The envelope involving an unsolved mystery and containing two recipes has been lying in “the stack” for a few months. The two recipes were for Spice Cake and Pineapple Ice Box Cake.

Mailed from Florence, the envelope contained no name, no return address, no church name — only the two recipes. Even the usually successful Garrison Detective Agency has been unable to locate the sender. There are a lot of Baptists in Florence.

I’m sorry, because I want to thank the sender for both recipes, but especially for the pineapple one. I’ve made it twice. The first time was to determine if I wanted to share it with you, and by the time we finished “testing” it, there was not enough left for a picture so a second cake had to be assembled and put into the fridge.

This dessert is easy to make, keeps well in the refrigerator for several days, and, most of all, tastes good.

I’m offering the recipe the way I received it, but in the second cake I made a couple of changes. I decreased the sugar to about a half cup. It was still very sweet, and next time I may decrease the amount of sugar even more. The second change was that I decreased the amount of ground vanilla wafers used with the gelatin mixture, using only about a third of a cup instead of a whole cup. Also, I used only a sprinkling of the vanilla wafers on the top.

Another confession is that instead of the whipped cream, I used purchased whipped topping, but I think the fresh whipped cream would have been better.

Everyone enjoys a pretty and good-tasting dessert at a meal’s end, and this one provides both. We thank our mystery contributor for sharing it with us, and I hope she will tell me who she is so I can thank her for her contribution to our own … Sunday Dinner.

Pineapple Ice Box Cake

1 small box (3-ounce) lemon gelatin
3/4 cup boiling water
3/4 pound vanilla wafers
3/4 cup (or less) sugar
1/4 pound butter (1 stick), softened
3 eggs, separated
1 small (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
Maraschino cherries

Dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water and allow to cool but not congeal.

Grind the vanilla wafers. Set aside 2 cups. Line sides and bottom of a pan (approximately 8×14) with the ground wafers, patting them firmly. Set aside.

Cream together the sugar, butter and egg yolks for 15 minutes until thoroughly combined. Add the crushed pineapple, pecans, 1 cup of the reserved wafers, and the gelatin. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold into the gelatin-sugar mixture.

Pour mixture into the wafer-lined dish and sprinkle with remaining cup of wafer crumbs. Refrigerate for 12 hours.

Cut into squares and serve with whipped cream topped with a cherry. Serves 15-20.

Have a recipe? Send it to: sundaydinner@baptistcourier.com