One of our favorite things about Shake Shack is the fast-casual chain’s constantly rotating seasonal menu. Sure, it can be a bit hit or miss, but new food gives us something to be excited about and provides the perfect excuse to hit Shake Shack even though you swore to yourself you’re finally going to learn to cook more than five things this year so you can start eating at home more. You’ll get around to home cooking come Friendsgiving season because this month Shake Shack is launching some new shakes, and they’re only available for a limited time!
Now admittedly, new milkshakes aren’t as exciting as something like a new chicken sandwich, but considering Shake Shack linked up with fellow New York-based brand Milk Bar for this double shake release, we’re pretty intrigued. The Chocolate Birthday Cake and Cornflake Chocolate Drizzle shakes are now available at all Shake Shacks nationwide until November 1st, so we picked up both shakes for a test taste to see if they’re worth the trip. Let’s dive in!
Chocolate Birthday Cake Shake/ Cornflake Chocolate Drizzle Shake
If you came to this review hoping for suspense, I don’t know what to tell you, both shakes are good. This is f*cking Shake Shack we’re talking about, linking up with an equally beloved award-winning dessert and bakery chain, these two entities know how to make a dessert. That much is clear.
But just because we think both of these shakes are delicious, doesn’t mean we think they’re both worth a trip to Shake Shack. So let’s get the weaker of the two out of the way first — the Chocolate Birthday Cake. The Chocolate Birthday Cake shake uses a chocolate cake frozen custard base infused with Milk Bar B’Day crumbs and B’Day frosting, two ingredients Milk Bar actually teaches you how to make at home, tipped with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles. It tastes almost exactly like what a liquefied chocolate cupcake would taste like, which is good news if you’ve ever eaten a cupcake and thought, ‘Wow, I’d really like to drink this.’
The whipped cream and sprinkles visually help to drive that experience of drinking a cupcake home, and the cake crumbles add the occasional pocket of intensely sweet flavor. The crumbles soak up Shake Shack’s custard perfectly and are small enough to fit through the straw, so this shake doesn’t require any intense suction on your part due to a cake-lodged straw.
But it’s just too sweet for my liking. When I say it tastes like a cupcake that isn’t an exaggeration. If you took a cupcake and blended it with some chocolate ice cream, you’d have the Chocolate Birthday Cake shake. So If you’re wincing at that description rather than salivating, this isn’t the shake for you.
The Cornflake Chocolate Drizzle shake, on the other hand, takes things to another level.
In the war over whether chocolate or vanilla is the better milkshake flavor, I’m firmly on the side of chocolate. When I think of the word “milkshake” I automatically think chocolate, whip cream, and a cherry on top but Shake Shack already has a chocolate shake, and it’s delicious and doesn’t taste like a liquefied chocolate cupcake. So I’d rather have that over the Birthday Cake. What they don’t have is a Cornflake milkshake. Until now.
The Cornflake Chocolate Drizzle shake has so much going on, you’ve got shards of crispy cornflakes evenly distributed through creamy thick vanilla custard topped with a generous drizzle of Milk Bar’s chocolate fudge and soft mini marshmallows tossed on top. It’s the type of milkshake you’re going to want to mix around with your straw, distributing the chocolate drizzle until your milkshake starts to look like a swirl of flavors. Definitely do that, and then grab a spoon and start digging in. We promise you your actions won’t garner any side-eyed glances from strangers who think you don’t know how to drink a milkshake, they’ll only have looks of envy.
A milkshake you opt to eat rather than drink isn’t a sign of a bad milkshake, it’s a sign that the milkshake is so good that a straw can’t do an adequate job of delivering it to your mouth.
Because of this mix of crunchy cornflakes, sweet vanilla, and rich chocolate, this milkshake sort of resembles a flavor hacked bowl of cereal — like you poured a bowl of Frosted Flakes and drizzled chocolate syrup all over it until you had chocolate milk. The cornflakes provide a great textured mouthfeel and the flavor bounces between sweet, rich, and subtly salty. If Shake Shack would’ve added cinnamon or graham cracker crumble to this shake, they would’ve had fast food’s greatest milkshake on their hands.
The Bottom Line
If you’re hitting up Shake Shack between now and November, you’re not doing Shake Shack right if you don’t pick up the Cornflake Chocolate Drizzle shake. Alone it’s worth the trip. But I mean, definitely get a burger too because it’s Shake Shack.