I Made Copycat Starbucks Cake Pops and They're Better Than the Real Thing

I am not a frequent Starbucks patron. Personally, I can't get past the high prices, so I stick to the Keurig in my kitchen with some Starbucks creamer if I'm feeling fancy. I'm also a copycat recipe fanatic, and there is absolutely zero shame in my game. 

So, when I saw the viral video on TikTok touting a recipe for "better than Starbucks cake pops," I had to give it a whirl. Especially since the couple of times I've headed into Target with my kids in tow, I've grabbed those overpriced cake pops from the Starbucks at the front and now every time they see that darn red bullseye, they ask for those blasted things.

How to Make Copycat Starbucks Cake Pops

Do you know those iconic Lofthouse Cookies at the grocery store that are soft and cake-like with perfectly coiffed buttercream frosting and sprinkles on top? The ones that stick to the roof of your mouth? Those — along with cream cheese — are the base of these viral Starbucks copycat cake pops. 

• You throw two packages of the cookies along with an 8-ounce block of softened cream cheese into your mixer and blend them up until the cream cheese is fully incorporated and the mixture's consistency is similar to — for lack of a better texture to compare it to — Play-Doh. 
• Make some balls out of the mixture, refrigerate them, put cake pop sticks in them, and coat them in melted white chocolate before refrigerating again. 

That's all there is to it and the video makes it look super fool-proof. And while I am seasoned in the kitchen, I had a couple of moments that made me feel like a fool during my attempt to recreate these pops. 

If you take a look at the picture shown above, you'll notice that my first attempt at combining the cookies with the cream cheese resulted in a crumb-forward mixture that did not bode well for cake pops. 

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There were visible blobs of cream cheese when I tried to ball the dough up, so I tossed it all back in the mixer and used my hands to mix things up better (almost like I was making a meatloaf) before running the concoction through the mixer a second time. Luckily, the appropriate texture was achieved and I was able to breathe again. 

There she is, guys. The above picture is what your mixture should look like. Shoot for that and nothing less. You can't make cake pops outta crumbs. That's the motto of this article.

My next blunder came after I pulled the pops out of the fridge and attempted to dredge them in the melted white chocolate. The sticks were loose and wobbly and more than once, I almost lost those balled-up bad boys in the bowl of chocolate. 

So, I resolved to dip the bottom portion of the cake pops in the chocolate and drizzle some more on the top side of them with a spoon. It was good enough, although the end result certainly wasn't as pretty as Starbies' pops. Next time, I would stick these in the freezer before dipping them to ensure the sticks were secure enough to fully coat the balls in chocolate.

Do copycat Starbucks Cake Pops taste good?

When the time came to taste these tricky little buggers, I was satisfied, and my kids were over-the-moon. They definitely tasted better than Starbucks' version and the cream cheese gave off a cheesecake vibe, although the taste of those Lofthouse cookies definitely still came through, but thanks to that cream cheese, I actually enjoyed the flavor of the cookie without having to scrape it off the roof of my mouth. 

While Starbucks is out here slinging these snacks on a stick for $3 a pop, I spent $13 to make a dozen. Just call me Bargain Betty Crocker.