Can't Get a Dot Cake? These Dupes Will Hit the Spot

If you’re anything like us, your social media feeds are littered with posts about “dot cakes,” the viral mini cakes made popular by the New York City grocery store Butterfield Market. People are lining up outside the store in the hopes of scoring one of the highly coveted desserts. But they sell out fast—and not all of us can get there! Enter dupes. Since the dessert took off, several companies have released their own version of the Dot Cake, giving dessert lovers a chance to try the sweet treat. Keep reading to find out when you could potentially get your hands on the real thing, learn the best Dot Cake dupes and grab a simple recipe to make your own!

What is a Dot Cake?

Dot Cakes are a mini dessert featuring soft cake and buttercream, topped with colorful nonpareil or dot sprinkles. At Butterfield market, they cost $13 per cake.

“We thought the cakes were fun, nostalgic, beautiful and genuinely delicious—and our customers immediately connected with them,” a Butterfield Market spokesperson told People magazine. “They’ve always done well for us, but over the past few weeks the demand has exploded.”

Currently, Butterfield restocks the cakes on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. and Saturdays at 1 p.m. There are four flavors: Classic White/Vanilla, Chocolate, Vanilla Chip (Funfetti/Confetti) and Red Velvet, all of which feature the signature sprinkle topping.

“We currently receive about 625 cakes per store on delivery days and they’ve been selling out incredibly quickly—sometimes within an hour,” the spokesperson told People. “It’s been really exciting to watch a product from a local business become such a nationwide viral sensation while still feeling special and personal in our stores.”

Aside from Butterfield, which has two locations in New York City, the bakery that created the treats, The Dotcakes, in Roslyn, New York, sells them. But if you’re purchasing them from there, be warned: They call the desserts Dotcups, not Dotcakes, so they don’t get confused with the full-sized versions of the cake.

“It tastes like a funfetti cake with a lot of crunch,” influencer Danielle Pheloung said in her Dotcake review on TikTok. “It’s really, really, really, really, really good.”

Dot Cake dupes

When it comes to mini treats, Baked by Melissa is the original, with mini cupcakes in countless flavors. There’s also Nothing Bundt Cakes, a chain bakery that selles mini Bundt cakes (called Bundtinis), but since the rise in Dot Cake popularity, several stores and bakeries have begun selling their own versions of the cake. Here are our favorites:

Whole Foods

The Rubicon Bakery Confetti Birthday Cupcakes sold at Whole Foods feature a layered cake with frosting similar to the Dot Cake’s beloved style. They also come in a pack of four and cost $6.99, meaning they cost a lot less than a Dot Cake and you get more for your money.

Butterfield Market’s cupcake

Is the Butterfield Market cupcake a perfect Dot Cake dupe? No. It doesn’t have frosting in the middle or a sprinkle topping, but it is great for those who ventured to the store in the hopes of finding a Dot Cake only to discover that they’re sold out. This treat will give them the sugar fix and let them leave a little happier than they were when they discovered the Dot Cakes had disappeared.

Target

If the cup part of the Dot Cake is your favorite part, then you’ll love this Layered Cake from Target’s brand Favorite Day. It comes in a convenient cup, costs just $5.29 and is one of the best dupes out there. Shoppers rave about it online, with one reviewer saying it’s “so so, so dangerously delicious, ive bought at least 6 of these (all different times) and always eat them in one sitting.” The best part? You can grab it during your Target run—no waiting in line or racing against sold-out stock required.

Make your own Dot Cake dupe

As with many viral trends, people have begun making their own Dot Cakes at home. You can find been a variety of recipes online, but our Food Director, Julie Miltenberger, says you can do it with a box mix cake and canned frosting for an extra-easy DIY. Here’s how:

Prepare a box of Pillsbury Funfetti cake and bake according to directions for a 13 X 9 inch pan, then use a 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut 10 to 12 circles from the cooled cake. For each cake, place one layer in a 6-oz. ramekin and cover with frosting. Use a butter knife or offset spatula to smooth the surface of the mini cake. Next, pour rainbow nonpareils on a paper plate and dip the cake, frosting down, in the sprinkles to cover the frosting.

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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 10:29 AM.