Whenever we’re talking fast food fried chicken, Zaxby’s is always near the top of my list. While I’ve been getting chicken fingers and crinkle fries there for years, I was recently turned on to their desserts by way of the Banana Pudding Milkshake. More recently, they decided to bring two additional flavors to their lineup: Birthday Cake and Chocolate Cookie. The Birthday Cake Milkshake was originally released back in 2010 as a celebration of the company’s 20th year in business, but was recently reintroduced by popular demand. This offering is made up of a festive cake batter-flavored milkshake mixed with multicolored sprinkles and finished off with chocolate whipped topping. After ordering, pulling around and paying my $2.99 plus tax, I was ready for my first sip.
I was given a tall plastic cup with a clear plastic top to prevent the chocolate whipped topping and vividly colored sprinkles from spilling over the sides. At 860 calories for the entire shake, this could be fit into some people’s daily diets, but I only ended up enjoying about half before things got too runny and melted to continue. After plunging my long plastic spoon through the airy, chocolate whipped topping; I pull out some of the yellow tinted ice cream hiding below the surface. The base is much sweeter than a standard vanilla, possesses a distinct cake-batter flavoring and isn't thick enough to hinder you from easily sucking some up through a straw. In order to enhance the texture, Zaxby’s has included plenty of the same brightly colored sprinkle circles used on top to the base. These add a bit of crunch and a more authentic birthday cake feel, but not much else.
The chocolate whipped topping sitting above the cake-batter base is a nice play on the traditional whipped cream you’d find on most shakes and, although it’s light in color and texture, the flavors are rich and mesh well with the ice cream and sprinkles. When combined in a bite with the other two ingredients, Zaxby’s Birthday Cake Milkshake settles at a C. Some actual birthday cake pieces would have really sent this shake to the next level, but until then, I'll take the Banana Pudding version over this one. I plan on checking out the Chocolate Cookie Shake soon, so we'll see which is the best of the three current options.
Where I Found It: Zaxby's
Grade: C
