I was away recently, and recipe requests (and answers) have been stacking up.

First topic: groom's cake. I've had a request from a reader for a prune groom's cake to serve at her parents' 50th anniversary. A Southern custom that's enjoying a revival, groom's cake is generally a dense fruit-and-nut cake that's cut into small squares, packaged in some decorative form and given out at the wedding (or in some cases, the rehearsal dinner). I'm working on finding the right recipe for this but if anyone has a very tight-textured, moist prune-based cake or fruitcake, please forward it. Meanwhile, I'll send a prune cake previously published; it's delicious, but not exactly like groom's cake.

Deirdre K. "Deedee" Todd, a cookbook author and longtime culinary expert at Macy's (and Liberty House before that), sent in her family's "secret sauce" recipe for hamburgers in answer to a nostalgic request for these sauces, which used to be popular (and closely guarded) in many old-time burger joints here. She uses 1/4 cup Best Foods mayonnaise, 1/4 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons yellow prepared mustard and 2 tablespoons relish (not hot dog relish) and, "for an updated twist and a bit of hot flair," she writes, "I sometimes add 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce."

And another request: Elizabeth Uno of Honolulu is looking for the recipe for biscuits served in the cafeteria at Konawaena School in Kona in the early 1960s. "The biscuits were baked in large, rectangular baking pans, the height about 1 to 2 inches high (perhaps the biscuits became higher in my young mind). The texture was soft and fluffy with a crispy crust on top. The portions were cut into at least 2 1/2 by 1 1/2 inches," she recalled. If anyone's got a good biscuit recipe from school days, send it along; this was probably technically a roll, made with yeast dough in the days when school kitchens actually cooked everything from scratch, rather than receiving much of the food from central cooking centers. But it may have been a baking powder biscuit; she doesn't say.

Uno also asked for a recipe for preserved kumquats. This recipe is from the classic "Fruits of Hawai'i," by Miller, Bazore and Bartow. Wash 4 cups kumquats (1 1/2 to 2 pounds), sprinkle with 1 tablespoon baking soda, place in container and cover with water and let stand 10 minutes. Rinse twice. Place in a shallow kettle and cover with water; bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 25 to 30 minutes, then drain. Cut 4 paper-thin slices of lemon into pie-shaped pieces, cover with water, add 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger and cook in small saucepan until tender. In a saucepan, combine 3 cups sugar, 3 cups water and 1 cup light corn syrup; bring to a boil, add drained kumquats and lemon and cook, simmering, until glossy and transparent, 35 to 40 minutes. Keep in syrup in covered jar in refrigerator or process in boiling water bath 10 minutes.

(Lemon and ginger may be omitted, if desired.)

Send recipes and queries to Wanda A. Adams, Food Editor, Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Fax: 525-8055. E-mail: wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.

For more information about our 150th anniversary cookbook, call 535-8189 (message phone; your call will be returned). You can order the cookbook online.