Starbucks Birthday Cake Pop Recipe
Ever since I released my ultra easy cake pop recipe (that now has over 19.7 MILLION views on social) I’ve been getting requests to make a Starbucks Birthday Cake Pop. This recipe for Starbucks cake pops is the perfect copycat and is SO easy.
Copycat Starbucks Cake Pop Recipe
Not to toot my own horn, but my popular method for making cake pops is insanely easy and this Starbucks cake pop recipe is no different. Here’s the secret: making homemade cake pops doesn’t have to be difficult to be beyond yummy! All you have to do is throw AN ENTIRE CAKE into your mixing bowl straight out of the oven. Mix it with your paddle attachment and add a little powdered sugar and vanilla to create the best dupe for the popular Starbucks cake pop you’ll find on the internet.
Starbucks Cake Pops Price
In the name of research, I bought two cake pops and it was over SEVEN DOLLARS. For two! So obviously, once I had perfected my Starbucks cake pop recipe, I calculated how much my homemade version cost. With this recipe, you can make 24 cake pops for only $8, which means each individual cake pop is ONLY $0.35 FOR EACH CAKE POP. And if we’re being honest, I liked my cake pops better.
Starbucks Cake Pop ingredients
- Vanilla cake mix – You’ll also need all of the ingredients on the back. Bake this as normal!
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Light pink color melts – You can choose a different color if you’d like, but to be the Starbucks dupe you need it to be pink.
- White nonpareils sprinkles – This is optional, but again, to stay true to Starbucks you’ll need these!
- Lollipop sticks
How to make Starbucks Cake Pops
- Prepare and bake the cake mix according to the boxed directions.
- Immediately after taking the cake out of the oven, pour the hot cake into the bowl of a stand mixer. (Do not over cook the cake! if so, it will have a harder time coming together)
- Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed until a dough forms that can be pressed together into a ball.
- Portion out the dough and press into a ball in the palm of your hands or with a cake pop press.
- Place the cake balls on a cookie sheet and then into the freezer to chill.
- Melt the colormelts.
- Once the chocolate coating is melted, remove the cake balls from the freezer.
- Dip each lollipop stick into the candy melt and then press the stick into the center of each cake ball. This will help avoid the cake pop falling off of the stick.
- Return to the fridge or freezer to help speed up the process of the stick and chocolate setting.
- Once the chocolate is set on the sucker sticks, pour the remaining melted candy melt into a tall, skinny jar or glass.
- Dip the cake pops one by one in the candy melt and gently shake the cake pop to remove any excess melted chocolate. Tip right side up and add sprinkles, if desired.
- Allow the candy melt to set while the cake pop is right side up, you can poke holes into a cardboard box or foam block to help them stand up straight to dry, if desired.
- Serve as is or package up individually in bags with ribbon if desired.
- Enjoy! Store at room temp for up to 3 days.
How to store this Starbucks Birthday Cake Pop Recipe
Once your cake pops have set, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Starbucks Birthday Cake Pop FAQs
It is a delicious moist, tender, vanilla cake with a white chocolate candy melt coating.
The Starbucks cake pop is $3.75 a pop!
This recipe makes 24 cake pops out of one cake mix. That means each cake pop comes out to $0.35!
Other Copycats to Love
Birthday Cake Pop (Starbucks)
Ingredients
- 1 box vanilla cake mix (plus the ingredients on the back)
- 1/4 cup (27g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 12 oz light pink color melts
- white nonpareils sprinkles
- 24 lollipop sticks
Instructions
- Prepare and bake the cake mix according to the boxed directions.1 box vanilla cake mix
- Immediately after taking the cake out of the oven, pour the hot cake into the bowl of a stand mixer. (Do not over cook the cake! if so, it will have a harder time coming together)
- Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed until a dough forms that can be pressed together into a ball.1/4 cup (27g) powdered sugar , 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Portion out the dough and press into a ball in the palm of your hands or with a cake pop press.
- Place the cake balls on a cookie sheet and then into the freezer to chill.
- Melt the colormelts.12 oz light pink color melts
- Once the chocolate coating is melted, remove the cake balls from the freezer.
- Dip each lollipop stick into the candy melt and then press the stick into the center of each cake ball. This will help avoid the cake pop falling off of the stick.24 lollipop sticks
- Return to the fridge or freezer to help speed up the process of the stick and chocolate setting.
- Once the chocolate is set on the sucker sticks, pour the remaining melted candy melt into a tall, skinny jar or glass.
- Dip the cake pops one by one in the candy melt and gently shake the cake pop to remove any excess melted chocolate. Tip right side up and add sprinkles, if desired.white nonpareils sprinkles
- Allow the candy melt to set while the cake pop is right side up, you can poke holes into a cardboard box or foam block to help them stand up straight to dry, if desired.
- Serve as is or package up individually in bags with ribbon if desired.
- Enjoy! Store at room temp for up to 3 days.
I have a family member that works in the factory making the Starbucks cake pops.. the secret ingredient is simple syrup mixed in with the cake and frosting ☺️
Just gave these a gluten free makeover using King Arthur gluten free cake mix. First time making cake pops and they turned out beautifully!!!
I really love cake pops they are really good and thye tast delicious and they are so beutiful at once an thay tast so good and they are easy to make
These were amazing! I made these red, white, and blue after I saw a reel that Karli made! They were identical to Starbucks. The only I changed was instead of vanilla extract, I substituted for a tiny bit of cake batter extract. I’ll be making these again and again!
Loved the flavor! I used vanilla almond bark and it turned out good. Although, baked the cake as directed, followed dough directions and felt it could use some added frosting or something to help form and told the dough better. Still great!
Just made these! They taste just like Starbucks!!
About 1/2 of mine ended up having cracks and then broke off sticks when dipping in the chocolate. What did I do wrong? They seemed to crack as I was inserting the sticks.
It sounds like the cake balls might have been a little too frozen when you inserted the stick. Try freezing for a shorter amount of time before inserting the sticks and see if that helps!
Do you have a FUNfetti cake pop recipe?
I do not, but you can use this recipe with a Funfetti cake mix instead of vanilla and it will work great!
Hi ya, so if using a cakerecipe from scratch do you need frosting or can you still use your warm cake method with a bit of powdered sugar?
I think the warm cake method + powdered sugar should still work perfectly for you!
I’m going to make these again. It was so easy and so fun! My kids loved them. I made them for my daughter’s birthday party and so glad I didn’t have to pay more than $3 for one!
I didn’t use candy melts because of a nut allergy in our family (the package says they may have peanut contamination). I used the Ghirardelli white chocolate melts and added red food coloring to make it pink. It worked great.