Neon sign with the word "Recipes" written in cursive, white letters on a black background.
A bottle of On the Rocks Lemon Drop Martini cocktail next to a glass cake dome containing a bundt cake with yellow icing on a granite countertop.

Lemon Drop Cake

I created this recipe for a dinner with friends. It was delicious and a huge hit. I had a rough week, so my frame of mind while coming up with this recipe was, "When life gives you lemons, add vodka and make it sweet!”

  • 1 Bundt cake pan
    1 Large mixing bowl
    2 Small bowls

  • 1 box of lemon cake mix
    3 eggs
    ¼ cup of vegetable oil
    ½ cup of water
    ½ cup of premade Lemon Drop Martini beverage*

    *Alternative: Lemonade with a shot of vodka.
    *Substitute: Lemon-lime soda with 2 drops of lemon extract.

  • 2 cups of powdered sugar
    2 drops of lemon extract
    2 drops of lemon juice
    3 drops of yellow food coloring
    1 tablespoon of premade Lemon Drop Martini beverage*

    *Alternative: Lemonade with a shot of vodka.
    *Substitute: Lemon-lime soda with 2 drops of lemon extract.

  • 1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease the bottom of the Bundt pan.

    2. Combine cake mix, water, oil, premade Lemon Drop Martini beverage*, and eggs in a large bowl and mix well.

    *Or alternative/substitute.

    3. Pour ingredients into the Bundt pan and bake for 35 minutes.

    4. While the cake is baking, pour 1 cup of powdered sugar into 2 separate small bowls.

    In the first bowl, add a tablespoon of premade Lemon Drop Martini beverage* to the powdered sugar.
    In the second bowl, add 2 drops each of lemon juice, lemon extract, and yellow food coloring to the powdered sugar.

    5. After the cake is done baking, let it cool for 10 minutes and gently outline the pan with a knife before turning the pan right-side up onto the cake stand. Once the cake is on the stand, gently poke holes in it with a toothpick.

    6. Stir the ingredients in the first bowl well and spread them all over the cake, making this your first round of frosting (glaze).

    Then stir the ingredients in the second bowl and spread them all over the cake.

Double Chocolate Liqueur Cake

While creating this recipe, I felt that this would be ideal for chocolate lovers. When I started blending the two types of chocolate liqueurs into the powdered sugar to make the frosting, I thought to myself that this may be dangerous for chocolate addicts and those who sometimes overindulge in specialty dessert beverages after dinner. So, I’m putting a two-slice limit on this pound cake to avoid your head pounding the next morning.

  • 1 Bundt cake pan
    1 Large mixing bowl
    2 Small bowls

  • 1 box of chocolate cake mix
    3 eggs
    ½ cup of vegetable oil
    1 cup of water

  • 2 cups of powdered sugar
    2 tbsp of chocolate liqueur*
    2 tbsp of white chocolate liqueur*

    *Substitute: An equal amount of chocolate syrup mixed with a small splash of water or a few drops of chocolate extract.

  • 1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease the bundt pan.

    2. Combine cake mix, water, oil, and eggs in a large bowl and mix well.

    3. Pour ingredients into the Bundt pan and bake for 37 minutes.

    4. While cake is baking, pour 1 cup of powdered sugar into each of the 2 small bowls. For the first bowl, add two tablespoons of chocolate liqueur* to the powdered sugar. For the second bowl, add two tablespoons of white chocolate liqueur* to the powdered sugar.

    *Or alternative/substitute.

    5. After the cake is done baking, let it cool for 10 minutes and gently outline the pan with a knife before turning the pan right-side up onto the cake stand. Once the cake is on the stand, gently poke holes in it with a toothpick.

    6. Stir the ingredients well in the first bowl and spread them all over the cake. Then stir the ingredients in the 2nd bowl and spread them all over the cake.

Dolly’s Banana Cookies

While making these cookies, I hope you think of how lucky you are to have lived on this
earth with an actual angel, which Dolly Parton was and always will be.

  • 2 Cookie sheets lined with aluminum foil
    1 Large mixing bowl
    1 Small bowl

  • 1 box of Duncan Hines Dolly Parton’s Southern Style Banana Flavored Cake Mix
    1 egg
    1/3 cup of vegetable oil
    2 or 3 drops of banana extract

  • 1 cup of powdered sugar
    2 tablespoons of banana cream liqueur*

    *Substitute: Banana milk

  • 1. Preheat oven to 325°F

    2. Combine cake mix, egg, and vegetable oil in a large bowl and mix well.

    3. Take about a teaspoon of dough, roll it into a ball, and place it on the cookie sheet.

    4. Press lightly on each dough ball so that there will be a small indentation for the icing.

    5. Bake cookies for 11 minutes.

    6. As the cookies are baking, in a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar and banana cream liqueur.*

    *Or substitute.

    7. After cookies are done baking, let them cool for 10 minutes.

    8. Drop icing with a small spoon on each cookie.

"When life gives you lemons,
add vodka and make it sweet!"

-DAVID LUCK