full of cakes.

Chocolate.

Lemon.

Something involving an unreasonable quantity of icing.

Something else that appears to have an entire packet of biscuits balanced on top.

Meanwhile, you are introduced to:

The Brownie.

Now to be clear we have nothing against brownies.

Brownies have done sterling work for the gluten-free community.

But sometimes you would quite like somebody to ask:

What do you fancy?

Rather than:

Would you like the thing we've got?

That difference between having an option and having a choice is enormous.

There Is An Important Detail Here

Daniele’s is also refreshingly specific about its kitchen.

The business does not describe it as a gluten-free kitchen.

Instead, it says it uses dedicated gluten-free equipment, including an oven and fridge, and that it no longer uses gluten flour in the kitchen to help reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

That distinction matters.

Particularly for somebody with coeliac disease or a serious allergy or intolerance.

If that's you, don't assume that seeing “gluten-free” means you can stop asking questions.

Tell the business exactly what your dietary requirements are and make sure you're comfortable with how your food is prepared.

Daniele’s itself asks customers to let them know their requirements.

But Can We Return To The Nice Problem?

Because we rather like this one.

You walk in expecting to hunt for the little GF label.

Instead, the conversation becomes:

Which one do I actually want?

And now you're staring too long.

You've narrowed it down to three.

You've changed your mind twice.

The person with you is becoming impatient.

Excellent.

Welcome back to the problems everybody else has.

That might be one of the nicest things a free-from food business can give somebody.

Not simply something they can eat.

Something they really want to eat.

Fourteen Years From One Cupcake

There is also something very Taste Trail about discovering a local food business through a little story like this.

Fourteen years ago: one gluten- and dairy-free cupcake.

Now: free-from baking is what Daniele’s does.

And somewhere along the way, that lonely cupcake appears to have staged a complete takeover.

We approve.

So now we want to hear from the people who actually know the free-from food scene around Peterborough.

Where have you found the cake, bread, takeaway, meal or treat that made you check twice and ask: Wait I can actually eat that?

Tell us by commenting below what it was and where you found it.

Because nobody needs another list of places with “a gluten-free option”.

We want the things worth getting excited about.