Over the last couple of weeks, the bulk of questions coming across the Ask The Cook desk have concerned recipes. Now, while you won't see those answered here in the column, I will do my best to find your recipes and e-mail you replies.

Why no recipes here? Well, most recipe requests are fairly personal and for fairly specific purposes, and I want this page to have a universal appeal. Now, should one particular recipe request start to pop up a lot, you WILL see it here.

That leads into our first question of the week. A number of readers have written in and requested a recipe for a dessert called Hummingbird Cake. I'd never heard of it, but I did some research and and found a few recipes. Then, this past weekend, I stumbled across it on the dessert menu at a Vietnamese restaurant, of all places, and had to give it a try.

Friends and neighbors, you have to make this cake. If you've ever enjoyed banana bread, carrot cake, or any of those sweet, dense, wonderful creations, this will taste like home.

Hummingbird Cake

TOOLS:
Sifter

Mixing bowls

3 9-inch round cake pans

Wire whisk

Spatula

Cooling racks
INGREDIENTS:
3 c. all-purpose flour

2 c. sugar

½ tsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 large eggs, beaten,

1 ¼ c. vegetable oil

1 ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple

¾ c. chopped pecans

¼ c. chopped walnuts

2 c. chopped (slighly overripe) banana

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour cake pans thoroughly.

Sift dry ingredients together into large mixing bowl. Add eggs and salad oil and stir by hand until mixture is moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple and nuts. Add banana.

Spoon batter evenly into cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then finish cooling completely on racks.

Frost each cake top with store-bought or homemade cream cheese frosting, then stack and frost sides. Top with additional nuts, if desired.

This is traditionally a springtime dessert, but the ingredients are available year-round. I could eat it every day.

Q: How long do fresh vanilla beans last, and what is the best way to store them? Can they be reused? --Beehive

A: Wrapped tightly in plastic and refrigerated, fresh vanilla beans will last for up to six months.

Once you've scraped the seeds from the pod, put it in your sugar container and you'll soon have vanilla sugar to use in your morning coffee!

BONUS TIP:

When buying spices, get the freshest you can. One of the best sources for really fresh spices is the Internet, but your local gourmet shop should be able to meet your needs, also. Don't buy large quantities, as they'll likely lose their punch before you finish using them. You may have recipes in your file that you've never really tasted because they've never been made with truly fresh, potent spices.

Q: Can I use products such as Egg Beaters in recipes that call for egg whites?

Egg Beaters has recently introduced a refrigerated egg whites product which purports to work just as well as fresh-from-the-egg, but I've not yet tested it so I'll make no guarantees.

Avoid the ordinary egg-substitute products, as they're not pure egg white and can produce some frightening results.

Got a question for Ask The Cook? Send it in and we'll see what we can do!