Alice McKeehan, of Elkhart, Indiana, wanted help locating a recipe for making a Twinkie cake. Her friend who used to make it has died, and McKeehan cannot find her copy of the recipe. All she can really remember is that it was an easy, no-bake cake that had Hostess’ Twinkies as the base layer.

According to the Hostess website, the Continental Baking Co. first made Twinkies in 1930. Although Hostess briefly went out of business in 2012 amid bankruptcy and an employee strike, Twinkies are back on the shelves and have been a part of the American snack food culture for the better part of a century.

James Dewar, a baker at Continental, is credited with developing the idea for the Twinkie. He wanted to find a way to make use of the pans and machines that were used to make a strawberry-cream filled shortcake after the strawberry season ended. He used those ladyfinger-shaped shortcake pans to make the original Twinkie.

I found quite a few no-bake recipes that used Twinkies as a base — sometimes sliced in half and layered with nondairy whipped topping or Cool Whip, pudding and fruit. Because I’m not a big fan of Cool Whip, I thought I’d try a recipe for a Twinkie cake that was made with real whipped cream and fresh strawberries. I found the no-bake strawberry banana pudding Twinkie cake recipe on the food blog creolecontessa.com, written by Lisa Bowie, of Las Vegas. Bowie said her relatives absolutely love the cake: “They said it tastes like a strawberry shortcake, but way better.”

The cake can be assembled in no time and is a perfect dessert to make and eat on a hot summer day — no oven required.

Requests

• Rick Rubin, of Baltimore, would like to have a recipe for a kale salad like the one he had a party. He said the kale was finely chopped, tossed in a citrus dressing and topped with feta and pine nuts.

• Merle Peace, of Baltimore, is looking for the recipe for the chocolate macaroons made by Fiske’s Caterers and Bakery in the city. The macaroons had a cream center sandwiched between two chocolate cookies.