Did you know you can use old donuts to make donut cake pops? I actually saw this hack on TikTok so I had to try it for myself. The best way to use leftover donuts for cake pops is to use cake-style donuts. You can use any flavor of donut you like and adjust your chocolate coating depending on the type of donut you use. 

What is a Cake Pop?

A cake pop looks like a lollipop, but it’s not made out of hard sugar, it’s made out of a combination of cake, icing and chocolate. They are formed into cake balls or sometimes other shapes. A stick is inserted into each of the cake balls and then coated in some type of chocolate or icing. They are often decorated with sprinkles or candies. Cake pops became increasingly popular between 2009 and 2011.

Which Donuts Should You Use?

I chose to use standard old-fashioned cake donuts and actually threw in a couple of raised donuts too. I received a dozen donuts as a gift and that is way too many for my family of three, so I decided to turn them into leftover donut cake pops instead.

It is so easy to make homemade cake pops, I also feel guilty when I buy them for my kids at Starbucks. If you have never tried making cake pops before, here is another homemade funfetti cake pops recipe I love. They look really similar to the ones I just made, but the main difference is the inside. This recipe calls for using old donuts, whereas regular cake pops use leftover cake and frosting. 

Because I chose to use a combination of raised and cake donuts, I did struggle a little bit to get them to form nice round balls. The raised donuts didn’t break up as well as the cake donuts. Although it did work, I would highly suggest using all cake donuts or do a better job of breaking up the raised donuts than I did.

What is a Raised Donut Vs. Cake Donut?

A raised donut is made with yeast, so it rises, much like brioche. A cake donut’s batter is a much wetter batter. Raised donuts are actually the first donuts and have been around a lot longer than cake donuts. Yeast has been around for centuries, whereas other leaveners (baking powder, baking soda) are newer to the baking scene. Cake donuts are definitely more American. They first started appearing in cookbooks in the 1830s, which is when baking powder and baking soda first became available. They can be prepared much faster since you don’t have to wait for the yeast to rise as you do with traditional raised donuts, which helped cake donuts to be more popular.

As a general rule, yeast donuts are larger and have a smooth surface. Whereas cake donuts don’t have the large honeycomb structure made from the yeast bubbles, so they tend to be smaller. Yeast donuts also tend to change their flavor based only on the glaze and toppings used. The batter is generally the same. Cake donuts, on the other hand, can take on lots of different flavors in the dough itself. There isn’t a better or worse, it’s really just a personal preference. 

I digress. If you want to make your own leftover donut cake pops, it’s really simple to do. You will break up your cake donuts and then form them into balls. You can use popsicle sticks or cut straws in half, as I did, to make your cake pop sticks. I found these ones in the dollar section at my local Target and they are such cute little straws that work perfectly as sticks.

Next, you simply place one of the straws into the cake ball. Melt your melting chocolate in a bowl and then dip each of your cake balls into the chocolate coating. Cover with sprinkles before they dry, and that’s it! It is so easy to make homemade donut cake pops at home. Let me tell you, my kids absolutely loved them! They couldn’t get enough of them, honestly.

If you don’t love classic vanilla donuts, you can literally use any type of cake donut. I think chocolate cake donuts covered in either white or milk chocolate would be delicious! Also, I think you could use another color of candy melt to create more colorful cake pops. My kids love colorful cake pops, so maybe next time I’ll use blue or pink candy melts and white sprinkles.

How to Make Leftover Donut Cake Pops

Ingredients:

6 Leftover cake donuts
White melting chocolates
Nonpareils
Sticks or Straws

Directions:

To make these simple leftover donut cake pops, you can use any leftover cake donuts. I actually used a combination of cake and raised donuts, but cake ones work better. Break up the donuts in a bowl and mix them around. Create little 1-2 inch balls with the donut mixture. Place a stick or straw into each of the donut balls.

In a separate bowl, melt the white chocolate.  Dip each of the cake pops into the white chocolate to coat. Cover with nonpareils and let the white chocolate dry and harden before serving. 

Yield: 12

Donut Cake Pops

Print

Turn leftover donuts into cake pops

Ingredients

• 6 Leftover cake donuts
• White melting chocolates
• Nonpareils
• Sticks or Straws

Instructions

To make these simple leftover donut cake pops, you can use any leftover cake donuts. I actually used a combination of cake and raised donuts, but cake ones work better. Break up the donuts in a bowl and mix them around. Create little 1-2 inch balls with the donut mixture. Place a stick or straw into each of the donut balls.

In a separate bowl, melt the white chocolate.  Dip each of the cake pops into the white chocolate to coat. Cover with nonpareils and let the white chocolate dry and harden before serving.