WANTED: Banana Liquor Cake

Hard work is often made fun when it's for a good cause.

With The Brazil Times having its own Relay For Life team this year, there have been some exciting times around the office these past few weeks.

The Times' Relay For Life "Clark Kent Super Group" team has been raising money in some unique ways, including collecting dimes from employees spare change around the office, grilling hotdogs for money, sponsoring Clay County's Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Contest and holding a carnival in the parking lot, during which several baked goods were auctioned off.

I supplied two recipes from my cooking arsenal, one of which was (two platters of) Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies and the other was a Banana Liquor Cake. I'm not sure how much the cake finally went for because I was painting faces, but I've been told it garnered a lot of interest by bidders and, after a sniff, several people requested the recipe.

So, I decided to pass it along in my blog.

While everyone thinks it takes a lot of time and effort to make, the real secret is this moist cake is incredibly easy to make with a few store-bought ingredients.

If you gather all your ingredients and do a little prep work, this is an easy cake that will have your family and friends begging for the recipe.

Lightly grease and flour a Bundt cake pan to prepare it for this recipe. Also, preheat the oven to 350 degrees while making the cake batter.

Cream together one box of butter yellow recipe cake mix, one cup of mashed bananas (about two three bananas), one stick of room temperature sweet cream butter and slowly add a 1/2 cup each of banana flavored Schnapps and then the Sprite soda in a bowl until the mixture is an airy batter (it will change to a softer looking color because of the soda). Add three eggs, one at a time, until the batter is well blended.

If you like nuts, stir a cup loosely into the batter now. You can also chop up some dried banana chips and add them at this time to the batter.

Pour the batter evenly in the Bundt cake pan, place the pan on a cookie sheet and then put the two pans in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until the top has a crisp light brown top.

When done, trace around the sides of the cake pan with a knife to loosen the cake and then turn the Bundt cake pan upside down on your cake plate. Let the cake cool for approximately five minutes before lifting the cake pan from the cake.

Let the cake cool completely before icing.

I prefer to cheat when it comes to icing cakes, which is why almost every cake I make is baked in a Bundt cake pan. Drizzling icing along the top of the shaped cake creates a beautiful design without learning cake-decorating techniques.

It also becomes even easier when you use pre-made cake icing from a store. Put a couple of tablespoons of icing in a Zip-Lock bag. Microwave about 10 seconds in the open bag. When done, push all the air out of the bag and zip it shut. Snip a small portion of the bag tip off and then drizzle the icing in circles over the top of the cake.

I also drizzle caramel and sprinkle a touch of cinnamon on top of this cake along with a handful of nuts.

I hope those of you who take up this cooking challenge, reap the benefits of all your hard work.