A creamy tawny-orange cocktail dusted with cinnamon in a tulip-shaped stemmed glass beside two dried apricots on dark polished wood against a terracotta wall. — Josephine Baker cocktail dusted with cinnamon in a tulip glass, beside two dried apricots.

Josephine Baker Cocktail, Cognac, Port, Apricot and Egg Yolk, 1939

Name: Josephine Baker Cocktail
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Caribbean
Ingredients: 1 fl oz cognac; 1 fl oz ruby port; 2/3 fl oz apricot liqueur; 1 tsp superfine sugar; 1 strip lemon peel; 1 pasteurized egg yolk; 1 cup cracked ice; 1 pinch ground cinnamon

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Cognac, port and apricot brandy shaken with sugar, lemon peel and an egg yolk, strained and dusted with cinnamon: the Josephine Baker of Havana’s Bar La Florida, printed in 1939.

By Forgotten DrinkPublished October 30, 2026

Recipe makes: 1 drink, about 3 1/2 fl oz
Prep: 5 min
Total: 5 min

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Josephine Baker cocktail dusted with cinnamon in a tulip glass, beside two dried apricots.

The story behind the recipe

The Josephine Baker is a rich, flip-like cocktail: cognac, port and apricot brandy shaken with a teaspoon of sugar, a lemon peel and an egg yolk, strained and finished with “Cinnamon on top.” Havana’s Bar La Florida printed it in 1939 in its bilingual booklet Floridita Cock-tails, under the name of the American-born star of the Paris stage.

Only the name

The booklet gives the recipe and nothing else: no story, no visit, no word from the star. So we can say only that the drink carries her name. It stands out in a bar famous for sharp, icy daiquiris like the Daiquirí No. 4: it is sweet, smooth and custardy, closer to an after-dinner drink. The bar’s run of house drinks named for people is told in What Did Havana’s Cocktail King Pour in the 1930s?

Making it today

The yolk goes in raw, so use a pasteurized egg. Shake the drink once without ice first so the yolk blends smoothly, then again with ice. The booklet names its bottles, Antiquarium brandy, Sandeman port and Marie Brizard apricot brandy; any good cognac, ruby port and apricot liqueur will do.

JOSEPHINE BAKER
½ Coñac Antiquarium. / ½ Vino Oporto Sandeman. / ⅓ Apricot Brandy M. Brizard. / 1 Cucharadita de azúcar. / La cáscara de un limón. / La yema de un huevo. / Hielo menudo. Bien batido y colado. Canela por arriba.
½ Antiquarium Brandy. / ½ Sandeman Port Wine. / ⅓ Apricot Brandy M. Brizard. / 1 Teaspoonful Sugar. / 1 Lemon Peel. / Yolk of an egg. / Cracked ice. / Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Cinnamon on top.

Floridita Cock-tails (Havana: Bar La Florida, 1939)p. 39

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Ingredients

For 1 drink, about 3 1/2 fl oz. Quantities are shown as written.

Quantities as written here, for 1 drink, about 3 1/2 fl oz.

Cognac1 fl oz
Ruby port1 fl oz
Apricot liqueur2/3 fl oz
Superfine sugar1 tsp
Strip lemon peel1
Pasteurized egg yolk1
Cracked ice1 cup
Ground cinnamon1 pinch

Ingredients as written here

1 fl oz cognac
1 fl oz ruby port
2/3 fl oz apricot liqueur
1 tsp superfine sugar
1 strip lemon peel
1 pasteurized egg yolk
1 cup cracked ice
1 pinch ground cinnamon

Equipment

Cocktail shaker and strainer
Small tulip-shaped cocktail glass

Instructions

Put the cognac, ruby port, apricot liqueur, superfine sugar, lemon peel and pasteurized egg yolk in a cocktail shaker.
Close it and shake hard for about 10 seconds without ice, so the yolk blends in.
Add the cracked ice and shake hard again for about 15 seconds.
Strain into a small tulip-shaped cocktail glass and dust the top with the ground cinnamon.

Nutrition

230calories per serving

Recipe makes: 1 drink, about 3 1/2 fl oz

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for 80-proof cognac, port, sugar and egg yolk, and typical label values for apricot liqueur, for one drink.

Recipe notes

When adjusting quantities

This is one drink, with one egg yolk. Shake no more than two at a time.

Notes

Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.

The booklet’s measures, a half, a half and a third, add up to more than a whole glass, so they are read here as parts: 3 of cognac, 3 of port and 2 of apricot. The drink is about 23% ABV. The dry shake without ice is our step; the booklet shakes once.

An egg yolk can froth a soft drink too. In the 1897 Goldenade it is shaken with lemon and sugar and poured back and forth with soda.

Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.