For an easy birthday party treat, make this copycat Starbucks cake pop recipe! They're little bites of delicious cake and frosting on a stick! So much fun, and you can decorate them with holiday sprinkles for Valentine's Day and other holidays, too!
Cake pops are a popular and easily customizable treat for a holiday dessert table or birthday party.
In fact, they are so popular, even coffee shops like Starbucks® sell them!
But why spend over $4.00 for one cake pop when you can make 24 of them easily at home? You are going to love my easy copycat version of the Starbucks cake pop recipe!
This easy cake pop recipe is the perfect base for your creativity. To see how fun they can be for other holidays, check out these Halloween Cake Pops!
If you love the sweet treats and coffee drinks at Starbucks, make yourself a batch of Starbucks sugar cookie syrup, too!
Why You'll Love This Copycat Recipe
- Fun and customizable. It's simple to just switch up the cake flavor or the type of sprinkles you want to use.
- Less expensive than buying them. This is a delicious, budget-friendly dessert or birthday party treat.
- Perfect for parties. Perfect for your kids' school party, birthday parties, or even holidays like Valentine's Day, Easter, 4th of July, and Christmas.
Ingredients
See ingredient substitutions in the next section. ⬇️
To make the Starbucks cake pop recipe, you will need:
- prepared cake: For this recipe, I used Duncan Hines vanilla cake mix.
For the Frosting
- butter: Either salted or unsalted is fine.
- powdered sugar
- heavy cream
- vanilla extract: This gives the frosting a little bit of flavor
Supplies for Decorating
- white chocolate chips or melting wafers
- cake pop sticks: Lollipop sticks will also work.
- sprinkles
Substitutions and Recipe Variations
- cake: You can use any flavor or brand of cake mix you like, buy an unfrosted cake, or even make a white cake from scratch.
- chocolate chips: I use Ghirardelli white chocolate chips because they melt really well. Another option is to use almond bark or melting wafers.
- butter: If you need a dairy free butter substitute, it will work just fine.
- heavy cream If you need a substitute, you can use half-n-half, whole milk, or even a dairy-free milk alternative.
- vanilla extract: If you don't have any on hand, you can skip it, or use a different flavor of extract.
To save time, feel free to use any store-bought frosting of your choice! To be on the safe side, it's best to get 2 tubs of frosting.
How to Make the Starbucks Cake Pop Recipe
Summary only. The complete recipe instructions are in the card at the bottom of this post ⬇️
- Crumble the baked cake into crumbs.
- Make the frosting.
- Combine the cake and frosting in a bowl, then roll into balls.
- Keep rolling until you have 12 cake pops.
- Place each cake pop onto a stick, then chill them in the freezer for an hour.
- Dip each of the cake pops into melted chocolate and add sprinkles.
- Let the chocolate harden slightly. Place in the fridge until ready to serve.
Helpful Tips from Liz
- Once the pops are cool, you can put some of the melted chocolate in a plastic bag, cut the corner off, and drizzle onto the cake pops.
- To color the chocolate: Use gel food coloring sparingly, liquid food coloring can make the chocolate seize up.
- Use good quality chocolate: A good quality chocolate will not seize up when melted gently. If it does, you can add ½ teaspoon vegetable oil.
- Work in batches with the chocolate, melting more as needed. Make sure you melt enough chocolate that it will submerge the entire cake pop in the chocolate when you dip it. The more you have to move the pop around, the more likely it is to come off the stick in the chocolate.
- If the cake pop mixture is too dry, add more frosting. If the cake balls fall apart as you try to place them onto the sticks, they're probably too dry. If this happens with your first one, return it to the bowl and add a bit more frosting to the mixture.
Cake Pop Recipe FAQ
How long do cake pops last?
Cake pops can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or at room temperature for about 2 days.
Can I freeze cake pops after decorating?
You can freeze the cake balls, but freezing the chocolate coated cake pops is not an option. Unfortunately, it negatively affects the consistency and texture of the chocolate coating
Do I need to freeze the cake balls before dipping?
Yes, freezing them ensures that they are firm enough and cold enough to dip into the melted chocolate.
Other Fun Birthday Party Treats
- Funfetti Cookies With Cake Mix
- Tie Dye Colorful Cupcakes
- Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
- Edible Sugar Cookie Dough
Copycat Starbucks Cake Pop Recipe
For an easy birthday treat, make this copycat Starbucks cake pop recipe! You can decorate with holiday sprinkles for Valentine's Day, too!
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Servings: 24 cake pops
Calories: 223kcal
Ingredients
- 1 15.25 box vanilla cake mix baked according to directions
Frosting
- 4 tablespoons salted butter softened
- 1 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream or milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For decorating:
- 24 cake pop sticks
- 12 ounces white chocolate divided in 4 and 8 oz portions
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Bake cake per the package directions.
- In a large bowl, crumble your cooked and cooled cake with your hands or two forks.
- In a medium bowl, beat the softened butter with a hand mixer until fluffy. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar, add in the milk and vanilla and beat for another 1 minute, it should be the consistency of peanut butter.
- If frosting is too stiff, add more milk a teaspoon at a time, if it is too thin, add in more powdered sugar a teaspoon at a time.
- With a hand mixer, mix in 3 tablespoons of the frosting into the crumbled cake and mix until it is a uniform mixture that is easy to roll into balls when squeezed, if it's still too crumbly add another tablespoon or two. Using a small cookie scoop or tablespoons, roll 2 tablespoons of mixture into a ball, or press with a cake pop press, and repeat with all remaining mix.
- Melt 4oz of white chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave, about 45 seconds. Dip a cake pop stick into the melted chocolate and then place the stick into each one, about halfway into the cake ball. Place balls in the freezer for 1 hour or the fridge for 2 hours.
- Melt 8 oz of the remaining white chocolate in a small bowl or mug in the microwave, heat in 30 second intervals at 50% power, stirring after each heating and stopping when the chocolate is just melted.
- Dip cake pops into chocolate and let the excess drip off, immediately roll or sprinkle with sprinkles. Let the chocolate harden slightly, place on a sheet tray lined with parchment, or you can use a box with holes punched into it, or a piece of styrofoam to stick the pops in. Place in the fridge until ready to serve.
Helpful Notes and Tips From Liz
- Once the pops are cool, you can put some of the melted chocolate in a plastic bag, cut the corner off, and drizzle onto the cake pops.
- To color the chocolate: Use gel food coloring sparingly, liquid food coloring can make the chocolate seize up.
- Use good quality chocolate: A good quality chocolate will not seize up when melted gently. If it does, you can add ½ teaspoon vegetable oil.
- Work in batches with the chocolate, melting more as needed. Make sure you melt enough chocolate that it will submerge the entire cake pop in the chocolate when you dip it. The more you have to move the pop around, the more likely it is to come off the stick in the chocolate.
- If the cake pop mixture is too dry, add more frosting. If the cake balls fall apart as you try to place them onto the sticks, they're probably too dry. If this happens with your first one, return it to the bowl and add a bit more frosting to the mixture.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cake pop | Calories: 223kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 182mg | Potassium: 42mg | Fiber: 0.03g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 72IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 0.04mg
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