Don’t just make plain old
cupcakes for your next St. Patty’s Day bash—make these adorable rainbow-topped cupcakes that taste as good as they look! They’re nothing more complicated than a moist, vanilla cupcake with a rich buttercream frosting, but with some green food coloring, a rainbow candy belt, and clever piping, you can turn these into a super-festive treat. Here’s everything you need to know:
The cupcakes:
We love this cupcake recipe and think it’s worth the extra effort, but feel free to save some time and use your favorite boxed cake mix (any flavor works!) instead. Here we use egg whites for a whiter cake, but you can use the whole egg—just reduce the sour cream by 1/4 cup. If you do go with just the whites, check out our best recipes for the leftover yolks so they don’t go to waste. Tip: As with most baked goods, room-temperature ingredients will go a long way. Set your eggs, sour cream, butter, and milk on the counter before you preheat your oven to ensure your batter comes together nicely.
How to decorate your St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes:
When it comes to the decorations, we admittedly went a little fancy by using a few different piping tips and colors. You’re welcome to spread the green frosting on top of the cupcakes with a knife and leave out the piping if you want to keep things simple. As for the decorations, you can always use a resealable bag with the corner cut to pipe clouds, or skip the piping altogether and use mini marshmallows instead. For a final pop of color, we use rainbow candy and gold sprinkles for a pot of gold effect, but feel free to have fun with these and make them your own.
Storage & make ahead:
You can make the cupcakes and frosting up to one day ahead of time and store separately in the fridge. When ready to serve, pipe your cupcakes and decorate. If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge or at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Made these? Let us know how it went in the comments below!