It’s a cupcake. It’s a lollipop. It’s both – a little ball of cake dipped in chocolate attached to a stick. A novelty, yes; a gimmicky, perhaps; but they are addictively fun. Though still new to Seattle, cake pops are likely to catch on the way French macarons have in local bakeries. I’ve found two sources of cake pops (so far) in Seattle – at Starbucks and Frost Donuts in Mill Creek. The latter are fabulous, the former forgettable. Eve M. TaiStarbucks Cake Pops: Adorable, yes. Tasty, no.First, Starbucks. Cake pops are part of the company’s “Sweet Petite” series – miniature desserts that weigh in under 200 calories each. Flavors come in Tiramisu, Birthday Cake or Rocky Road, each one color-coordinated from a palette of pink, beige and brown. They’re cute and whimsical and clearly conceived by a team of cute and whimsical designers. But that’s where the good times end. Textures are mushy, flavors are dull, coatings are clunky. Baristas like to push the Tiramisu Cake Pop, the most grown-up of the three Pops. But the cake fails to deliver anything remotely close to ladyfingers or even coffee, a key ingredient in tiramisu and ah… at Starbucks. (Ya’d think that SB would have the coffee part dialed down.) The Birthday Cake Pop gets away with its limp taste only because it’s a romp back to childhood birthday parties when the size and quantity of frosted flowers determined the cake’s quality more than the taste. And that’s the case here too. Even so, little girls – and big ones too, I imagine – will love the vanilla cake encased in a bubblegum-pink shell dotted with white sugar sprinkles. Photo Courtesy of Frost DonutsLeft in Starbucks’ hands, cake pops might soon languish after their fifteen minutes of fame. Enter Frost Doughnuts in Mill Creek. The gourmet donut shop introduced their version of cake pops — “Frost Pops” — a month ago and they sell out daily. Though Frost Pops come in boutique-style cellophane bags tied off with pink ribbons, these pops don’t just rely on their good looks. Frosting, butter cream and even cream cheese are blended directly into various flavors of donut cake, creating moist, slightly dense and rich cake pops. The Red Velvet Frost Pop, chocolate cake colored deep red enrobed inside Belgian white chocolate, is all luxury. White chocolate normally makes me cringe, but the shell is thin enough not to overwhelm and adds a bit of sweetness. And the Cherry Cordial! I’m not talking about your grandma’s drugstore chocolates that implode into sticky pools of ooze. Frost’s Cherry Cordial Frost Pop mixes cherry cake – in boudoir pink – with a butter cream base. Again, there’s just enough cherry liqueur to add flavor without tasting like a cliche. This one’s dipped in chocolate and will change your opinion about the words “Cherry Cordial” forever.