A sweet, creamy, and delicious cake batter milkshake that is secretly healthy!!!
If the above photo didn’t get your attention, I wash my hands of you.
Today, it’s all about the cake batter.
Cake Batter Milkshake
- 1 frozen, large banana, as ripe as possible
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp melted coconut butter (you might be able to sub unrefined, melted coconut oil but it won’t be as buttery)
- 1/2 to 2/3 cup milk of choice (For an extremely rich, ice-cream-like shake, try full-fat canned coconut milk. Use more or less milk, depending on desired thickness.)
- If you prefer smoothies in a bowl, reduce milk or add a pinch of xantham and guar gums, just like with the Mint-Chocolate Chip Milkshake.
- Optional: 2-3 tsp butter-type spread (such as Earth Balance), melted, for a more cake-like flavor. (Or you can either add 1 tbsp macadamia or cashew butter, or very scant 1/8 tsp butter extract, which is oddly vegan. I emailed Wilton.)
- Optional: handfuls of sprinkles
Blend everything together in your Vita-Mix or blender. Add some sprinkles, pre-blending, and throw some more on top! (No, the sprinkles aren’t raw. See note, further down in this post.)
This tastes delicious to me… but I’ve never had cake batter ice cream. So if you make this…
Please let me know:
Did I succeed in making it taste like a true cake batter shake? Tell me the truth; if I didn’t, I’ll be happy to keep tweaking the recipe. Edible experiments are always fun! Other ideas I tossed around while thinking up the recipe include:
1. Adding a few drops of coconut extract.
2. Making it un-raw and adding batter from my Single-Lady Cupcake.
3. Adding baking powder, or flour, for a cake-y taste.
Now I’m thinking of other ideas to try:
Cake batter oatmeal, raw ice cream… or even Healthy Funfetti Cake.
This isn’t the last of the cake-batter experiments!
A word about the sprinkles:
I’d planned to find a raw substitute. And, when I asked on Twitter, some of you suggested dried fruit or veggies.
But it would’ve looked more like a crunchy granola shake than one of cake batter. Plus, I’m not a raw-foodist, and I truly believe that a small shake of sprinkles once in a blue moon will not hurt anyone. (They even make organic sprinkles now.) However, you can easily forgo the sprinkles if you make this shake. I included them more for decoration than anything else. (Same goes for the soyatoo.)
Be sure to check out my new recipe tab: Healthy Milkshake Recipes.
WOOHOO! totally deserves a new healthy shake tab! iv never had cake batter ice cream either! its deffos an american flavor! also.. you rly dont find ice cream places in london anyway- not that id go to them- not exactly vegan! im LOVING this milkshake series- and i think we all know Ive got a plentiful supply of bananas 😉
my fave cake was when my parents made me a 3D basketball cake.. it was a sphere and it was gnarly
Have you been to Inspiral Lounge in Camden? They have a selection of raw vegan ice creams (as well as other yummy food, including other raw desserts).
I second Anonymous Carrie!! I’ve been to Inspiral Lounge and it is AMAZING!! You will want to go back every day! 😀
right round the corner there’s also a place called cookies and scream, which sells vegan (and gluten free!) cookies, cakes, brownies (one of the best in London apparently), and also sell milkshakes! they use Swedish Glace ice cream in them, which, as much as it isn’t as healthy as they lovely ice cream recipes on here, is absolutely delicious!
The Inspiral Lounge and the Cookies and Scream stall make an excellent Camden outing
There’s Entices Pancakes & Ice Cream in Birmingham. They have three vegan sorbets. Super yummy and creamy.:D
What are the nutrition facts for this milkshake?
I’m glad you used regular sprinkles – they’re sprinkles! Just live and enjoy, folks, haha 😉
Looove that milkshake!!
My favorite cake when I was little had all the Mickey Mouse characters on it (Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Pluto, and Goofy).
LOL I was *this* close to publishing a whole, big essay-thing at the end of the post about how a little HFCS, food coloring, or even (gasp) a food with trans fat ONCE in a blue moon will not hurt you. But then I decided against it, because I wanted to keep the focus of the post lighthearted and positive, and let the recipe/photos shine.
And now I’m wishing I had a pluto cake. He was my favorite!
Even better- http://www.naturalcandystore.com/product/confetti-sprinkelz I have asthma and dyes trigger it (also a trigger for ADD) so once in awhile could hurt me haha. Love these things though.
Thank you so much for the link!!
When I was a kid, my mom would go all out with cakes! She would make them look like whatever we wanted. She did them for other people, too. They were always the centerpiece of the party! One year I had a dinosaur island, complete with WORKING volcano! I’ve also had a rainbow unicorn, Dobby from Harry Potter (that one was especially good, it was carrot cake w/ cream cheese frosting), Winnie the Pooh (first birthday), and more that I can’t remember off the top of my head. Some I remember from other people are Power Rangers, Teletubbies, Bionicle, oh there must’ve been at least a hundred! They were all one-hundred percent from scratch, she even handmade the richest buttercream frosting and colored it herself. I always hated buttercream, though. Anyway, cake is great! And so are milkshakes, so I’m gonna make this, and I’m going to put a volcano of whipped cream spewing chocolate sauce on top! 🙂
Amen! 🙂 This looks delicious, but I would be seriously worried about the mental state of some of Katie’s readers if they were that worked up about a small handful of sprinkles. Sprinkles are fun! Many parts of life are totally crap and hard enough without stressing over a bit of coloured sugar.
Oh this looks so good! I love how you have turned something that would otherwise be soo unhealthy and full of calories into a nutritious treat!
I totally agree with you about the sprinkles. A few sprinkles aren’t going to matter, and they’re sooo cute, too!
Don’t mind me….I’m off to freeze a banana! 🙂
Peel it first!!! Seriously. SERIOUSLY.
Trying to peel a frozen banana hurts with the coldness of a thousand blazing cold icy suns.
Not to mention it turns all strange colored.. At least it did with me :p
Hello. just a suggestion on bananas: peel them first , than cut them into little pieces than freeze them. It is much easier and they blend easier too. Enjoy
Oh yes, definitely peel them before freezing! 🙂
If you DO need to freeze it without peeling (as in, “Oh crap, I’ve got to leave for a week and I have 1 minute, but 20 bananas that need to br frozen!!!”) you can still throw them in the freezer, and just run them under warm water for a minute when you’re ready to blend them. The water will melt the peels from the fruit, and they’ll slide right off. 🙂
DROOLING 🙂 Cake batter oatmeal??!! I love cake batter ANYTHING so I will be definitely checking back on this one 😉
Have a great day,
Laur
I need to make that one asap, because I have such a good idea for it. Thought it up at 3am… :-/. Darn oatmeal ideas, keeping me from getting sleep!
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who lays in bed thinking about breakfast. 🙂
LOL!
It’s bad, right? You don’t want to sleep; you’re too excited to try out your new creation!
SAME HERE.. I was wondering as to what sort of oatmeal I should prepare this morning last night.
hahah
that’s exactly what is happening to me right now….
That looks too pretty!
I don’t remember any of my cakes 🙁 I don’t think cake was really a big deal in my family – heck, last birthday I made my own carrot muffins as a sub!! Oh the wild life :/
Don’t worry, girl! I pulled you outta spam. A few weeks ago, I went through what you’re dealing with, but it fixed itself automatically after a few days.
That looks so good! I am deciding to give up sugar (for a while, at least) but I know I’ll still be able to indulge! That cake batter milkshake may be first on my list! YUM!
Haha my blog is good for that! So many of the recipes are sugar-free. Try the Raw Chocolate Fudge Cake. It’s my favorite (the banana version is sugar free).
You are the healthy milkshake queen! My mom always bought my cakes and for some reason I don’t remember any of them. I guess they were forgettable. 🙂
Do I get a crown? A milkshake crown? That would be fun! 🙂
you know what would probably take this to that “cakey” level” COCONUT FLOUR!!!!
ZOMG I wanna try it! You are a pb-covered genius! I tried regular ww flour, but it was a bit grainy… if you try the coconut flour idea before I do, let me know whatcha think!
bahaha, i knewww it was a cake batter frozen treat!!! This looks like the PERFECT mid afternoon snack, no?!
Or morning, or midnight… heck, when is NOT a good time for a milkshake? 🙂
WOW that looks amazing! Definitely going to try it out. I like the idea of adding cupcake batter to the mix as well, so I *guess* I’ll just be *forced* to try it both ways haha 🙂
My mom made me a cake once (for either my 5th or 6th birthday) that was Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Just his head. It was AWESOME.
I loved that show! All my friends made fun of me (cause it’s a “boy” show, they said). But I didn’t care; it was cool! Way cooler than the girly shows lol.
Same here (about loving it despite it being a “boy” show)! I am not ashamed to admit that I even had the bedsheets. I was pretty die-hard.
Muahahaha where were you when I was a little kid and had to always play with the boys?! 😉
It’s so pretty!! And sounds so delicious. You’re genius, as always.
Birthday cakes my mum made for me: a girl sleeping in a sleeping bag (for my first sleepover birthday party), a care bear, ice cream cake, plain chocolate cake with white frosting and sprinkles, and a marble white/chocolate swirl cake. My husband bakes me a cake or special dessert each year for my birthday: mango jelly roll cake, chocolate cake with raspberries, rootbeer float cupcakes, and many apple crisps. 🙂 Birthdays are such a fun celebration.
Root beer float cupcakes? That sounds incredible! Now I’m thinking a cream soda float cupcake would be SO cool!
That looks really good. It does remind me of cake batter by the way it is served. I don’t remember much about my birthday cakes. I think they were mostly the average store bought cakes with cheap toys on top. My favorite “cake” was not a cake but an edible arrangment. That was the best “cake” I have had.
Well your awesome!!
And it’s so pretty!
Oohh, that looks fantastic!!!
This is so cute Katie!!!
When I was a kid, my parents would always make us Jello Cakes for our birthdays — make a yellow cake, let it cool, poke holes all over it with a fork, then pour jello (mixed with the hot water and cold water) over the cake, let it cool, then place in the fridge to cool completely. Top with cool whip for frosting 🙂
OMG, me, too! She’d make them for me and my cousin, we both have birthdays near Christmas so she’d use red and green jello. Yum!
I’m pretty sure the sprinkles are required in a cake batter milkshake! If you got the look, it doesn’t matter so much if the taste isn’t exactly spot on. 🙂 If I were to make this, I think using this https://www.lorannoils.com/p-8979-cake-batter-flavor-fountain.aspx or this https://www.lorannoils.com/p-8343-buttery-sweet-dough-bakery-emulsion.aspx would be essential to getting the cake batter flavor, and I personally don’t believe adding a little extract is going to make the whole thing unhealthy. (And I don’t believe for one second the places that make cake batter ice cream achieve the flavor naturally, unfortunately–I just don’t think it is completely possible!) I love your recipes Katie! You rock!
I agree! I even contacted Wilton, and butter extract is actually vegan! Weird! lol
LOL–that’s crazy but great! I wonder if that’s the same way they make vegan spreads taste “buttery” too. And how in the world did they figure out how to make something taste like butter without using it? It’s crazy but I love it!
It’s amazing; they can do all sorts of crazy things these days. I mean, who would’ve thought we’d see the day they made up vegan squirt whipped cream in a can? Or cheese that actually melts!
You could also try this one! I love using flavorings/extracts in my “creations”, whether it’s smoothies, oatmeal, or just mixing into plain Greek yogurt!
I love the sprinkles – they make everything better!
Now you just have to work on a Grasshopper milkshake for St. Pattys Day (if you haven’t already! 🙂 )
http://www.naturesflavors.com/product_info.php/products_id/8074
Not only did I already do a grasshopper shake, I also did a raw grasshopper pie! I’m kinda getting obsessed with this holiday lol.
Hi, this shake looks amazing! I’m allergic to dairy and soy, so this is going to be fun to try. My question is…what is the topper on the shake? It looks like whipped cream, but it can’t be. I’m curious to know. Is it the vegan squirt cream in a can that you mentioned above? If so, is it soy-based? Thanks!!
Yes, soyatoo. But you could use vegan cool whip which is soy-free: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/08/16/vegan-cool-whip/
Thank you thank you thank you thank you 🙂
I guess it’s usually safflower oil?
Also, corn oil tastes super buttery!
does this taste like bananas? I’m so excited to try it! I just hate bananas 🙁
I was always a ice cream cake girl! I also remember my barbie cakes..which I loved! The milkshake sounds perfectly delicious!
I love all of your milkshake recipes!!!! Thanks for posting them!
Dear Katie,
How about you move to Massachusetts and make me this every day? I will pay you in ummmmmmm idk what but the pup will pay you in kisses and running partnership!
Puppy kisses?? I’m on the next plane! My sister wants me to visit anyways. She lives in Boston (but is sadly puppy-less).
The pup and I are only 15 minutes north of Boston! And you’d love pupster he is mostly vegan (allergies) though he occasionally has fresh salmon (from whole foods) so his kisses aren’t stinky and gross!
That milkshake looks so good! The childhood birthday cakes I can remember were The Little Mermaid, Lion King, and My Little Pony haha 🙂 As I got older, I wasn’t a big icing fan, so birthday cakes were ice cream cakes, chocolate of course!
J’adore! I can’t wait to find out how this one turns out! I used to eat cake batter ice cream like it was my J-O-B before I went veg, so perhaps this will bring back good memories:)
I love all of your recipes! You are so inventive! I can’t wait to try think shake – it looks amazing. Some of my memorable cakes include: a gumball machine, wakeboard, and Simba.
Oh man, I almost licked my computer screen!!!!!!! That looks SO GOOD! Can’t wait to try it out.
When I was a kid I LOVED pistachio cake, which my mom made for me every year on my birthday. She made it again last Christmas for the first time in…well, a long time, lol!
I love ANYthing pistachio! Never had it in cake form, though!
that looks SO good!
Yum! This looks great!
Yum! Looks delightful and so easy! I’ll definitely be giving it a try :D.
THIS LOOKS AMAZING!! Where do you get coconut oil?
Hey Tara,
You can find it in the natural-food section of most grocery stores (if they have a natural food section), near the oils. Or look in the oil section at Whole Foods. But it MUST be virgin coconut oil, as the other type doesn’t have a coconutty flavor.
Annnnd you just posted my afternoon snack. I can’t wait to try this!!! With sprinkles, FTW.
My birthday cakes were ALWAYS Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake – cookies ‘n cream ice cream with chocolate cake. My favorite part was the icing they wrote “Happy Birthday” in. It tasted different/special for some reason.
It was the perfect snack! I added vanilla protein powder, butterscotch extract and a handful of spinach. YUM.
Now I’m in the mood to party like it’s my birthday.
Hahahahaha spinach cake batter shake? Oh, the “normal” people of the world (i.e. non-bloggers and blog-readers) would think you were insane! Me, I think it sounds delicious!
Did it still taste like cake batter with the addition of the spinach?!! I love putting spinach in my normal fruit-ice-protein powder smoothies but those aren’t necessarily made to taste sweet…
You can’t taste the spinach at all! I wouldn’t try it with anything stronger though.
Katie! I made it!!!! And OMG it was as fab as could be! I went through a phase where I ate cake batter ice cream like it was my job, so I’m a pretty good judge. And I think ya got it down! Awesome recreation!!! 🙂
Can you make me dessert every day? Thanks 🙂
Whitney
Yes ma’am lol
Omg, you’ve outdone yourself. I want this shake right now!
Katie, this looks delicious!!! I just had another thin mint milkshake for breakfast this morning pudding style), Now I can have some cake batter for lunch!!! And cookie dough for dinner!! Yay! It is a milkshake day!!!!
And my favorite cake my mom made for me was a jewelry box cake 🙂 It had candy bracelets and ring pops in it, and it was shaped like a jewelry box with a little ballerina figurine inside! I loved it 🙂 Nowadays I make my own cakes (or this year pie!) Because they all have to be sugar-free!
That looks SO amazingly good! I love sprinkles; I’d never give them up. 🙂 I do remember some of my cakes, but mostly remember when I got Dippin Dots for my 10th birthday. They came in individual bowls and arrived in dry ice. I thought it was SO cool!
I could take or leave the taste of the actual sprinkles… I just love the fact that sprinkles make anything taste better because it LOOKS prettier!
What a picture to catch my eye!!!
OMG Katie I know that I’m just echo-ing everyone else, but this looks absolutely delicious!! Sprinkle cake batter has always been my favourite, and every time I make it I’m tempted to just eat it raw.
One of my best friends swears by taking some of the instant sprinkle cake mix, mixing it with a bit of water in a mug, and putting it in the microwave for instant cake single-serving style 🙂 this looks like another amazing way to enjoy the wonder that sprinkled batter brings!
I am going to have to make this soon! Have to!
Have you ever had Van’s waffles?
I tried them this morning (the vegan ones) and some soy yogurt on top (strawberry), it was something new for breakfast in like forever.
I was wondering if you had any ideas on easy (like frozen or super easy to prepare in the morning-not oatmeal) for morning breakfast?
I have tried Vans waffles! Haven’t had them in ages, though. I guess another easy, non-oat breakfast idea is ezekiel english muffins with pb and jelly or another topping. Or make lots of pancakes up in advance and freeze leftovers. Or my banana bread in a bowl recipe :).
Hmmm, never thought of English muffins.
I’m not big with Pb&J, so I will have to figure out something else there.
Why not chocolate?
Chocolate how?
I am big on nutrition, so ya.
Gosh you have to make it difficult don’t you? 😀
My nutrition ideas are probably different than yours but depending on what you think is healthy… dark chocolate chips and peanut butter, strawberry jelly and chocolate, bananas and chocolate, you could probably find a way to turn Katie’s oatmeal recipes into muffin toppers. Or you could have an experiment night tonight. It is dinner time 😀
Wow, this looks delicious! I’ve been following your blog for a while and never commented, but I couldn’t resist this time! 🙂
Aww hi Elisabeth!! So nice to “meet” you :).
Oh my gosh this is so much better than my method of adding boxed cake mix to smoothies and ice cream.
Sprinkles make anything cute! Love them. Freshman year of college, my school eliminated all transfat from the dining commons and campus restaurants, and sprinkles were sadly cut from the ice cream bar.
Haha I can’t say I didn’t think about it, since some Dunkin Hines mixes are vegan. Or, some recipes called for vanilla pudding mix, which is also accidentally vegan!
Katie, will you marry me? You can even make our wedding cake and we can serve raw cake batter milkshakes at the reception. You are genius. Thank you!!
I do!
But you have to make me vegan southern comfort food every single day. Ok? 🙂
You’ve done it again. This looks fabulous, not to mention the photos are gorgeous and so bright/happy/FUN!
I am sooooooooooooo gonna make this!!!!! I am dying to have this milkshake!!!! it looks absolutely devine!!!!! not only bc I love sprinkles 😉
put bananas on my shopping list 🙂
This milkshake looks delicious! I actually made something very similar to this a few weeks ago, but your version is much healthier! 😛
This looks…okay, there are no words. I am SO trying this soon!! WITH the sprinkles for added goodness!! 😀
And every cake of mine was a memorable one. I mean, it’s chocolate cake!! 😉 I had a Dalmation one TOO once!!
Aww I wonder if we had them the same year!
Katie, you’ve outdone yourself!
That’s the most beautiful, drool-worthy milkshake I’ve ever seen 🙂
I remember a Garfield cake from my 3rd birthday party. I was obsessed with that cat! I still have a Garfield stuffed animal from my childhood, with his ear stitched up with embroidery floss!
I had cake batter ice cream exactly once before I went vegan. This is a great idea!
The first year I had a vegan birthday cake, no one wanted any. Now I’m lucky to get a piece because my family thinks vegan cakes are automatically better. I guess there are worse “problems” to have!
Hahaha people figure it out fast, huh? Sometimes, when I go to a party and hardly get any of the vegan food I bring because it goes so fast, I wish I could go back to the days where no one’d touch my food! 😉
Oops, 3rd grade party!
Katie – I made this today at lunchtime. I used 2 1/2 tsp coconut oil, Silk coconut milk, and I DID add 1/8 tsp of Watkins Butter extract (felt it would be needed). So so so tasty! My almost 3 year old LOVED it, too and even added the sprinkles 🙂 We took a video if you are interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La1w_woyRfU
I said you needed 1/4 tsp of vanilla, but added in the caption that you actually need 1/2 tsp. 🙂 But thank you for coming up with this! It’s so tasty and would be great thickened up as an ice cream. I think you need a vegan sugar cookie that you can blend in, too 🙂 Might give it that little bit of extra goodness!
Awwww Lindsay, thank you so much for sharing. Your little sprinkle-fiend is ADORABLE!
I have to (HAVE TO!!) go try this recipe out! This is amazing!
Oh. My. Gosh. I have no words.
Our birthday cakes growing up either came from Friendly’s or Carvel. We are a family full of ice cream cake lovers!
I LOVED Friendlys! I was so sad when we moved to Tx and they didn’t have one!
If a few sprinkles on my ice cream (or smoothie) will kill me…then be sure to toss a couple on my grave too at my funeral because that, my friend, is the way I would like to go out!
LOL you could even write that on the grave!
OMG that looks AMAZING!!! I decided I was definitely going to have it for breakfast tomorrow, and then I realized that I am all out of almond milk! I’m very, very, very sad now 🙁
The milkshake looks wonderful! I love the sprinkles in it.
When I was a kid, my bday cake was a big decision. My mom always made a big deal out of letting me pick out the cake + frosting that I wanted. Sometimes I’d have her make it, sometimes, I’d have it made at the store so I could get tons and tons of pink flowers made from frosting that was so sweet it would give you cavities just thinking about it 🙂
Omg this looks incredible I am trying it ASAP! Thanks for another amazing recipe.
Ahh I love all the milkshakes you’ve been sharing recently. Yumm yumm 😀
Wow! Gorgeous photos – what camera do you use?
Awww Pearl, that is SUCH a compliment coming from you, because I think YOUR photos are stunning! I have a Nikon Dslr, but I really don’t know the first thing about using it! I just shoot on automatic, without a flash. The pictures come out… ok. I hate how every single one has a yellow tint, though. Not sure if that’s a fault of the camera or just my yellow lights in my house!
Anyways, I always edit the colors and contrast in photoshop, after which the photos start to look really pretty. I am so indebted to that software and can’t recommend it highly enough! (Oh, and they offer 80% discount to students!)
lol sorry for the advertisement! I swear I don’t work for photoshop! 😉
This looks amazing, Katie! Reminds me of banana soft- serve, as the recipe calls for little liquid and lots of banana. Cake- batter banana soft serve, that is 🙂 How yummy, I bet coconut butter would be excellent in or atop!
This is the most beautiful milkshake I have ever seen! I have been thinking of it all day.
When I was younger we always got my cake from bakery. My favorite choice was Black Forest
She shoots, she scores! I wonder how almond extract would go? I know I was one of the people asking for this so I’ll try to make it soon, but bananas have been crazy expensive lately so I have none in my freezer 🙁 Somehow I don’t think a cake batter milkshake made with white nectarines would be quite the same 😛
Darn, I wish I could send you some! They’ve been so cheap here. They’re all green, so I bought a TON and stuffed em into a paper bag for a while!
I wish you could too! The reson they’re suddenly $8-10 a kilo here in Australia is because of all the horrific flooding up in QLD where the bulk of the banana plantations are/were 🙁
Hi Katie,
I love reading your blog! I just made the milkshake—sooo yummy! I’ll definitely be making this back at school! I’m a college student (living in a dorm room), but I’m home for Spring Break! Luckily, I have a mini blender (WISH I had a Vitamix!!), so I can make this any time I want! Being back home, I’m trying everything I can while I have an oven…tomorrow is Pizzert! So excited! Thanks again!
Aw Beth, I’m so honored you’re trying the recipes out! And lol I actually like my baby Magic Bullet better than the Vita, because it’s easier to clean!
I never got the cake batter thing, because I never cared much for the taste of cake batter. I’ll take the cooked one, thank you! But a gluten-free similar to cake batter milkshake sounds good enough to try.
Yeah there really isn’t good raw option for sprinkles other than dying coconut shreds, although that might melt in the shake.