This Vanilla Cake Pops Recipe is a copycat of Starbucks’ birthday cake pop. This little treat is a delicious combination of vanilla cake, frosting, and pink candy coating.
If you’re planning to make these bite-sized treats for a party, be sure to try my easy red velvet cake pops (VIDEO) or my no-bake oreo cake pops (VIDEO)!
Table Of Contents
Recipe Details
If you’ve ever been to Starbucks you most likely saw their famous pink “birthday cake pops” through the glass of sweet goodies or on their official menu. This Vanilla Cake Pops recipe is the perfect way to create these amazingly moist and yummy pops at home.
- TASTE: These cake pops are sweet and chocolaty. The cake has a distinct vanilla flavor and the pink chocolate makes these pops taste like birthday cake.
- TEXTURE: The cake in these pops is so moist. And the hard outer candy shell is delicious.
- TIME: This recipe takes a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- EASE: This cake pop recipe is so easy to make. It used box cake mix and melted chocolates for the coating.
What you’ll need
Ingredient Notes
- White cake mix– This will require eggs, water, and oil to make.
- Vanilla frosting– White frosting is best.
- Candy melts– You can use any color you like, but pink matches the ones at Starbucks.
- Crisco shortening– This makes the candy coating on the outside shine.
- Cake pop former– 1 1/4 inch in diameter (or a small cookie scoop) can be used.
- Sprinkles– I used white nonpareils, but you can use whatever you like.
- Lollipop sticks- Any kind you like.
Add-ins and Substitutions
- Substitute cream cheese- If you haven’t got frosting, you can also use cream cheese to make the crumbs stick together.
- Add flavoring- You can make the cake have a lemon flavor with lemon extract and lemon zest. Or use mint extract, caramel extract, or banana extract.
- Substitute coconut oil- To get that shiny sheen on the cake pops outer layer, you can use coconut oil in place of the shortening.
- Substitute the sprinkles- Instead of sprinkles, uses a melted chocolate drizzle, coconut shreds, or ground-up nuts.
How to Make Vanilla Cake Pops
- Bake the cake. Bake the vanilla cake an check for doneness with a toothpick. Let it cool and remove the outer brownish layer with a knife.
- Crumble the cake. Crumble the cake into small pieces and stir in the frosting.
- Make the cake balls from the crumbs. Form the crumbs into cake balls using a tool or your hands.
- Prep the pop sticks. Dip the end of a cake pop stick into melted candy melts and insert the stick halfway through each cake ball.
- Freeze them. Freeze the vanilla cake pops for 15 minutes.
- Dip and sprinkle the cake pops. Pour melted candy melts into a tall narrow cup and dip each cake pop into the candy melts. Then tap off excess candy and sprinkle with nonpareils.
- Allow to solidify. Place the finished vanilla cake pops into a block of styrofoam so that it can cool and stiffen.
Pro Tip: If your candy coating is too thick after melting, add some kind of shortening such as Crisco or coconut oil to thin it out.
Recipe Tips
- Mix the frosting and cake well- A good way to know if the frosting and cake crumbs are well combined is by compressing a handful and checking to make sure there’s no more marbled frosting visible.
- Remove and discard the outer layer of the baked cake– It tends to be drier than the rest of the cake, therefore it can cause the cake ball to fall apart.
- Carefully coat the pops- When you dip the cake pop into the candy coating, don’t swirl the cake pop around. Instead bring it straight down, dip, and slowly bring it back up, so it doesn’t break apart.
- Tap the pops after dipping- After the cake pops have been dipped into the melted candy, quickly tap the hand that’s holding the cake pop to help release any excess candy melt.
FAQs
A cake pop is pretty much a baked cake that is crumbled into fine pieces, then it is mixed with frosting. After that, it is compressed into a cake ball. Then it is placed on a stick and dipped in melted candy melts.
Avoid big temperature changes. If your cake pops cracked, the most common reason for this is that the cake pops were too cold and the candy melts were too hot. When the two come in contact the sudden temperature change can cause a shock to the candy melts and eventually crack the shell.
Serving Suggestions
These Vanilla Cake Pops are moist and sweet with a delicious chocolatey coating. They are delicious with other cake pops, cookies, cakes, and coffee.
- Cake pops: Serve these vanilla cake pops with some Chocolate Cake Pops, Oreo Cake Pops (VIDEO), or Red Velvet Cake Pops (VIDEO). Or try these Red Velvet Cake Balls.
- Cookies: Pair them with some Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies, Double Chocolate Cookies (VIDEO), Chewy Nutella Cookies, or White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies.
- Cakes: Serve them alongside a slice of New York Style Cheesecake, Tiramisu Cake (VIDEO), Chocolate Mousse Cake, or Chocolate Honey Cake (Spartak Cake).
- Beverages: Enjoy these homemade cake pops with a Pumpkin Spice Latte, Brown Sugar Boba, Iced Caramel Macchiato, or Hot Chocolate.
Make This Recipe in Advance
Make ahead: Make these ahead of time and store them in an airtight container at room temperature in a cool, dry place. They can be coated when you are ready to serve.
Storing: Store the cake pops at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week. Refrigerating will cause condensation to form over the cake pop.
Freeze: You can freeze these cake pops individually wrapped for up to 3 months, but the candy coating will be mushy and melted when it thaws because of the water in the ice. It’s better to freeze the uncoated cake pops and coat after they thaw.
More Delicious Cakes!
This recipe was originally posted on Apr 30, 2015, we’ve tweaked it a bit since then.
Full Recipe Instructions
Vanilla Cake Pops (Starbucks Copycat)
Equipment
- 1 Tall narrow cup
- 1 Cake pop former 11/4 inch in diameter or small cookie scoop
Ingredients
- white nonpareils
- 1 box Pillsbury classic white cake mix
- 2 Tbsp Pillsbury creamy supreme vanilla frosting
- 12 oz Pink Wilton candy melts
- 1 1/2 tsp Crisco shortening coconut oil works too
Instructions
- Bake the white cake according to the package and let it cool down to room temperature.
- Cut the cake into 4 pieces and peel away the browned outside layer of the cake. I peel off the outer layer because it tends to be too dry to form the cake pop.
- In a large bowl, crumble the cake with your hands. Add 2 tbsp of vanilla frosting to the crumbled cake and mix with a spoon or your hands.
- Shape the cake into balls and place them into the cake pop former. Make sure the cake ball is a little bit bigger than the size of the press. Once the cake ball is pressed tightly, remove the extra cake from the sides and roll the ball with your hands to smooth any imperfections.
- Melt about 1/4 cup of candy melts in a small bowl. Heat in 30 second intervals to avoid overheating the candy.
- Dip the tip of each cake pop stick into the melted candy and poke it into to ball about half way through. Place each cake pop onto a baking sheet and transfer to the freezer for about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt the rest of the candy melts in a microwave-safe bowl. Make sure you melt them in 30-second intervals with mixing in between. Once it's melted well, add 1 1/2 tsp Crisco shortening and mix well with a whisk or fork. Then pour the melted candy into a tall narrow cup.
- Once the cake pops have been in the freezer for 20 minutes, dip each into the cup and tilt to the sides slowly to make sure the entire cake pop is covered. Then slowly pull up the cake pop. (Don't swirl the cake pop) Hold the cake pop in one hand and tap your wrist so that all the extra melted candy drips off into the cup.
- Sprinkle the cake pop right away so that the sprinkles stick to it before the candy hardens.
- Place in a Styrofoam block and let it stand for about an hour.
Notes
- Store the cake pops at room temperature. Refrigerating will cause condensation to form over the cake pop.
- Mix the frosting and cake well- A good way to know if the frosting and cake crumbs are well combined is by compressing a handful and checking to make sure there’s no more marbled frosting visible.
- Remove and discard the outer layer of the baked cake– It tends to be drier than the rest of the cake, therefore it can cause the cake ball to fall apart.
- Carefully coat the pops- When you dip the cake pop into the candy coating, don’t swirl the cake pop around. Instead bring it straight down, dip, and slowly bring it back up, so it doesn’t break apart.
- Tap the pops after dipping- After the cake pops have been dipped into the melted candy, quickly tap the hand that’s holding the cake pop to help release any excess candy melt.
Nutrition
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Martey says
Made these for my moms birthday and they were a huge hit! Displayed them in a tin bucket like a bouquet, placing the pops through cupcake wrappers to look like flowers. It was beautiful! Wish I could post a pic, but don’t seem to be able to.
simplyhomecooked says
Martey, I am so happy to hear your vanilla cake pops turned out well 🙂 Thank you so much for leaving feedback!
Mattie says
Hello what could I use instead of shortening and coconut oil could i use vegetable oil?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Mattie, vegetable oil will work well.
Devika Chaitram says
Hi, can I use this recipe in a cake pop maker?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Devika, I don’t think this recipe will work in a cake pop maker because the cake gets baked first then mixed with frosting.
chamila says
hello 🙂
do u have a recipe for homemade frosting as they dont sell readymade frosting where i live. (Outside USA).
Also, is there anything else apart from coconut oil i can use to thin my melted white chocolate?
thanks, chamila
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Chamila, unfortunately I do not have a frosting recipe on my blog. In regards to your question about thinning out the candy melts, you can use any kind of shortening or mild tasting cooking oil. Hope that helps 🙂
Hayley says
Thank you so much for this recipe! I worked at Starbucks for a while, and I have to say that these are so close to their recipe, definitely as good as it gets! My husband LOVED them and I can tell they aren’t going to last long! 😉
simplyhomecooked says
Thank you Hayley, I’m so flattered 🙂 Enjoy!
Aaliyah says
Hey Dina, I had a few questions for you. What do you use the styrofoam for? I had another question. Can you use different color candy melts or does it have to be pink?
Thanks so much I’m trying this out today so hopefully it works
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Aaliyah you can use any color you like. I use the styrofoam to keep the finished cake pops in place as they stand upright in the Styrofoam.
Fie says
Thank you, thank you for your recipe. My girls love cake pop from Starbucks so every time we go there, they always want it. But I’m not so much with my pocket. Your recipe saves me!! I made this many times and it always came out perfect just like from Starbucks. I baked again this afternoon and will bring it to my friends’ kids tomorrow. Thank you so muchhh!!!
simplyhomecooked says
Awe I’m so glad your girls love them 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to write such a nice review!
Kimberly Rodriguez says
Can the dough be stored in the freezer and if so for how long before I need to frost them? Also how long should I let them get room temperature?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Kimberly, I’ve never tried putting the dough in the freezer. But I don’t see why it wouldn’t still work. If you do freeze the dough, I would keep it in an airtight container no longer than a week. Give it at least 1 hour to thaw before molding it into balls.
sherry levinson says
help!
I had trouble with thinning out the chocolate regardless of how much coconut oil I added it would harden before I could put sprinkles on the cake pop.
Other than that out of 1 box I got about 15 to 18 pops I think they were too big. Please help!
Everyone loved the pops…
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Sherry, sorry for the delayed response. Did you try heating the chocolate again? maybe it just needed a little more heat?
sherry levinson says
Hi again, no I didn’t reheat the chocolate, I didn’t know if you can reheat several times to thin out. What I did do was add coconut oil and that helps but I’m afraid to over do the oil. FYI I kept them in a closed container and they lasted for days! My gf kept the ones I gave her in the fridge They didn’t crack,. the recipe was unbelievable everyone loved them, so I’m going to give it a go for my daughter’s shower I have a picture I would love to show you…
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Sherry, I’m so glad they worked out and everyone loved them 🙂 shoot me an email of your photo to simplyhomecooked@yahoo.com I would love to see them!
sherry levinson says
I just did, but the problem is keeping the pops thinned out
Adelaide Santos says
I loved the recipe, I find it very easy to do. Thank you for sharing.
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Adelaide, I’m happy you found this recipe easy to follow.
marcela aguiar says
because i love it
Fernanda Souza says
Just did it today and my son loved it.
simplyhomecooked says
I’m glad to hear that Fernanda. Thanks for the feedback 🙂
Renata says
This recipe seems to be incredible, I’ll do it today, congratulations and thanks for the recipe!
simplyhomecooked says
Thank you Renata!
Mayara Rodrigues says
Wow! Delicious! I’ll make this recipe at home
simplyhomecooked says
Thank you!
Kristina says
Hi Dina, thank you for this great step by step tutorial. It really helps, I often go back to look at your tips for melting the chocolate and shaking it off. I made some little tuxedo cake pops, and they turned out super cute! Thank you for all your great recipes and for now making videos, it’s very helpful. 🙂
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Kristina, Thank you so much for your feedback for my cake pop recipe! I am very happy to hear that my tips/steps are helpful. I love the idea of little tuxedo cake pops! I am actually working on getting a new cake pop recipe out mid-September. I hope you enjoy more recipes from my blog 🙂
Kellie Webster says
Can these be wrapped individually for a party without messing up?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Kellie, yes than can be wrapped. I wrap them all the time for parties 🙂
Amanda says
Hi Dina my name is Amanda. I know it’s the year of 2018 already but I have a question for you. Does it’s matter which type of cake you use because I was wondering if I can use the birthday cake. If u answer this question I will be sooo happy and I cannot wait to try these cake pops!!!
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Amanda, I’ve only used the white cake mix with these pops, but I think the birthday cake mix should work just as well 🙂 I hope you enjoy them!
Sarah Volz says
Hi! I loved this recipe very much. It turned out fantastic and the pictures made it that much easier to follow :)) so thanks again. By the way, how would you recommend I store this overnight? Shall I place it in an airtight container or leave it out overnight?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Sarah, Thank you! I usually store mine in an airtight container at room temperature 🙂
Molly says
Can I use butter instead of Crisco?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Molly, I’ve never tried it with butter but I would assume it would work well too. Let me know if you try it with butter.
Andres says
Hi! I’m going to make cake pops! I have a question, i’m trying to make 100 cake pops and I don’t know how many boxes to get, can you tell me how many cake pops 1 box of cake can make? Thank You
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Andres, this recipe calls for 1 box of cake mix which makes approximately 20 cake pops. So if you want to make 100 cake pops, you will need 5 boxes of cake mix.
Sakshi says
Hey, im meaning to try this cake pop recipe but i dont have Pillsbury creamy supreme vanilla frosting. However i do have the same cake mix. Do you think if i make a frosting with cream cheese, butter and icing sugar will work for the cake pop? Im not too sure about the measurements of those ingredients but i wanted to give it a try. Do you think it’ll make a good cake pop?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Sakshi, thank you for giving this recipe a try! I wasn’t too sure if that would work as well so I actually just tried experimenting with those ingredients. Here is a substitute for the creamy supreme vanilla frosting that I think would work. Combine 1 Tbsp softened unsalted butter, 1 Tbsp softened cream cheese, 2 Tbsp icing/powdered sugar, and a drop of vanilla extract. I hope that helps! Let me know if this works out for you.