Taco Bell and Milk Bar are teaming up again on a Birthday Cake Empanada, with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles. It hits restaurants nationwide Oct. 15 for $3.49, and Rewards members can score one free.
Taco Bell and Milk Bar are back together, and this time the birthday cake is fried.
The Milk Bar Birthday Cake Empanada lands at Taco Bell restaurants nationwide on Thursday, Oct. 15. It costs $3.49 at participating locations and is available for a limited time, while supplies last.
It’s a crispy, golden empanada with a cake batter-flavored filling. Pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles on top.
What is the Taco Bell Birthday Cake Empanada?
It’s a dessert empanada built around Milk Bar’s best-known flavor. Milk Bar is the New York bakery behind the famous Birthday Cake, the one with the naked sides and the funfetti layers.
Inside the empanada is a filling that tastes like cake batter. On the outside, there’s frosting and sprinkles.
Christina Tosi, Milk Bar’s chef and founder, said she loves seeing a familiar flavor “show up in a way they never expected.”
How much is the Milk Bar Birthday Cake Empanada?
It’s $3.49, according to Taco Bell. Prices can vary by location, tax is extra, and delivery usually costs more.
That’s 50 cents more than Taco Bell charged for two of last year’s Birthday Cake Churros.
How do you get a free Birthday Cake Empanada at Taco Bell?
Through the Taco Bell app, if your birthday is saved in your Rewards profile. From Oct. 15 through Oct. 28, Taco Bell Rewards members can pick their birthday reward: a free Birthday Cake Empanada or a regular Mountain Dew Baja Blast Freeze.
There are a few catches. You have to redeem it in the app, and the reward is good for 31 days after Taco Bell issues it.
It’s one per transaction, and you can’t transfer it. Web pay-ahead, pickup, and delivery orders don’t count unless you place them through the app.
So if your birthday isn’t in your profile yet, now’s a good time to add it.
Has Taco Bell worked with Milk Bar before?
Yes, and this is round three. The first team-up came in 2022 with Strawberry Bell Truffles, which mixed Milk Bar’s cake truffles with bits of Taco Bell’s crunchy taco shell.
Then, on Feb. 20, 2025, the two launched Birthday Cake Churros nationwide. Those were churros filled with birthday cake frosting and topped with pink confetti sprinkles. They cost $1.99 for one or $2.99 for two.
The empanada puts that same birthday cake flavor into a new shape.
Liz Matthews, Taco Bell’s global chief food innovation officer, said fans have shown they “love seeing familiar flavors show up on the Taco Bell menu.”
When was the Birthday Cake Empanada first announced?
Back in March. Taco Bell revealed the Milk Bar Birthday Cake Empanada at its Live Mas LIVE event, where it previews what’s coming to the menu. Its March 10 recap listed the empanada as one of the year’s dessert reveals.
The same show teased a Strawberry & Cream Mexican Pizza Bite, a tostada with cheesecake filling and cinnamon-sugar strawberries. There was also a Crème Brûlée Crunchwrap Slider.
The first dessert from that event to roll out nationwide was the Chocolate Fudge & Caramel Empanadas, which came two to an order. So fans have waited a while for the Birthday Cake one.
Does Taco Bell still sell empanadas?
On and off. Fans still talk about the Caramel Apple Empanada. Taco Bell pulled it from menus and then brought it back for its Decades Menu in late 2024, five years after it left, according to Eat This, Not That!
The Birthday Cake version is the newest fried dessert in that line, and it’s only here for a limited time.
Sprinkles start Oct. 15.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
Taco Bell via PR Newswire (Oct. 8, 2026), the Birthday Cake Empanada announcement: the $3.49 price, the Oct. 15 launch, the Rewards birthday offer and the quotes from Liz Matthews and Christina Tosi
Taco Bell (Feb. 20, 2025), the Birthday Cake Churros launch, its prices and the 2022 Strawberry Bell Truffles
Taco Bell (March 10, 2026), the Live Mas LIVE 2026 dessert reveals
Eat This, Not That! (2024), the Caramel Apple Empanada’s return
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