St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes

Pot of Gold Cupcakes Ingredients

A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

All-purpose flour: Builds the cupcake structure with a soft crumb. Cake flour works too but there’s no need to get fancy.
Baking powder: Adds lift so the cupcakes bake up tall.
Baking soda: This reacts with the acid in the buttermilk to produce little gas bubbles (think back to that elementary school volcano!) to make the cupcakes puffy, pillowy and light.
Unsalted butter: Brings rich flavor and a moist texture. I prefer unsalted butter in my baked goods because every brand of butter will have a slightly different amount of salt in it. Using unsalted butter means that these cupcakes will taste the same every time you make them. Softened butter should be about 65°F to cream properly. If it’s too cold, it may not incorporate properly into the sugar, and if it’s too hot, it will make the mixture greasy and the bottom of your cupcake liners will be greasy too.
Granulated sugar: For sweetness. Using white sugar will keep the cupcakes from browning excessively, so you can easily see those fun pops of color from the sprinkles.
Eggs: Add structure and richness.
Buttermilk: This is the acid that the baking soda needs to make the bubbles. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can DIY it with half a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in half a cup of regular milk. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes before use.
Vanilla extract: Gives that classic bakery style flavor.
Rainbow sprinkles: Add pops of color throughout the cupcakes. These cupcakes will still turn out great if you don’t have the sprinkles, but they’re so fun and a great little surprise when you take a bite. Green sprinkles or gold sprinkles would also work here but make sure they’re the jimmies. Jimmies are soft and nobody will get a surprise hard crunch when they bite into the cupcake.
Salted butter: Makes a creamy base for the frosting.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens and thickens the buttercream without making it grainy. Did you know that you can make powdered sugar yourself by putting regular granulated sugar in a blender? It takes about 10 minutes, but it’s a great trick to use if you ever run out of powdered sugar!
Whole milk: Loosens the frosting so it pipes smoothly.
Green food coloring: Tints the frosting a festive shade. Liquid or gel food coloring works, but you’ll always use less gel food coloring than water-based. 
Rainbow strip candy: Creates the rainbow topper.
Mini marshmallows: Make the cloud detail on each cupcake.
Gold-wrapped chocolate candies: Finish the pot of gold look. Rolos are wrapped in gold foil but you can use any gold foil-wrapped candy you want, such as peanut butter cups.

How to Make St. Patrick’s Cupcakes

For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.

Mix dry ingredients: Whisk flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.
Cream butter with sugar: Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, scraping the bowl as needed.
Add the eggs: Mix in the eggs one at a time until smooth.
Add liquids: Blend in buttermilk and vanilla until combined.
Finish the batter: Mix in the dry ingredients just until combined, then fold in sprinkles.
Fill cupcake liners: Spoon batter into cupcake liners in a cupcake pan until about halfway full.
Bake: Bake cupcakes until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs, not wet batter.
Cool: Let cupcakes cool completely on a rwire rack.
Make frosting: Whip butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and food coloring until fluffy.
Frost: Fill a piping bag or resealable bag and pipe a swirl of frosting onto each cupcake.
Decorate: Add marshmallows, arch the rainbow candy and finish with a gold wrapped chocolate.

Substitutions and Variations

Gluten-free flour swap: Use a cup-for-cup gluten-free baking blend.
Dairy-free buttercream: Use plant-based butter and plant-based milk in the frosting.
Dairy-free cupcake base: Use plant-based butter and a dairy-free buttermilk made with milk plus lemon juice.
Add almond flavor: If you want a little enhancement, add ½ teaspoon of almond extract in addition to the vanilla, for that little something extra.
Egg replacement: Use a commercial egg replacer mixed according to the package directions.
Candy topper change: Use sour rainbow belts or gummy rainbow pieces if that’s what you can find. You could even skip all the candy toppers, as the cupcakes would still look festive with green frosting, rainbow, green or gold sprinkles and a light cocoa dusting.
Cake mix shortcut: Use a boxed cake mix to save time.

Serving Suggestions

After dinner: Enjoy these green velvet cupcakes after a meal of Irish stew, Irish nachos or corned beef hash au gratin.
With other St Patrick’s Day treats: A rainbow layer cake would be good, or perhaps some mint chocolate puppy chow. More ideas? Grab bite-sized pieces of fruit and arrange them in rainbow order on a skewer. I like to use strawberries, mandarin oranges, pineapple, green grapes, blueberries, and purple grapes. Arrange them on a platter so people can easily grab them. Similar to the fruit skewers, arrange bite-sized veggies into the arch of a rainbow on a platter and add ranch for dipping. A bowl full of chocolate gold coins is always fun and easy and you can repurpose cauldron buckets from Halloween for this as well.
With a cocktail: Rainbow rim green Irish whisky cocktails or a boozy shamrock shake would be perfect! You can’t go wrong with an Irish Cream Coffee either.

How to Store

Store: Refrigerate cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Freeze: Freeze unfrosted cupcakes for up to 3 months.
Thaw: Thaw at room temperature, then frost and decorate.