I Tried 8 Starbucks Drinks To Dunk Cake Pops In And This Was The Best

Though I love making coffee and tea at home, I admittedly still make my way to Starbucks frequently. Whenever I do, I always purchase a cake pop, because my son is something of a connoisseur of the treat. His favorites are the seasonal ones, like the Valentine's Day heart or the springtime frog. So when the opportunity came to try dunking Starbucks' famous cake pops in my favorite drinks, I was instantly sold.

For this tasting, I ordered drinks from many sections of the menu (though no secret menu drinks), took them home, dunked the cake pop in, and took a bite. Through my sugary haze, I noted flavor differences and how the dunk impacted the cake pop as a whole. It was quite the experience, and one of the more interesting Starbucks tastings I've done. In the end, my favorite of the bunch was certainly a surprise to me and my son.

I've been falling in love with matcha. Admittedly, my new obsession is largely due to Starbucks' matcha lattes, so I was eager to try this one. The Iced Double Berry Matcha was something of a matcha Oreo with strawberry purée lining the bottom of the cup, with sweetened matcha latte in the middle, and topped off with raspberry cream cold foam. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this drink is the fact that it includes raspberry syrup. That's right: Starbucks heard your complaints and, at last, the raspberry syrup has returned. This matcha had a fruity and smooth taste, but after my first sip, I knew I was in trouble when pairing this with the cake pop.

The flavor was largely mild, and in no way peeked out from behind the birthday cake pop sweetness. I was hoping the creamy, berry flavor of the drink would complement the cake, but it didn't really add to the experience. So, while I can certainly recommend the matcha, keep your cake pops away from this one.

The Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino is the grown-up version of Starbucks' Caramel Frappuccino. It uses dark caramel sauce, whipped cream at the bottom of the cup, a coffee Frappuccino base, and a crunchy topping smothered in caramel drizzle. With all of these additions, I thought the Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino was a shoo-in for an excellent pairing with a cake pop. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case.

With the caramel flavoring and birthday cake pairing, this drink and the bite of birthday cake pop tasted like maple syrup-slathered waffles. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting, and though maple syrup isn't a bad flavor, it isn't what I hoped for here. With the messiness and whipped cream, it was just too much in every way. I can imagine this one being better with the chocolate cake pop, instead, but I can also see the chocolate being too overwhelming for the caramel.

Vanilla Bean Frappuccinos go under-appreciated in my book. This sweet and simple drink is basically a glorified vanilla milkshake made using vanilla bean powder, ice, and milk, topped with whipped cream. There's no caffeine in it, and it's an easy one to choose for young Starbucks fans who want a drink just like the adults in their lives. With this in mind, I wondered if it could be improved with that most seminal of kids' treats from Starbucks.

The answer: Sort of? In all truth, the addition of the birthday cake flavor really didn't do much. The flavors between the two treats were so similar, the effect was more muting than anything else. There wasn't more flavor, it was just the same flavor. If kids just want a simple addition that's certainly fun to do, I would recommend it, but I can't recommend this pairing if you're looking for an enhancement for the drink or bite of cake pop.

My newest matcha obsession is the Iced Dubai Chocolate Matcha. What seemed like a simple grab at the Dubai chocolate trend resulted in a tasty drink with pistachio sauce, iced matcha, and chocolate cold foam with a delicious sprinkle of salted brown-buttery topping (that I've been adding to many of my drinks recently). Together, the mixture of pistachio and chocolate is divine, so I was dying to know how the chocolate cake pop would pair with it.

Though the chocolate cake pop has a deep flavor, the combination of the sweetened matcha and chocolate cold foam actually overpowers the chocolate cake pop. As a result, I found that the addition of the cake pop just didn't do much. Even the grassiness of the matcha didn't impact the chocolate cake pop. Instead, just order and enjoy the Iced Dubai Chocolate Matcha without the cake pop. It just makes the whole situation less messy.

Just as a Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino is an elevated version of a Caramel Frappuccino, a Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino is a more complex Mocha Frappuccino with mocha sauce galore, whipped cream, cookie crumble, and little Frappuccino chips. It felt like the perfect pairing with a chocolate cake pop, and if it worked out, I knew this would be something of a chocolate bomb.

In the end, the dunk of the chocolate cake pop made one decadent treat. While it didn't necessarily change the flavor, I found there was a whole lot of flavor enhancement. The whole experience was certainly more delicious, but I found it a little over the top and super rich. If you're looking to take your chocolate experience beyond what I thought Starbucks was capable of, this may be the pairing for you, but it is certainly a chocolate overload. I can't say it was my favorite because it felt too over-the-top rich, but the flavor sure was great.

When Starbucks releases new flavors, I immediately go into investigation mode. With ube on the menu, Starbucks' spring menu brings an iconic Filipino flavor to macchiatos. But I wondered where the flavoring came from. I quickly discovered that the flavoring agent at work here is a "ube sweet powder," according to the drink ingredients. This ingredient includes ube powder, cane sugar, and juices to create that purple coloring. The Iced Ube Coconut Macchiato has flavors of vanilla and coconut in this very vibrant purple hue. If nothing else, the coloring felt playful and fun, like a cake pop, so I figured it was worth a try.

I was surprised to find that the sweetness of the ube nicely accented the cake pop without overpowering it very much. The flavors truly seemed to complement one another here, leading to a very enjoyable bite. Admittedly, it was one of the few I tried where I can say the pairing actually enhanced the experience beyond creating a messy experiment.

During Valentine's Day, Starbucks released V-Day drinks to celebrate the season of love. The White Chocolate Strawberry Cream Cold Brew seemed perfect for dipping a cake pop, and I was eager to see how the cold foam and cold brew worked alongside the treat. Though the drink has now left the menu, you can still request a cold brew topped with a strawberry cold foam that includes a few pumps of the white chocolate too. It'll be the same drink.

Paired with a chocolate cake pop, this drink and dessert combination was very, very good. The white chocolate was a nice accent to the deeper chocolate of the cake pop, and the strawberry cold foam just tied the whole experience together. The coffee flavor didn't have much of an impact on the cake pop other than helping mellow a whole lot of that sweetness from being overwhelming. In the end, this was easily my favorite coffee pairing. Trying it made me wonder how other cold brew coffees would taste with a cake pop pairing.

I love a tasty chai latte. Starbucks baristas make these teas by combining chai concentrate, water, milk, and ice. Compared to other drinks I tried for this pairing, it was incredibly simple, but the impact certainly wasn't.

I was absolutely blown away by the effect of the chai on the cake pop. Those spices and perfect amount of sweetness gave the bite something of a spiced cake feel. I absolutely loved it, and I wasn't anticipating that it would work. My only complaint is that the drink didn't cling to the cake pop very well. I imagine a chai cold foam would have had a better effect, but that could have also affected the spiciness, and that's the part I loved the most. Unexpectedly, this was easily my favorite of the bunch for the way the pairing enhanced the flavor experience. The dramatic change was unexpected and super tasty.

To pick the best cake pop and drink pairing, I chose a selection of drinks from Starbucks' menu that were interesting and seemed like they would be tasty pairings. I tried to spread the wealth but kept to iced drinks so as to avoid melting the cake pop in the drinking process. I certainly didn't want to go fishing for cake pop in my drink.

In the end, my favorite pairing was a flavor enhancement that felt changed by the experience. My least favorite options were ones where the cake pop had little to no impact on the drink or cake pop's flavor.

To cut down on the mess in Starbucks, I ended up doing all of my dunking from the comfort of my own kitchen. After all, each time, I needed to remove the tops and carefully dunk the cake pop into the drink. If you choose to try this yourself, learn from my experience and keep a bunch of napkins on-hand.