Birthdays are usually celebrated with cake, cupcakes and other baked goods. I typically serve coffee with my cakes, but birthdays are special occasions and deserve something a little bit more special. You could make coffee more special by serving cappuccinos or something, of course, but I took a more “grown up” track and created a batch of Birthday Cake Cocktails – topped with rainbow sprinkles – that are a fun addition to a birthday party.
This cocktail is based on a White Russian, which is made with vodka, Kahlua and cream. To turn it into a birthday cake, I used Three Olives Cake Vodka – a spirit which is slightly sweet and smells a lot like vanilla cake – and French Vanilla Kahlua, instead of the classic coffee liquor. The vanilla in the Kahlua really worked well with the cake vodka and gave the drink the aroma and flavor of cake! Like the drink that inspired it, I added cream to temper the spirits a bit. I also topped mine off generously with whipped cream to make it a little more festive – and to create a nice surface on which to garnish the drink with some rainbow sprinkles.
As you can see in the photos, I made my whipped cream thick enough to support the weight of a small candle ans a finishing touch. You can only create thick enough whipped cream by whipping the cream yourself – the canned whipped cream is simply not strong enough to support a burning candle – so splurge on your birthday with a little extra whipped cream on your drink, or save the candle topper for the real cake. Be sure to chill all the ingredients before building your cocktail for the best results!
Birthday Cake Cocktail
1 1/2 oz Three Olives Cake Vodka*
1 oz French Vanilla Kahlua
1 oz heavy cream
lightly sweetened whipped cream
rainbow sprinkles, for garnish
In a chilled martini glass, combine cake-flavored vodka, Kahlua and cream. Stir gently with a spoon to combine. Top with lightly sweetened whipped cream and garnish with rainbow sprinkles.
Serves 1.
*Note: If you don’t have cake-flavored vodka, you can use regular vodka and add in a few drops of vanilla extract and a drop of almond extract. This won’t give you the same flavor as the cake vodka, but it will capture some of the aroma of white cake and will still make a delicious drink.
What do you think?