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    Home » Recipes » Birthdays

    Birthday Cake Popcorn

    Published: Feb 13, 2020 · Modified: Jan 4, 2022 by Tiffany Dahle · This post may contain affiliate links.

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    The ultimate birthday cake popcorn recipe from The Ultimate Kids' Baking Book is the perfect birthday party treat for kids.

    A batch of birthday cake popcorn has pastel M&Ms and rainbow sprinkles with a white candy coating.

    Cupcakes are a fun birthday treat, but the frosting isn't always popular with little kids and can make such an enormous mess.

    When my Peanut was in preschool, her school had a no-cupcakes rule for birthdays. We were allowed to bring in a homemade nut-free treat to share with the class, as long as it wasn't covered in frosting.

    As a clever work-around, I decided to bring in birthday cake-flavored white chocolate covered popcorn mix and it was such an enormous hit with the preschoolers that this recipe instantly became a family classic.

    In fact, this has been one of our readers' all-time favorite recipes for over 8 years!

    It is so beloved, I just had to include it in our party cookbook: The Ultimate Kids' Baking Book.

    Jump to:
    • Ingredients
    • Why This is the Best Popcorn Recipe
    • Serving Tips
    • Variations
    • More Party Treats
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    Ingredients

    What to know the supplies you'll need before you get started? The ingredient list is really very simple:

    • Plain popcorn: You can buy a big bag at the grocery store or pop your own.
    • White Chocolate Chips or Candy Melts
    • Yellow Cake Mix (just the powdered mix, don't prepare the actual cake batter)
    • A bag of M&Ms
    • Sprinkles

    Why This is the Best Popcorn Recipe

    Birthday party popcorn is covered in white chocolate and tossed with sprinkles and M&Ms. You can mix and match the color theme to match your child's party, but this pastel candy and rainbow sprinkle version is our very favorite.

    There are quite a few recipes for popcorn mixes out there, but our version involves actual cake mix melted into the chocolate to make it taste officially like a birthday cake!

    This makes it the perfect substitution for cupcakes.

    A copy of The Ultimate Kids' Baking Book and some baking supplies along with bowls of birthday cake popcorn.

    It didn't hurt that the Peanut has always loved popcorn like crazy. It is still one of her absolute favorite treats all these years later.

    Serving Tips

    I always make a big batch and love to portion it out in individual serving cups so guests each get their own special treat.

    When I first took those party cups to the preschool birthday party, not a single cup came back to us at the end of the day.  Even the teachers got involved in the festivities because they couldn't' resist the unique party snack.

    Variations

    All it takes to make a fun variation on this recipe is a different set of sprinkles and different colored M&M candies.

    Look at how cute a red and pink Cupid's Crunch popcorn mix could be:

    Red and pink popcorn mix has chocolate candies mixed in.

    For other holidays, you could try:

    • Halloween Popcorn: Orange and Black candies and sprinkles
    • Christmas Popcorn: Red and green candies and sprinkles
    • St. Patrick's Day Popcorn: Rainbow colored candies and sprinkles
    • Fourth of July Popcorn: Red, white, and blue candies with star shaped sprinkles

    More Party Treats

    Looking for more birthday party treats that aren't cupcakes or have messy frosting? Here are some of my favorites:

    • A mason jar filled with pink brownie pops on white sticks with red and white sprinkles.
      3 Ingredient Brownie Pops
    • A white platter of homemade chocolate croissants made from puff pastry. One has been broken in half to show the melted chocolate filling, there's a Hershey's square of chocolate next to it.
      Easiest Chocolate Croissant Recipe Ever
    • A bowl of strawberry dip with graham crumbled over the top.
      Strawberry Cheesecake Dip
    • Heart-shaped frosted sugar cookies in rainbow colors against a black chalkboard.
      Best Sugar Cookies Ever {For Kids!}

    📖 Recipe

    A batch of birthday cake popcorn has pastel M&Ms and rainbow sprinkles with a white candy coating.

    Birthday Cake Popcorn

    4.53 from 38 votes
    This fun and festive birthday cake popcorn snack mix is the perfect birthday party treat for kids who don't like frosting.
    Featured in The Ultimate Kids' Baking Book!
    TOTAL TIME 16 minutes minutes
    PREP TIME 15 minutes minutes
    COOK TIME 1 minute minute
    YIELD 12 large or 30 small servings
    PIN RECIPE FOR LATER PRINT RECIPE NOW

    Ingredients
      

    • 24 cups prepared plain popcorn or 2 batches of homemade popcorn made from ½ cup kernels
    • 3 cups white chocolate chips
    • 3 heaping tablespoon yellow cake mix just the powdered mix, don't prepare the actual cake batter
    • 1 (11.4 oz) bag M&Ms
    • Sprinkles

    Instructions

    • Place the popcorn in a very large mixing bowl.
    • Place the white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat on HIGH for 30 seconds and then use oven mitts to remove the bowl. Stir the chips and then continue to heat in 15-second intervals until the chocolate is melted. When the chocolate is nice and smooth, stir in the cake mix.
    • Pour the chocolate mixture over the popcorn and use a large cooking spoon to stir the popcorn and coat it with the chocolate.
    • Spread out the popcorn onto a large sheet of waxed or parchment paper. To avoid having the candy colors run everywhere, be sure to let the popcorn cool for 2 to 3 minutes. Don't wait too long though, or the sprinkles may not stick.
    • Sprinkle the candies and sprinkles evenly over the popcorn. Let the mixture completely cool and harden.
    • Break the popcorn into large pieces and serve in party cups.

    HELPFUL TOOLS

    The Ultimate Kids' Baking Book
    COURSESnack Mixes
    CUISINEAmerican
    AUTHORTiffany Dahle

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    SAVE THIS RECIPESaved!
    Sprinkled birthday popcorn mix with pastel M&M candies.

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    Reader Interactions

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Mary-Rina Scribner

      February 09, 2016 at 12:05 pm

      Can you make this a day ahead of time?

      Reply
    2. Coll

      June 29, 2014 at 2:34 pm

      This is a great idea! Do you think that these would sit well in a sugar cone or should I just stick to the plastic cups?

      Reply
    3. Candace

      April 19, 2014 at 10:06 pm

      So after it seized up I tried melting my remaining chocolate in the microwave and the same thing happened. So I goggled how to fix seized chocolate and it said to make sure the double boiler was turned off and not boiling, to keep the temp low, med/Low and add a bit of veg oil at a time. This worked!!!! It took a while just keep stirring. Than instead of adding the cake mix to the chocolate I added it to the popcorn mix right after I poured the chocolate on. This worked too!! Im very thankful because I was about to give up on interest recipes altogether.

      Reply
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      […] I originally set out to make homemade chocolate covered sprinkle popcorn. I was going to make this recipe, but with pink and red sprinkles. And then time flew by and I really needed to just get these […]

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    7. Summer treats for the giggles says:
      May 17, 2014 at 11:38 am

      […] This is easy and fun to make. Perfect for swim days with friends. So go invite yourself to a friend’s house who has a pool (if you don’t have one) and offer to bring these yummy treat. Click here for the recipe.I think watermelon I think summer. A nice cold refreezing treat on a hot, hot, hot and maybe even humid day. Let your giggles help and always make extra. Try strawberries instead for a twist. Thanks Carolyn for sharing this recipe.Italian sodas are one of my favorite sweetened drinks for the summer. The giggles love making them and always make them feel a tad bit sophisticated when they drink it There are so much syrups to choose from and I found the cheapest toranni syrup at Smart and Final. Go get some and click here for a quick DIY recipe for italian soda and more summer drinks. It’s not a treat post unless I add a cupcake recipe to go with these treats. This lemonade cupcake recipe is great and double it up and freeze some cupcake for later if you wish. I just love the mason jar idea and I think this will make for a perfect summer cupcake. POPCORN makes me happy and put cake in its name makes me even happier. Here’s a yummy and fun popcorn you can mix up for the kiddos at home and their friends. Heck, you can even make it for your friend too mommy! Here’s the yummy recipe. […]

      Reply

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    Hi, I'm Tiffany!
    I believe a great family recipe is one that makes everyone at the table happy, not just the kids. I'm the author of two bestselling cookbooks for kids that are chock full of recipes everyone in your family will love. I'm also the hostess of the best online book club for moms.

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