Pot of Gold Cupcakes

How cute are these Pot of Gold cupcakes!?! So these are just a super fun and really delicious treat for St. Patrick's Day. Its a little bit of a mash up of all of my favorite Irish flavors (mint chocolate cupcake + Irish cream buttercream) plus a little St. Patricks Day theme for the cupcake itself. The entire treat is meant to be an actual pot of gold with a surprise inside! So much fun, inside and out!!

I don't know, I guess when you have kids you start getting really crazy and inventive with decorating baked goods. Like its not just a ton of sprinkles for special occasions any more. (Because tons of sprinkles are an everyday decorating thing, obviously!) But no, its sprinkles plus candies and frosting! And since my piping skills are kinda lackluster and I need all the help I can get to hide imperfections so the more candies the better lol! So it all just kinda works out!

Mint Chocolate Cupcake

These are super moist chocolatey cupcakes made from scratch with a touch of mint extract to give them a subtle minty flavor. If you're not into the mint chocolate flavor or don't have the mint extract, just leave that mint extract out and but use the vanilla extract for that sweetness. It will just be delicious chocolate cupcake and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Also if you're too daunted to make a cake from scratch but really just want to make these pot of gold cupcakes, I recommend grabbing a box of devil's food cake mix. You want that nice chocolatey flavor to hold up the Irish cream buttercream topping.

Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting

So the easiest way to make Irish cream buttercream frosting is to grab that bottle of Bailey's and mix it together with the powdered sugar and softened butter. And I really wanted to do just that. But my audience (my little kids) were just too excited about these cupcakes and I couldn't do that to them. They had already seen the cupcakes come out of the oven by that point! That would have just been mean!

So this is non-alcoholic Irish cream flavor. All you need is cocoa powder + almond extract + vanilla extract to get that the Irish cream flavor. Yup that is it!! Plus the softened butter, powdered sugar and salt for your base buttercream.

St. Patricks Day decorating

Once the cupcakes are baked (but before they are frosted) you have to use a small spoon or the end of pastry tip to scoop out a small of the cupcake and then fill the hole with the gold sprinkles = pot of gold!

Then use the frosting to cover up the hole. Last decoration for these cute cupcakes is the rainbow to mark the pot of gold. Just grab some rainbow candy and arrange it on top. I used sour rainbow ribbon candy and tucked them into the frosting. Pot of gold underneath the rainbow!

Believe me the kids went crazy for these fun St. Patricks Day cupcakes!

For more fun treats check out: Snickerdoodle Dulce de Leche Cupcakes, Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecakes, Blood Orange Raspberry Bars

📖 Recipe

Pot of Gold Cupcakes - Mint Chocolate Cupcakes with Irish Cream Butterceam

The pot of gold cupcakes are the perfect St. Patrick's Day treat for kids. Mint chocolate cupcake with an Irish cream buttercream and a fun surprise inside!

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Print Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 24 cupcakes

Calories 274 kcal

Ingredients

  

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Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1⅔ cup sugar
• ⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ½ cup oil
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon mint extract
• 1 cup hot water

Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup butter softened
• 2½ cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Decoration

• rainbow sour ribbon candy
• gold sprinkles

Instructions

 

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

• Preheat oven 350°F. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners, set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, add all of the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined.
• Add all of the wet ingredients minus the hot water and mix on low speed until combined about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low, slowly add the hot water and continue to mix for another 1 minute until fully incorporated.
• Full cupcake liners to about ⅔ full and bake for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Cool completely before filling and frosting.

Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting

• Add the butter and powdered sugar in a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until fully combined.
• Add in cocoa powder, heavy cream, almond extract, vanilla extract, salt and mix until smooth.

Fill & Frost the Cupcakes

• Use a small round cutter or spoon to create a small hole in the top of each cupcake, save the cupcake top you just removed to fill back in.
• Spoon the sprinkles into each cupcake, gently place the cupcake top back to plug the hole.
• Using either an offset spatula or piping bag frosting the cupcakes. Top with rainbow ribbon candy.

Nutrition

Calories: 274kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 3gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 267mgPotassium: 77mgFiber: 1gSugar: 27gVitamin A: 291IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 32mgIron: 1mg

Keyword mint chocolate cupcakes with irish cream buttercream,, pot of gold cupcakes, pot of gold at the end of the rainbow cupcakes,

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