Royalty is a tricky thing. Some people yearn for it. Others are willing to shed blood to overthrow it. If you’re born a royal, you have to manage a slew of complicated relationships and you’re responsible for the general welfare of an entire country. If you ever find yourself a royal, you learn very quickly what it means to have the eyes of the world on you. But what if that gaze isn’t one of admiration, but of rage?

This is “Let Them Drink Cake.” It is the cocktail I have crafted after the famous words of the ousted queen of France, Marie Antoinette. It’s made of several ingredients: walnut liqueur, amaretto, white chocolate liqueur, French vermouth, crème de fraise, and Chambord. It’s reminiscent of a berry cake with a nice alcoholic kick.

The phrase, “Let them eat cake” is one of the most well known in world history. Purportedly spoken by Marie amid the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, the tone-deaf saying became a rallying cry behind the movement and fueled the anti-royalist sentiment of the people. But, the question must be asked, did Marie even say that? After all, to say something so stupid during such a tumultuous time is rather moronic, isn’t it? Well historians would agree with you because according to them, Marie didn’t say this at all!

Originally appearing in a story written by the ever-famous Jean Jacques Rousseau, the line “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” was attributed to Marie Antoinette as she was the current queen of France. But upon further investigation, it can actually be concluded that the line is instead pointing to the wife of King Louis XIV, Marie-Therese, who lived 100 years before Marie Antoinette. After all, in (insert year), when the infamous words were penned, the poor girl was only 10 years old, definitely not the queen of France, and still living in Austria.  So if Marie Antoinette didn’t coin the phrase, why did she lose her head in the revolution? And what type of queen was she really?

Well, Marie Antoinette was born Marie Antonia Josepha Joanna on November 2, 1755, in Vienna, Austria. She was the 15th of 16 children brought into the world by empress Maria Therese of Austria and the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I.

Following the Seven Years’ War, Austria wanted to preserve the alliance they had with France, and, as most royal diplomacy went back in the day, the two nations offered up their young to an arranged marriage. In 1770, at the age of 14, Marie married the future King Louis XVI, Dauphin, Louis Ferdinand. Just four years later, after the death of her father-in-law, Louis XV, Marie became queen.

As queen, Marie spent much of her time enjoying the high life reserved for royalty. After all she was used to it, and she particularly enjoyed throwing balls and events at the palace. However, to the poor peasants, these lavish public appearances were nothing more than fodder for ire. Despite her partying ways, Marie was very aware of the needs of her people and donated to charity often. But as France inched closer and closer to revolution, two key events solidified Marie as the personification of the extravagance of the French nobility.

First was the diamond necklace scandal when a thief, dressed like Marie Antionette, stole a necklace possessing 647 diamonds, and sold it off in bits and pieces. Then, the rumors began circulating that Marie had said, “Let them eat cake/brioche.” That sealed it. The people wanted blood.

When an armed mob stormed the Bastille on July 14, 1789 and the French revolution began, King Louis XVI and Marie were some of the first (of thousands) who found themselves on the sharp side of a guillotine after being tried for treason and theft from the French people and sentenced to death by Maximilien Robespierre. In 1793, at the age of 37, Marie and her husband lost their heads and France continued their march towards uncharted political territory.

Ah, as usual, we find history taking a turn for the bloody. But instead of focusing on the bloodier parts of the French Revolution, I decided to take this drink and focus on what she represented. That phrase, “Let them eat cake” is so iconic, it makes me think today’s historically inspired cocktail should be, well, an alcoholic version of cake.

First, let’s start with the base. We will begin with 1oz of white chocolate liqueur. We will follow that up with ¾ oz of crème de fraise and ½ oz of Chambord. We will then put in ½ oz of dry French Vermouth. As you may have noticed most of our liquors here are French, sweet, and fruity. After all, we’re going for a lavish French cake, so think of a French patisserie. Now what we have in here is the filling in between the layers of our cake, but now we need to make the cake, so to speak. Here we will add ½ oz of Walnut liqueur and ¼ oz of Amaretto. The sweet nuttiness of these two liquors combine to remind me of shortcake or pound cake, which is light and delicious. To place even more emphasis on our “cakiness” we will put in only a drop or two of cake flavoring. This is almost like a cake extract, so you want to be careful, because too much of this and the drink will taste artificial and gross.

Now we have our cake, our filling, last, we need our frosting. There is already a ton of sweetness in here, so I don’t think we need any more so here we will add ½ oz of cream. Finally, we throw in some ice so that our cream doesn’t curdle upon mixing. And now we shake! Lastly, we pour into our glass, which I have rimmed with white chocolate and sprinkles, because cake, and oh my goodness! That beautiful pink color looks magnificent! Let’s also garnish with a slice of strawberry. Well, we have our cake, and we can drink it too! Let’s try!