REPLIES QUICK TO RECIPE REQUESTS

My readers are really on the ball. Last week after the column ran, I already had a few responses to recipe requests the next morning. It is fun when mail comes in so quickly. I have a chance to try some of them before they go into the paper the following week. Keep up the great work.

In response to the request for a pumpkin and spice cake, I have two responses to share.

The first comes from Betty Hopen of Cape Girardeau. She has used the recipe she got from a friend in Jefferson City.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

1 can (29 ounces) pumpkin

1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Mix all of the above ingredients together. Set aside.

1 spice cake mix

1 cup chopped pecans

3/4 cup margarine, melted

Pour pumpkin mixture into 9x13-inch pan; sprinkle cake mix over this mixture. Layer the pecans over this and then drizzle with melted margarine. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve with a dollop of whipped topping with a touch of cinnamon added in.

The second response comes from Mary Ann Stevens of Burfordville, Mo.

Pumpkin Pecan Cake

2 cups crushed vanilla wafers, about 50

1 cup chopped pecans

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

For the cake:

1 box spice cake mix

1 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

4 eggs

For the filling:

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping

In a mixing bowl on medium speed, beat the wafers, pecans and butter until crumbly, about 1 minute. Divide and press into three greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. In another bowl, beat cake mix, pumpkin, butter and eggs for 3 minutes. Spread over crust in each pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. For the filling, combine butter and cream cheese in small mixing bowl, add sugar and vanilla, beat on medium until light and fluffy about 3 minutes. Thinly spread between layers, crumb side down, and on the side of cake. Spread caramel topping over top of cake, allowing some to drip down the sides. Decorate top with half pecans if desired. Store in refrigerator.

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Last week we had a request for vanilla taffy, like the taffy at the fair. One of Recipe Swap's faithful readers came through with a recipe. She also said the book she looked in had plenty of recipes to choose from.

Vanilla Taffy

Combine and stir over slow heat until sugar is dissolved:

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons mild vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons butter

Cook these ingredients quickly, without stirring, to just between the very-hard-ball and the light-crack stages, 268 to 270 degrees.

Add: 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring

Pour candy on buttered platter or marble slab and let cool until a dent can be made in it when pressed with a finger. Gather it into a lump and pull it with fingertips until light and porous. Pull any desired flavoring or coloring into the candy. Roll it into long thin strips and cut into 1-inch pieces. Place candy in a tightly covered tin if you wish it to become creamy.

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Quite awhile ago, we had a request for a dark chocolate devil's food cake with a red color to it, but not red velvet cake. A reader shares her recipe that she has made for many years. She began making this cake before she had a mixer and mixed it by hand.

Chocolate Cake

2 cups sifted cake flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cocoa

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup solid shortening

2 eggs

1 cup sour milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream together sugar and shortening, add eggs and beat well. Add dry sifted ingredients alternately with milk and blend well. Add vanilla. Pour into two prepared 8-inch round cake pans. Bake 30 minutes in a 350-degree oven.

After the cake has cooled you may choose to frost it with a three-minute frosting, as this person always does. If the cake is not as red as you would like for it to be, a drop or two of food coloring may be added.

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Speaking of red food coloring, a Cape Girardeau Senior Center participant shared a recipe with me that sounds very good, and it also has a few drops of red food coloring in it.

Microwave Peanut Patties

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups raw peanuts

1/3 cup white corn syrup

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons butter

Few drops red food coloring

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, corn syrup and a pinch of salt. Stir together. Add peanuts. Microwave on high for 11 minutes in a large mixing bowl. Remove from microwave and add butter, food coloring, vanilla and stir in the powdered sugar. Stir until the candy cools a bit and begins to lose its gloss. Drop on waxed paper or into buttered muffin pans. Yield about 18 patties.

That will wind us up for this week. There are more great recipes to share with you next week.

Have a wonderful week, and happy cooking.

Susan McClanahan, an administrator at Cape Senior Center, can be reached at Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699. Recipes published are not kitchen-tested by the Southeast Missourian staff.