St Patrick’s Day cupcakes

Make your own luck this St Patrick’s Day with these gorgeous pot o’ gold cupcakes.

When you think of St Patrick’s Day you think of the colour green, four leaf clovers and the luck of the Irish. Four leaf clovers are a dime a dozen but this year we are drawing inspiration from the old Irish folklore of leprechauns and pots of gold. Yes, that’s right, your search is over, we’ve found that evasive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and turned it into a tasty and whimsical treat that the kids will love to help make.

Need more inspiration for St Patrick’s Day, try these green recipes >>

If they last long enough, these beautifully decorated cupcakes would be perfect to take to school and share with your child’s class or serve at a St Patrick’s Day party. Here’s how to make them.

Ingredients:

• 12 cupcakes made from your favourite recipe. I cheat and use the homebrand butter cake mix to make mine and they always turn out yummy.
• 125 grams butter at room temp
• 2-1/2 cups icing sugar + extra
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Green food colouring
• Green sprinkles
• 1 packet multi-colour sour straps
• 1 packet chocolate treats that will make a good “pot of gold” like gold coins, Rolos still in their wrappers, Ferrero Rochers, mini Reece’s Cups etc

Directions:

Make the buttercream icing

1. In a medium-sized bowl use a mixer to whip the butter. When light and fluffy, add the icing sugar, vanilla essence and milk. Continue mixing to combine thoroughly. It should form stiff peaks when you lift the mixer out. Add extra icing sugar if the mixture is too runny.
2. Spoon about a quarter of the mixture into a smaller bowl and set aside.
3. Stir in a small amount of green food colouring to the remaining mixture to get a good grass colour.

Time to decorate

1. Use a butter knife to ice the cupcakes in green. It is supposed to look like grass so you don’t need a smooth finish. Ensure there is enough icing on each cupcake so your rainbow will have something to stick into and hold it up.
2. Scatter over the green sprinkles.
3. Cut sour straps in half so they are about 9-10 centimetres long and secure both ends in the green frosting.
4. Now is the time for that icing you set aside earlier. Put it into a piping bag with a round tip. Gently squeeze the bag to make small round dollops on the outside edge of the rainbow. Without lifting completely, shift the bag over and continue making dollops so they join together to make a puffy cloud.
5. Carefully stick your chosen chocolate treasure into the icing at one end of the rainbow.

Hint: If you have young kids helping you and you think piping is a bit too difficult, use mini marshmallows instead to make the clouds.

Voila, a cupcake that looks almost too good to eat and will capture the attention and imagination of taste-testers young and old.

More cupcake ideas and recipes

The easiest (and yummiest) cupcake recipe ever
Cupcakes for two
Five spring cupcakes