Golden Cadillac
Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 8.8% ABV ∙
The Golden Cadillac is a creamy, dessert-style cocktail of white crème de cacao, Galliano, orange juice, and cream, shaken and strained up. Frothy and plush on the tongue, it finishes with a warm herbal sweetness and a citrus lift, dusted with fragrant nutmeg on top.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: White Crème de Cacao 30 mlGalliano L’Autentico liqueur 15 mlOrange juice 45 mlSingle cream/half-and-half 30 mlOrange bitters 2 dashes
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Garnish with grated nutmeg
Tips
- Add the orange bitters into the shaker with everything else, not as a top garnish — they need to integrate into the cream.
- Pre-chill the coupe before straining so the drink doesn't warm and separate on contact with the glass.
- Shake hard and long enough to fully emulsify the cream with the citrus, then fine-strain to keep the texture silky.
History
The Golden Cadillac was created in 1952 at Poor Red's, a bar and barbecue joint in El Dorado, California, in the Sierra Nevada foothills. As the story goes, a newly engaged couple driving to Lake Tahoe stopped in to celebrate and asked the bartender, most commonly named as Frank Cline, to invent a drink in honor of their engagement and their new gold-colored Cadillac parked outside; some accounts instead give the bartender's name as Frank Klein. After experimenting with several mixtures, he settled on a blend of Galliano, white crème de cacao, and cream, and the couple named the golden-hued result after their car. The drink became Poor Red's signature cocktail, and the bar went on to be recognized as one of the world's largest consumers of Galliano.
FAQ
What is in a Golden Cadillac?
White crème de cacao, Galliano liqueur, fresh orange juice, and cream, shaken with a couple of dashes of orange bitters and fine-strained into a chilled glass. It is finished with grated nutmeg on top.
What is the alcohol content of a Golden Cadillac?
This Golden Cadillac comes in at about 8.8% ABV, making it a light, dessert-style sipper rather than a spirit-forward drink. The cream and orange juice dilute the crème de cacao and Galliano into an easy-drinking, low-proof cocktail.
What is Galliano and what does it taste like?
Galliano is an Italian herbal liqueur built on vanilla and anise with notes of citrus and warm spice. In a Golden Cadillac it supplies the drink's signature sweet, licorice-tinged backbone against the chocolate cream.
How do you make a Golden Cadillac ice cream drink?
The classic Golden Cadillac is shaken with cream rather than blended with ice cream, though some bars swap in a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a thicker, dessert-style variation. This recipe instead shakes fresh cream with orange juice, crème de cacao, and Galliano for a lighter, drinkable version rather than a frozen one.
