Instead Of Throwing Out Old Donuts, Try Making Cake Pops

A box of donuts rarely goes unfinished, but every so often a few stragglers go stale on the counter. Before you resign them to the trash, try this easy solution: Cake pops. Much like the classic method of repurposing leftover cake into cake pops, donuts already have the sweetness and density you need to make the sweet treat too. Crumble them into a bowl, mix in just enough frosting or cream cheese to bind, and roll into bite-sized balls. From there, dip the pops in chocolate, glaze, or even powdered sugar, and suddenly yesterday's fritters look like a Pinterest-worthy dessert.

It's also a clever way to stretch pricier bakery donuts or give new life to a batch you picked up on impulse. You can get creative with flavors, too: Classic glazed donuts become a blank canvas, while chocolate or jelly-filled versions pack a flavorful surprise. This is your chance to transform the best donuts of all time into something playful, portable, and just as delicious. 

Donuts aren't the only dessert you can turn into cake pops. Once you've mastered the donut-to-cake-pop trick, the possibilities open wide. Nearly any baked good on its last legs can be spun into this decorative sweet treat. Easter cupcakes, broken sheet cake, and even cheap snack cakes turned into cake pops all follow the same formula: Crumble, bind, roll, and dip. It's part of why cake pops have become such a go-to in home kitchens — they're forgiving, fun to decorate, and don't require precise baking skills. If you can melt chocolate in the microwave, you can pull this off.

That adaptability also makes them a great holiday project or kid-friendly activity. Around spring, plenty of home cooks rely on an easy Easter cake pop recipe to salvage leftover sweets. Others use the technique to experiment with unexpected bases, like donuts fried in an air fryer, which shows just how resourceful people get when sweets start piling up. At the end of the day, cake pops are less about following rules and more about not letting good dessert go to waste. And if the outcome happens to taste like a mash-up of your favorite donuts and candy bars, that's hardly something to complain about.