Moist cake pops filled with buttercream frosting and covered in dark chocolate and sprinkles. This chocolate cake pops (Starbucks recipe) is the perfect treat for all your special occasions—or to just satisfy your sweet tooth.
Do you know how cake pops came to be? They were invented by bakers who didn’t want to waste the leftover cake pieces and frosting they had when baking cakes. So they decided to combine the two, cover them in chocolate and now we have a bite-sized tasty treat that’s always the life of the party.
As someone who tries really hard to not have a ton of waste when I’m baking, I really appreciate the origin story of cake pops. 🙂
So why are these Starbucks inspired? Well, one of the most delicious treats found at Starbucks, that isn’t a cup of coffee, is Starbucks’ chocolate cake pops. And while delicious, they can taste very sweet and would be ridiculously expensive if I need them for a party or other occasion. I believe they are around $3 a pop. Crazy.
Enter these homemade cake pops that are more Starbucks inspired rather than a true copycat recipe. They’re incredibly good for a fraction of the cost.
Why You’ll Love this Chocolate Cake Pops Starbucks Recipe
Perfect for chocolate lovers. Moist chocolate cake balls covered in dark melted chocolate. If you are a chocolate fan you will love this recipe.
Easy to Make: While they may look tricky, cake pops are actually very simple to make. Plus, you can make them ahead to divide up the work.
Ingredients you know: I know they’re delicious, but do we know exactly what is in Starbucks’ chocolate cake pops? With this copycat recipe, you are using all simple ingredients you can pronounce and ingredients you already have in your pantry (mostly). Feel free to adjust the sugar level or use pure bitter dark chocolate to make these less sweet.
Jump to RecipeKey Ingredients
You’ll also need:
- Frosting of your choice (either homemade with butter and powdered sugar or store-bought).
- Chocolate for dipping. I used Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Flavored Melting Wafers
Ingredient Notes
Buttermilk & Vegetable Oil: Using buttermilk and oil ensures your cake pops keep their moisture for days. It provides a light and fluffy texture that complements the hard candy shell.
Melted Candy Melts: For the chocolate covering, you can use any type of melted chocolate that you’d like. If you want to use pure chocolate, go for it, however, when making 35-40 cake pops, that can get expensive. I used the Ghirardelli dark chocolate candy melts. They are easy to work with, can be re-warmed if needed, and taste delicious.
Variations & Substitutions
Buttercream frosting & Decoration: Yes, the traditional Starbucks cake pops use chocolate frosting and white sprinkles. Feel free to get creative! Swap out the dark chocolate coating for white chocolate or milk chocolate. Instead of chocolate frosting, try a simple vanilla frosting or this raspberry cream cheese frosting. These sweet treats will work with any combination.
Boxed cake & frosting: Even though I highly recommend making your own cake and frosting to get the best taste, sometimes life gets in the way—and that’s totally understandable! We all have those weeks. Luckily, you can still make these cake pops using a boxed cake mix and store-bought frosting.
This Nothing Bundt Cake White Chocolate Raspberry Cake also uses a boxed cake mix!
Items You’ll Need to Make Chocolate Cake Pops
Besides the baking ingredients, you will need a couple of other items to make these cake pops:
- Cake pop sticks – Basically a lollipop stick that you are using as the handle for your cake pop.
- Cake pop stands – These must dry standing up, so you’ll need a place to put them after you’ve dipped them in chocolate. You can use a plastic stand built for holding cake pops, or a block of styrofoam, or you can use the cake pop sticks to punch small holes in a cardboard box.
- Plastic wrap and twist ties – This one is only necessary if you are transporting these cake pops to a baby shower or birthday party, etc.
You may be thinking this is a lot of extra things for a dessert, which I get. I found all of this on Amazon for less than $10.
Jump to RecipeHow to Make the Chocolate Cake
This cake recipe is a variation of my chocolate cupcake recipe. I’ve taken the amount of cocoa powder down slightly as there is plenty of chocolate in the cake and the chocolate coating.
Step 1: Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the buttermilk, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together.
Step 2: Add the 1/2 cup of hot water. This allows the cocoa powder to bloom, creating a rich chocolate flavor. The cake batter will be very thin. Pour the batter into two, greased, 9-inch round pans.
Step 3: Bake for 22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.
How to Make the Buttercream Frosting
As mentioned earlier, the type of buttercream frosting you use is totally up to you! If you’re a purist and want to make a true copycat Starbucks cake pops recipe, then you will want to use a chocolate buttercream frosting.
Step 1: Beat room temperature butter using the paddle attachment until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
Step 2: Add 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, a little at a time so it doesn’t go everywhere.
Step 3: Add 1 tsp vanilla extract, 3 tbsp cocoa powder, and 1/4 cup melted chocolate chips (optional). Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy.
How to Assemble the Cake Pops
Now on to the fun part! Once your cake cools and your frosting is made, you are ready to assemble the cake pops.
First, take your chocolate cake and break it up into small pieces either with your hands or use an electric mixer. I know this feels weird to break up your beautiful cake, but it’s a necessary part of the process.
Now that you have your cake crumbs, add your frosting. Not using too much frosting is key to making good cake pops. When baking a cake, a lot of frosting is expected and loved, but with cake pops, you want to only include enough frosting to hold the cake together.
Roll the cake mixture into small balls – about 1 inch in diameter. You can use your hands or a cookie scoop.
Pro tip: the smaller you make your cake balls, the easier they will be to dip into chocolate later.
Place the cake balls onto a baking sheet and put them into the refrigerator to chill for at least 20 minutes. For successful cake pops, the cake itself needs to be very cold to hold its shape while dipping in warm chocolate.
Next, melt the chocolate wafers in a 2-quart glass measuring cup. You can do this in two ways—microwaving the chocolate in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, or cooking on the stove over a double boiler.
I used the microwave and it worked great. Plus, melting chocolate will harden pretty quickly (as that’s its nature), so I can easily pop it back into the microwave to reheat when needed.
Dipping the Chocolate Cake Pops
Take the cake pop sticks and dip the tips into the warm chocolate about 1/2 inch. Place the chocolate end of the stick into the bottom of each cake pop. This will help the sticks stay in place while you are dipping the cake balls in chocolate. Keep the cake balls in the fridge.
When ready to coat in chocolate, remove 3-4 cake pops from the fridge at a time so the rest can stay cold. Carefully dip the ball into the chocolate up to the stick, covering the cake completely. (If you can’t or don’t want to cover all the cake, no worries! They will still turn out delicious! As you can see in the photo below, mine aren’t entirely round and perfect, but that’s okay!)
Gently tap on the edge of the glass to remove any excess chocolate. Sprinkle with sprinkles if using then place in the cake pop stand or box or styrofoam block to dry. Chocolate will harden in a few minutes and be ready to stack in 30 minutes.
Yield
You will get 35-40 chocolate cake pops with this recipe depending on the size of your cake balls.
Storage Options
Store decorated cake pops in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.
Freezer option: Wrap hardened cake pops in plastic wrap and place them inside a freezer-safe container or bag. Cake pops will last for up to a month frozen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Cake pops are the perfect recipe to make in advance or in stages. You can make the cake the day before, wrap in plastic wrap and keep in the fridge. You can also thaw out any cake or frosting you have in your freezer. (Check out these tips for how to store cupcakes – which also applies to cakes!).
I would recommend dipping and decorating the day of so that they keep their beautiful chocolate shine. (Once you put them in the fridge, the chocolate gets cloudy and doesn’t look as perfect — though it tastes just fine!)
A couple of reasons:
1. Your cake ball is too heavy. Smaller is definitely better in this scenario as too much weight can cause the cake pops to break.
2. Your cake pops aren’t the right temperature. You need them to be cold so they don’t break when added to the chocolate.
3. You haven’t melted enough chocolate. You’ll want enough so you can comfortably dip the cake balls without having to turn them too much. Too much turning can cause them to break.
Chocolate Cake Pops (Starbucks Recipe)
Equipment
- 40 cake pop sticks
- 2 cake pop stands or a cardboard box or styrofoam block
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup hot water
For the frosting
- 1/2 cup frosting of choice
For the chocolate
- 1 bag dark chocolate melting wafers (10 oz)
Instructions
Make the cake
- Whisk together dry ingredients in large bowl. Mix together buttermilk, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla in another bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add the hot water at the end. Batter will be thin.
- Pour batter into two 9-inch round cake pans and bake for 22 minutes at 300 °F. Set baked cakes aside to cool completely.
Assemble the cake pops
- Break the cooled cake into small crumbs using your hands or a mixer. Add the 1/2 cup frosting of your choice (use chocolate if mirroring Starbucks cake pops) and mix together until combined.
- Roll cake mixture into 1 inch balls using your hands or a small cookie scoop. Place on cookie sheet and chill for at least 20 minutes.
- After the cake balls have cooled, melt the chocolate wafers in a 2 quart glass measuring cup for 30-second intervals in the microwave, stirring in between.
- Dip the tops of the cake pop sticks into the dipping chooclate about 1/2 inch. Place the chocolate end of the stick into each cake pop and push it about 3/4 of the way into the cake ball.
- Take 3-4 cake balls out of the fridge at a time and dip them completely in the chocolate. Gently tap the stick on the side of the cup to remove any excess chocolate. Decorate with sprinkles immediately. Place standing up in the cake stand to set.
- Cake pops will be hard to the touch in about 5 minutes and ready to stack or move in 30 minutes.
Notes
Last Updated on November 4, 2023 by Kari Bakes
