Black Hound sells an elegant dark gingerbread cake filled with pumpkin mousse for $12.

Other pumpkin sweets include a rich yet gossamer pumpkin mousse from Good and Plenty, 410 West 43d Street, 212-268-4385, for $2.50 for an 8-ounce cup.

My piece de resistance turned out to be a pumpkin mousse - after several false starts.

Afterward: While dinner plates are cleared, prepare the pumpkin mousse and serve.

Ginger custard and pumpkin mousse are highly recommended for those who like to mainline cream.

If you insist on taking a stab at fashioning dessert, there is an easy way to turn a supermarket pumpkin pie into a creamy frozen pumpkin mousse.

For dessert there will be miniature pumpkins filled with brandied pumpkin mousse, ginger-laced cookies and strawberry tarts with framboise cream.

Finally, the seasonal profiterole, filled with a pumpkin mousse, was airy and sugary, but should have been left at that.

It has three layers: a classic filling covered with a swath of whipped cream and topped with pumpkin mousse.

A couple of years ago I tried using it in a pumpkin mousse for Thanksgiving, and it was an enormous success.