Socking It Right to You

DEAR SOS: Help has arrived. No longer will the world be without a recipe for Sock-It-To-Me-Cake. This is not a supermarket bakery cake. This is the Sock-It-To-Me-Cake that made the phrase famous on “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.”

--LILLIAN

DEAR LILLIAN: Dozens of readers came to the rescue when we requested the recipe in this column. Some came with labels from Duncan Hines cake-mix boxes, upon which a butter cake version of the recipe was printed, and others from various publications and personal files. Readers sent recipes that were printed, typed, Xeroxed, faxed and e-mailed. Some called for plain yellow cake mix instead of butter cake. Some had frostings, others had glazes, and some had no frosting.

Whatever the combination, here is one of the more typical versions, which I hope will suit Laura, who originally requested the recipe, and all of us who lost the recipe.

SOCK-IT-TO-ME-CAKE

The glaze is optional for this cake as it is already very sweet.

CAKE

1 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 (18 1/2-ounce) package yellow cake mix

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

Combine pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon in small bowl.

Blend together cake mix, oil, water, sugar, sour cream and eggs in large bowl. Beat at high speed 2 minutes.

Pour 2/3 of mixture into greased 10-inch tube pan. Sprinkle nut mixture over batter. Pour in remaining batter and bake at 350 degrees until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool cake 25 minutes.

GLAZE

3 tablespoons milk

1 cup powdered sugar

Add milk bit by bit to powdered sugar, stirring until smooth. Drizzle over cake.

Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

594 calories; 471 mg sodium; 119 mg cholesterol; 29 grams fat; 82 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams protein; 0.18 gram fiber.

Relish This Rib Tickler DEAR SOS: Can you obtain a recipe for jalapen~o relish like the one that used be packed with my McRib sandwich at McDonald’s some years back? It looked like hot dog relish but was made mostly of jalapen~o peppers.

--FRANCISCO

DEAR FRANCISCO: The McRib has been discontinued. How about this jalapen~o relish recipe made in a microwave oven?

JALAPENO PEPPER RELISH

2 small red bell peppers, seeded and diced

2 small jalapen~o peppers, seeded and diced

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red chiles

1 bay leaf

In 2-quart microwave-safe bowl, combine red peppers and jalapen~o peppers, onion, vinegar, sugar, salt, crushed chiles and bay leaf. Stir to mix. Cover with vented plastic wrap. Microwave on HIGH 5 minutes. Stir well. Cover again, leaving vent, and microwave at 70% power 10 minutes longer (or 50% power about 15 minutes), stirring twice. Let stand, covered 5 minutes. Remove bay leaf and chill.

Makes about 2 1/4 cups relish.

Each 1-tablespoon serving contains about:

8 calories; 33 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 2 grams carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0.06 gram fiber.

Send requests to Culinary SOS, Food Section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. Include restaurant address when requesting recipes from restaurants. We are unable to answer recipe requests by mail.

To order Dosti’s “DEAR SOS: Thirty Years of Recipe Requests to the Los Angeles Times,” send check for $15.95 plus $3 shipping and handling to Dear SOS, Los Angeles Times, Department FS, Box 2348, Chatsworth, CA 91313-9799. Or call (800) 246-4042 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday to use Visa or MasterCard.