Celebrate another trip around the sun by toasting with a Birthday Cake Martini! With a sprinkle-bedazzled rim, this colorful cake-inspired cocktail is fit for celebrating!
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Birthday Cake Martini recipe
Celebrating a birthday soon? You need the perfect cocktail, and this Birthday Cake Martini is just the thing!
Made with half-and-half, cake vodka, white chocolate liqueur and whipped cream vodka and adorned with a sprinkle-studded rim, this birthday cocktail tastes just like birthday cake.
With flavors of vanilla and cream and lots of colorful sprinkles, you can’t get more festive than this cocktail.
It’s a sweet, dessert martini (read: definitely not a classic martini) that is perfect for celebrating the birthday girl or guy!
Don’t miss this Birthday Cake White Russian or Birthday Cake Shooters!
Why you’ll love this recipe
If you love birthday cake flavor, you will love this fun dessert cocktail!
- With colorful sprinkles and a true cake flavor, this is a fantastic cocktail that will make any birthday guy or gal feel special!
- It’s easy to whip up in a cocktail shaker. You can make a big batch ahead of time for a party.
- It makes a great alternative (or addition!) to birthday cake!
Serve this cocktail at any adult birthday celebration (or to adults at kid birthday parties). It’s perfect for anyone celebrating a big birthday, whether it’s a 21st birthday or a 90th birthday.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to pick up at the liquor store to make this delicious birthday cocktail:
Cake vodka
Cake-flavored vodka is a clear vodka with the buttery flavor of vanilla birthday cake and a layer of sweetness.
Pinnacle Cake Vodka is the one I have used the most, but there are certainly other brands making this celebratory flavor, including Three Olives Cake Vodka and Smirnoff Iced Cake Vodka.
If you don’t have cake vodka on hand, you can use vanilla vodka instead. But keep in mind it lacks the buttery, almond flavor of the birthday cake vodka.
Whipped cream vodka
Next up is whipped cream-flavored vodka, which is another clear vodka that’s flavored with a hint of whipped cream flavor. Like the cake vodka, it has notes of vanilla and cream, bringing in the flavor of the perfect birthday cake frosting.
Smirnoff Whipped Cream Vodka and Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka are both great in this cocktail.
You can substitute vanilla vodka or even caramel vodka for the whipped cream vodka in this cake batter martini.
And hey, you can always add some real whipped cream on top!
White chocolate liqueur
There are two kinds of white chocolate liqueur. There is a cream-based kind and a clear kind of crème de cacao called white crème de cacao.
You can use either, but for the creamiest cocktail, go for the creamy white chocolate liqueur. My favorite is Godiva brand, but if you’re up for a challenge, you can also make white chocolate liqueur at home.
For a dairy-free cocktail, use the white crème de cacao which is clear and doesn’t contain dairy.
You can also substitute another creamy liqueur like Irish cream.
Cream
For the dairy component, you can choose what you like. I typically use half-and-half but you can go thicker or thinner.
Heavy cream would give your martini a thicker texture, while 2% milk would be a bit thinner.
Feel free to choose any of the plant milks (such as oat milk, soy milk or almond milk) if needed for a dairy-free version of this easy cocktail recipe.
Sprinkle rim
Lastly, this fun cocktail gets a garnish of rainbow sprinkles on the rim of the glass! You can use jimmies or nonpareils.
Dip the rim in something sweet and sticky like honey, maple syrup or simple syrup, then roll the edges in the sprinkles. You can even use a bit of frosting, like I did for these sugar cookie martinis.
For the sprinkles, use colorful rainbow jimmies, nonpareils or even sanding sugar. Chocolate sprinkles work too! (P.S. Did you know you can make homemade sprinkles?!)
Variations and substitutions
Here are a couple ways to shake up this delicious birthday cake martini:
Dairy-free birthday martini: Use your favorite non-dairy milk such as oat milk or almond milk. For the white chocolate liqueur, use white crème de cacao.
Chocolate birthday martini: If you wish to add some more chocolate flavor, use chocolate vodka in lieu of the cake vodka. Add a rim of chocolate syrup dipped in chocolate sprinkles.
Boozy birthday cake milkshake: Throw all the ingredients except the cream into a blender with vanilla ice cream for a frozen version of this birthday party cocktail.
Glassware
For any dessert martini, you’ll want to get out the martini glasses. You can use the kind with a stem or you can use stemless martini glasses like I did.
The rounder-shaped coupe glasses also work. If you don’t have any of those on hand, you can use a rocks glass instead.
favorite martini glasses
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How to rim a glass with sprinkles
Rimming a glass isn’t as hard as it looks! Here’s how to make a sprinkle rim for your martini glass.
Put a teaspoon of honey on a plate and roll the outer rim of a martini glass in the honey. (You can use agave nectar, maple syrup or even icing.)
On another plate, add a spoonful or two of sprinkles. Then roll the outer edge of the glass in the sprinkles until the rim is coated in sprinkles.
Be careful not to get too many sprinkles on the inside of the glass. As they fall into this white cocktail, they will create streaks of color down the edge of the glass. Some is inevitable, but it’s something to be careful of!
Also, jimmies (the kind of sprinkles I used in these pictures) can be a little harder to work with than nonpareil sprinkles (the tiny little balls) but you can use either. A colored sanding sugar would also be quite pretty.
How to make a Birthday Cake Martini
Once you’ve rimmed the glasses, you’re ready to shake up these birthday cocktails!
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, then add the flavored vodkas, white chocolate liqueur and the cream.
Shake, shake, shake! Then pour into the prepared martini glass. Drizzle a few sprinkles on top for garnish if you like!
And then make a wish — it’s your special day! Then enjoy with a slice of birthday cake or a few funfetti sugar cookie bars.
More dessert cocktail recipes
More birthday recipes
- Chocolate Cake Shooters
- Baked Birthday Cake Donuts
- Birthday Cake Cinnamon Rolls
- Chocolate Birthday Cake Popcorn
- Confetti Cake Push Pops
Birthday Cake Martini
ingredients
- 2 ounces cake-flavored vodka
- 1 ounce whipped cream-flavored vodka
- 1 ounce white chocolate liqueur
- 2 ounces half-and-half
- 1 teaspoon honey for the rim
- 1 tablespoon nonpareil sprinkles for the rim
instructions
- First, rim the glass. Put a teaspoon of honey on a plate and roll the outer rim of a martini glass in the honey. On another plate, add sprinkles and roll the glass in them until the rim is coated in sprinkles.
- Then, make the cocktail. In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine both vodkas, the white chocolate liqueur and the half-and-half. Shake vigorously and pour into the prepared martini glass.
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Linda | Brunch with Joy says
Susannah, you put my cocktail to shame. This is the best and cutest martini I’ve seen. Totally madly in love with it!