Our Drake Shake is the ultimate dulce de leche milkshake! Inspired by Drake Passage and Argentina with caramel, chocolate, and Fernet Branca!
This boozy, sweet Frozen Treat is unlike any other you will ever have! Combining the Argentinian love of dulce de leche and Fernet-Branca with creamy soft serve, it is the perfect dessert to have while braving Drake Passage on the 9-Month World Cruise.
Join us as we enjoy this delicious tipsy milkshake and spend the day with 20 foot waves getting to Antarctica.
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Table of contents
Sabrina’s Drake Shake Recipe
Inspired by our cruise ship’s upcoming Antarctic adventure traveling through Drake Passage and a previous stop in Argentina, we created the ultimate World Cruise treat: The Drake Shake. This creamy caramel and ice cream concoction is made with onboard ingredients like vanilla soft serve and chocolate sprinkles plus authentic Argentinian dulce de leche – and lots of it!
In Argentina, they love dulce de leche! You’ll find it in Alfajores (shortbread sandwich cookies filled with dulce de leche), dipped in chocolate, and the most indulgent caramel cake we’ve ever had. Seriously, this cake was so amazing, we had to figure out a way to share the very last piece. What better way than on top of a dulce de leche filled milkshake?
For the adult travelers, we added Argentina’s favorite liqueur – the crazy popular Fernet-Branca. It works perfectly with the super sweet dulce de leche in every indulgent bite and is just enough to take the edge off of facing down 20 feet waves. We can’t promise this boozy milkshake will make us feel like we are on calm water during the Drake Passage Crossing. But at least the Argentinian flavors of dulce de leche will remind us of warmer water ahead!
Ingredients
- Dulce de Leche: Dulce de Leche is a super popular confection in Argentina made from slowly heating sugar and milk for several hours. It has a thicker, spreadable consistency than regular caramel and a richer caramel flavor.
- Vanilla Soft Serve: The vanilla soft serve is much easier to mix than regular scoopable ice cream, which is a plus for us since we didn’t pack any blenders. If you are using regular Vanilla Ice Cream instead of soft serve, you’ll probably want to use a blender because it will be tough to mix by hand. You will also want to increase the milk to ¾ cup to thin it out.
- Milk: This milkshake goes all out so of course we are using whole milk! It gives a richer flavor and the soft serve keep it’s smooth thick consistency.
- Fernet Branca: If you’ve never had Fernet-Branca, be warned – it has a strong, unique taste! On its own, it tastes like bitter rootbeer with licorice and herbal notes. But with the rich, caramel sauce and creamy soft serve, it tastes absolutely amazing.
- Chocolate Sprinkles: Is it really a milkshake without sprinkles?! The chocolate sprinkles were a perfect touch and add a delicious pizzazz to this special treat.
- Whipped Cream: We love freshly made Whipped Cream over anything, and luckily the World Cruise has plenty available to top off these milkshakes.
- Chocolate Sauce: To add just a bit more chocolate to go with all the dulce de leche and to compliment the cake topper, we added some chocolate sauce.
- Argentinian Dulce de Leche Cake: We visited a bakery in Puerto Madryn and bought an amazing Dulce de Leche Cake. We had exactly one slice left to take our milkshake from good to CRAZY good! We cut the slice in half and put it on top of the whipped cream.
How to Make
Time needed: 5 minutes.
- Prep your Glass
Using the back of a spoon, spread a tablespoon of dulce de leche inside each glass. Try making it look like waves.
- Make the Milkshake
In a bowl, add the vanilla soft serve, milk, and Fernet Branca. Stir it until it’s smooth with a pour-able consistency.
- Add a Sprinkle Rim
In a shallow bowl wider than your glass, add ¼ cup of the thinned out dulce de leche. Dip the rim of each glass into the sauce. In a separate bowl, add the chocolate sprinkles. Gently press the sauce lined rim into the sprinkles a couple times so they stick.
- Assemble and Serve
Aiming for the middle of the glass so you don’t smear the dulce de leche, pour the milkshake mixture evenly between the glasses. Add ½ cup of whipped cream on top of each milkshake. Drizzle with the chocolate sauce and any remaining dulce de leche sauce and serve immediately.
- Crazy Drake Passage Shake
Take this amazing milkshake to the next level by adding a small slice of Argentinian dulce de leche cake or alfajores on top of the whipped cream.
Can this be made ahead of time?
No, the Drake Shake can’t be made ahead of time because the ice cream mixture won’t be as smooth and soft if you mix it and freeze it again. The good news is that it only takes minutes to make so there’s no need to make it in advance.
Nutritional Facts
What to Pair With The Drake Shake
Cake Topping: You don’t need to take the Drake Passage south of Cape Horn to add cake to this milkshake! Try it with your favorite layer cake or with our indulgent Chocolate Tres Leches Cake. For a gluten free option, try these Gluten Free Salted Caramel Cupcakes!
More Toppings: You can make this dessert as wild and crazy as you want with toppings like brownies, cookies, candy pieces, nuts, shredded coconut, and more. Caramel treats like Caramelitas, Caramel Popcorn and Caramel Stuffed Brownies would all be amazing decadent toppings.
How to Store
If you have any leftover milkshake, you can wrap the cup with plastic wrap and pop it in the freezer. Just keep in mind the consistency is going to be a little different. It will probably freeze very solid, but if you leave it out for a few minutes, the ice cream should soften again. If you topped it with cake, store any leftover cake separately in the fridge in an airtight container for a couple of days.
Frequent Questions
The Drake Shakes are at the southernmost point of South America where three bodies of water, the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans, all meet creating rough ocean currents and giant waves. It is also known as Drakes Passage or Drake Lake, named after Sir Francis Drake, a 16th-century English explorer. This dangerous crossing has been a rite of passage for many famous expedition teams through the centuries like Dutch explorer Willem Schouten, Spanish explorer Francisco de Hoces and Antarctic expedition leader Ernest Shackleton. And of course, in modern times, travelers like my family and fellow travelers on the World Cruise.
Fernet-Branca has a bitter, herbal and almost medicinal taste with root beer and licorice notes unlike any other drink you’ve had. It can be drunk straight but it might give you a bit of dry mouth, which is why in Argentina they balance it with Coca-Cola for a more refreshing drink.
Dulce de Leche is a popular South American caramel sauce that is thicker and richer than regular caramel. It is made by slow cooking sugar and milk for several hours which helps deepen the color and the flavor. It is thicker than normal caramel sauce so it’s often used as a spread for treats or the filling of sandwich cookies like Alfajores.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons dulce de leche sauce
- 2 cups vanilla soft serve ice cream
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 2 shots fernet branca
- 1/4 cup dulce de leche sauce , thinned with 2 tablespoons water
- 1/4 cup chocolate sprinkles
- 1 cup whipped cream
- 2 tablespoons chocolate sauce
- 2 alfajores (chocolate-dipped sandwich cookies)
Instructions
- Add 1 tablespoon dulce de leche to the inside of each of your footed glasses using the back of a spoon.Note: bonus points if you make the pattern in a wave formation!
- In a large measuring cup or bowl, add the vanilla soft serve, whole milk, and fernet branca, stirring until it has a smooth pourable consistency.Note: if using vanilla ice cream, you may need ¾ cup of milk to achieve the same consistency.
- Add the ¼ cup dulce de leche sauce to a shallow, wide bowl. Dip the top of each footed glass into the bowl to rim the glasses with dulce de leche.
- Add ¼ cup chocolate sprinkles to a shallow, wide bowl. Dip the top of each glass into the sprinkles to rim the glass with the sprinkles. Dip 2-3 times to adhere as many chocolate sprinkles to your glass.Note: Do not press down too hard or you may crush your sprinkles.
- Pour the milkshake in the glasses. Aim for the middle of the glass to avoid smearing the dulce de leche on the sides of the cup.
- Top each glass with ½ cup whipped cream. Drizzle with chocolate sauce and remaining dulce de leche sauce.
- Top each shake with an alfajore cookie or go the distance and make it a crazy shake by topping with Argentinian dulce de leche cake.
Nutrition
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Variations
Salted Caramel: If you don’t have dulce de leche, or want to switch up the caramel flavor, use a regular caramel sauce or try this easy Salted Caramel Sauce! The saltiness brings out the rich caramel flavor and balances the sweetness.
Booze: Instead of the bold Fernet Branca, try this with other booze. Rum or coconut rum would add a tropical flavor, cinnamon whiskey would be great during the holidays, or bourbon would match the deep caramel notes.
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