Pot Of Gold Cupcakes (St Patrick’s Day)
For St Patrick's day, Pot of Gold Cupcakes are a fun way to celebrate, bake & eat together. Made with a zesty lemon blueberry drizzle cupcake, they are topped with grass buttercream, a rainbow & of course the pot of gold! Let me show you how!
St Patrick’s Day Pot Of Gold Cupcakes
With Lemon Blueberry Drizzle Cupcakes
🌈☘️🌈☘️
***Original post 10 March 2020, updated photos 28/02/25
***Click to jump to section***
What Are These Pot Of Gold Cupcakes?
These Pot Of Gold Cupcakes, are my nod to St Patrick’s day.
Lemon & blueberry cupcakes, with a zesty lemon drizzle & topped with a green ‘grass’ buttercream. Decorated with a little pot of edible gold & finished off with a sour & fizzy rainbow sweet/candy.
You can of course use your own cupcake recipe & just finish off with the buttercream & decorations. 🌈☘️
Why Make These Cupcakes?
- Easy to make & different stages/days
- Tastes amazing!
- Step-by-step instructions & video
- Perfect for the kiddies
- You can change up the sweets/candy used
- Look so cute!
- Homemade is ALWAYS best!
- Change up the theme & use the concept for teddy bear picnic, kids’ parties etc.
- Use just omit the Pot Of Gold theme & add Easter/Spring sprinkles instead. (See photo)
Ingredient Notes
These Pot of Gold cupcakes are made from the following basic ingredients:
For The Cupcakes:
- Unsalted Butter
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Flour
- Baking Powder
- Ground Almonds
- Lemon Zest
- Boiled Water
- Blueberries
For The Lemon Drizzle:
- Granulated Sugar
- Lemon Juice
For The Buttercream:
- Unsalted Buttercream
- Icing/Powdered Sugar
- Green Food Colouring
For Decoration:
- Rainbow Sweet/Candy Strip/Belt
- Pot/Bucket Shaped Sweet/Candy
- Gold Sprinkles/Nuggets/Coins
Sugar
For the cupcake base, UK Caster Sugar is used, and the US equivalent is Extra/Super Fine sugar. You can make your own fine sugar by processing granulated sugar, but not so fine as a powder.
For the lemon syrup however, you can use any white sugar as it will be dissolved.
Eggs
UK medium eggs are about the equivalent of large size in the US. Be sure to leave the eggs out when softening the butter if you store your eggs in the fridge.
Flour
Plain flour (All Purpose Flour) is used in the recipe, but I have also tested using UK Self-raising flour. If using the Self-raising flour, only add 1.25 tsp of baking powder.
Ground Almonds
Ground almonds are common in British recipes, and provide moisture from the almond oils & help with structure. The best equivalent is fine almond meal or almond flour that is not too fine or powdery. See photo below of ground almonds and UK flaked almonds.
Blueberries
Fresh or frozen blueberries can be used, both working well. Be sure to wash fresh blueberries in warm water, then pat dry before coating in flour. This helps stop every single blueberry sink to the bottom.
Frozen blueberries don’t need defrosted or washed, and should be removed from the freezer when the cake batter is ready. Toss in flour and then add to the batter.
Food Colouring
For the grass to be green, I used green food colouring but a little blue and yellow would work too. I used SugarFlair Forest green colouring paste (better than liquid or gel food colouring as adds less moisture and is very concentrated). You only need a tiny amount.
Decoration
Rainbows – For the rainbow, rainbow-coloured fizzy sweets/candy called ‘Belts’ in the UK. US brand Airheads Xtremes Rainbow Berry Candy seems to be similar. Or sour sugar rainbow belts. (See photos below).
Pot/Bucket – for the pot of gold, I used the black Midget Gems sweetie/candy. It comes in a round and square shape, both when turned upside down, looks like a pot. Other similar sweets/candy can be used, or even mini Rolos.
Gold – for the gold, I used gold and brass-coloured sprinkles in nugget shapes, as well as tiny round gold sprinkles that looked like coins.
Recipe Yield – 12 full-size cupcakes.
Piping Nozzle – grass/fur nozzle, equivalent to Wilton Grass Piping Tip #233 was used.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Making The Cupcakes
1. Add softened butter to a mixing bowl (TOP TIP – cube the butter in small pieces, about 1cm, ⅓”, as this smaller surface area, results in the butter softening quicker).
2. Beat with a hand-mixer or stand-mixer till the butter is spreadable, before adding in the Caster sugar (extra super fine sugar).
3. Beat the butter and sugar together till smooth, paler in colour and looks aerated.
See Photo collage 1.
4. Next, crack in one egg at a time, mixing in-between each addition. This should only take about 10 – 15 seconds to mix each egg in.
5. Sieve over the flour and baking powder, (make sure to only add 1.25 tsp baking powder if using UK Self-raising flour.)
6. Then add in the ground almonds (fine almond meal, almond flour). See Photo collage 2.
7. Start to briefly mix the ingredients by hand with a spatula or spoon.
8. Now add the boiled water & move onto using an electric mixer to bring all the ingredients together into a smooth mixture.
Do not over-mix or your cakes can sink. Better to under-mix and then go in and check the bottom of the bowl for any flour not mixed in & mix in by hand. See Photo collage 3.
9. Add the lemon zest (yes it is a lot of zest, but worth it).
10. Fold in the zest with a spatula till incorporated.
11. If using fresh blueberries, wash them in warm water, then pat them dry before adding to a small bowl with a few tsps of flour to coat them. (See Photo collage 4).
If using frozen blueberries, no need to defrost or wash, just take from the freezer right when ready to add to the cake batter & toss in the flour. (**frozen blueberries are used in Photo collage 4).
12. Gradually add the flour-coated blueberries to the cake batter. I like to add in increments of 3 to get a more even distribution. Gently fold the blueberries in, using a plastic, rubber or silicone spatula to maintain the air we worked into the batter. See Photo 4.
13. Preheat your oven to: 180c/160c fan oven/350f/Gas Mark 4, while you add the cake batter to cases. **If your oven takes longer to come to temperature, turn on earlier.
14. Add 12 – 16 muffin or large cupcake cases to a cupcake tray. **Do not try to make without paper liners as they will stick.
15. Divide the cake batter between the cases, aiming to fill about 80-85% of the way. **Note the batter is thick and will not be as smooth if you used frozen blueberries, but bakes out great. (See Photo collage 5).
16. Bake the cupcakes in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes, till a nice golden colour, risen & a cocktail stick comes out clean of crumbs. (See Photo 5).
17. Leave to cool on a rack, still in the cupcake tray as you will be adding a syrup.
Making A Lemon Drizzle Syrup
1. You can make the lemon syrup when the cakes are baking. Start by adding the lemon juice & granulated sugar to a cooking pot. ***I know it is a lot of lemon juice but really makes the cakes special with a zesty drizzle syrup.
2. Dissolve the sugar on the hob, on a medium to high heat, stirring occasionally.
3. Let the mixture come to a boil and then reduce to medium heat.
4. Leave to boil gently until the liquid thickens. You can check periodically by checking how it drips off a spoon or try making a clear line on the back of a spoon. ***Note, it will thicken more once off the heat.
5. Make lots of holes on the top of the cupcakes, with a cocktail stick. Paying particular attention to any harder areas around the edge.
6. Spoon the lemon syrup on top of the cupcake, and use the back of the spoon to spread the syrup all over the top, getting right to the edge.
7. Repeat with all the other cupcakes until all the syrup is used up.
8. Leave the syrup to be absorbed into the cupcakes. You can omit the syrup if you are adding buttercream, but it does gives extra lemon flavour. Can be left an hour or 2, or till next day.
Making The Buttercream Grass
1. Soften cubed butter, before adding to a medium mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer to break up the butter & become spreadable.
2. Gradually add in the sieved icing/powdered sugar, using a splash guard or clean tea-towel to prevent a sugar cloud. See in Photo collage 7 how the mixture goes through stages where it resembles pebbles, then suddenly is smooth and the buttercream starts to cling to the beater
3. Mix till incorporated, before adding in a small amount of green food colouring. I used SugarFlair Forest Green, a highly concentrated paste that is better than liquid or gel versions.
Add a small amount on the end of a cocktail stick, & you can wipe onto the end of the beater. Mix well and wait at least 20 seconds before adding anymore colour, letting the colour develop. I only added once, as I went for a pastel shade, for Spring, but you can go darker. See Photo collage 8.
4. Fill a piping bag with a grass/fur nozzle. (I think mine is a Wilton Grass Piping Tip #233). Open up the piping bag and place inside a jug, with the nozzle pointing upwards. Then fold the top of the bag over the top of the jug. Use your hand to fully open up the bag. This allows you to fill the bag using both hands. (See Photo collage 9).
5. Fill the bag with the buttercream, close and twist the bag shut. Use a food clip or peg to keep it closed, after you squeeze all the filling towards the end.
6.Put pressure on the bag and let the buttercream just start to come out of the nozzle. (See Photo 9).
Frosting The Cupcakes
1. Have your cupcakes ready and start to pipe the buttercream grass on top of one of the cupcakes. Start in the centre and work your way across. You can squeeze the bag while touching the top of the cupcake, letting it pipe out and then release and lift the bag up swifty to stop the flow.
2. The nozzle is designed for tall grass or long fur like in the first pics in Photo collage 10. But you cna go for shorter ‘grass’ that has just been cut. The last photo in the collage from above actually looks like small cacti.
3. Pipe the grass all over the top of the cupcakes and repeat with the rest.
**TOP TIP – for the grass nozzle, sometimes better to clean the nozzle every so often of buttercream on the end, before piping.
4. Alternatively, you could just spread the buttercream on top with a spoon.
Then use the back of the spoon to touch the buttercream and lift up swifty, making peaks. Similar to like you can do with meringues for a peak design.
Or use a different type of nozzle that you think might work.
Making The Pots Of Gold
1. Before making the pots, make sure you have laid out the rainbow belts (Airheads candy). They need to dry out a bit and make a little harder. (See details in ingredient notes above).
2. Take one of the sweets/candy that is pot shaped and I found best to place on top of something. I used an upturned espresso cup.
3. Brush some water, food glue, or even a little of the lemon syrup on top of the ‘pot’. Then sprinkle the gold sprinkles, nuggets etc on top. You can also dip in the smaller gold sprinkles to coat the opening of the pot. Then hand (or by tweezer), add on larger sprinkles like the gold coins I added. See the video for more on this.
4. Repeat with all pots you want to use.
Assembling The Cupcakes
1. Carefully take one of the pots of gold, and place on the buttercream grass, to the right, a little between the centre and edge, but also a little towards the front.
2. Repeat with all the other cupcakes. Then sprinkle some more of the gold on the grass near the pot.
3. Once ready to serve, take one of the rainbow belts (Airheads), and cut off about 1cm (1/3″) from the end. (You can do this before drying out the sweets). Cut the rainbow shorter if needed.
4. Take the rainbow and place just behind the pot of gold, pushing down gently into the buttercream. You want to have the rainbow a width of about 5cm/2″. ***Please note they can bend & move – so always recommended to only add when ready to serve. *** Alternatively, you can dry them out for several days at room temperature to harden.
Serving & Storing
1. As advised above, serve with the rainbow right when ready to enjoy, with a glass of cold milk or favourite tea or coffee.
2. Perfect as a St Patrick’s day treat or snack.
3. Store the cupcakes with or without buttercream (no decoration) in a metal cake or cookie tin, or cupcake case for about 3 days at room temperature (but not in the Summer).
4. They may last longer than this, but never any around to check in my house after 24 hours. Best not to store in the fridge as it can cause condensation and then problems occur. Somewhere cool but not too cold, in the Summer would be advisable to keep the integrity of the grass buttercream.
5. Unglazed and frosted lemon blueberry cupcakes can be frozen. Wrap well individually, with paper then foil and place in a labelled food bag or airtight container, Placing at the back of the freezer, for up to 2 months1.
6. Defrost undecorated cupcakes, by placing in the fridge overnight (when still wrapped) until thawed out.
Other Spring & Easter Recipes
Many more recipes for Easter & Springtime. From cakes to biscuits/cookies I have you covered, with easy recipes. Go to Spring Recipes.
Try these egg & butter-free chocolate mini bundt cakes in the photo, with a chocolate glaze, hiding a Spring surprise inside!
Other Cupcake & Muffin Recipes
Love making cupcakes & muffins? Check out my Cupcake recipes page for more ideas.
Recipe Card🌈☘️
Pot Of Gold St Patrick’s Day Cupcakes
Equipment
- Digital scales or measuring cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Large mixing bowl
- Stand/Hand-mixer
- Sieve
- Spatula or Wooden Spoon
- 12 Cupcake Paper Cases
- 1 12-hole Cupcake/Muffin Tin
- Wooden Cocktail sticks
- Cooling rack
- Medium cooking pot
- Piping Bag
- Grass/Fur Nozzle ( Wilton Grass Piping Tip #233)
- Jug
- Small fine artist brush
- Water/Food Glue/Syrup
Ingredients
For The Cupcake Batter:
- 167 grams Unsalted Butter (6oz ¾ cup, cubed & softened)
- 167 grams Caster Sugar (6oz ¾ cup, Extra/Super Fine Sugar*)
- 4 Medium Eggs (UK sizing, 4 US large eggs*)
- 167 grams Plain Flour (6oz, 1⅓ cup All Purpose Flour, SR see notes*)
- 3¼ tsp Baking Powder (see Flour notes*)
- 33 grams Ground Almonds (1oz, scant ⅓ cup, see notes*)
- 65 ml Boiled Water (¼ cup, 2 fl oz)
- Zest of 4- 5 small lemons (or 3 medium to large)
- 100 grams Blueberries (3½ oz, scant ½ cup, fresh or frozen*)
For The Lemon Drizzle:
- 120 ml Lemon Juice (8 tbsp, ½ cup)
- 90 grams Granulated Sugar (3oz, 6½ tbsp, scant ½ cup)
For The Buttercream Grass:
- 288 grams Unsalted Butter (10 oz, 1¼ cups, cubed & soft)
- 364 grams Icing/Powdered Sugar (12¾ oz, 3 cups, sieved)
- ¼-½ tsp Lemon/Orange Extract (optional)
For Decoration:
- 12 Rainbow Belts (see notes & photos*)
- 12 Black Midget Gems (or mini Rolos, see notes)
- Gold sprinkles, nuggets, coins (see below)
Instructions
Make The Cupcakes:
- Add softened small cubes of butter to a mixing bowl & beat with an electric mixer till spreadable. Add in the Caster sugar & beat till paler in colour, spreadable & aerated. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing in-between each addition.
- Sieve over the flour & baking powder & then add in the ground almonds. Mix briefly by hand, before adding in the boiled water. Beat the mixture together, only until combined & no dry patches remain at the bottom of the bowl. Then fold in the lemon zest.
- Wash the fresh blueberries in warm water & then pat dry before tossing in a few tsp flour. **For frozen blueberries, no defrosting or washing required. Just remove from the freeze right before adding to the cake batter & toss in the flour. Fold the blueberries into the batter, in 3 increments, with a spatula. preheat your oven to: 180°c/160°c fan oven/350°f/Gas Mark 4
- Add cupcake/muffin paper liners to a cupcake tray & divide the cake batter between them. Tap the tray on the counter/worktop and pop them in the centre of the oven to bake for about 20 minutes. Bake till risen, golden and a toothpick comes out clean of crumbs. Leave to cool while still in the cupcake tray.
Make The Lemon Drizzle:
- While the cupcakes are baking, make the lemon syrup drizzle by adding the sugar & lemon juice to a cooking pot. Dissolve the sugar on medium-high heat & let come to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and leave gently boiling until the liquid has thickened. **It will thicken more once off the heat.
- Make lots of holes over the surface of the cupcakes with a wooden cocktail stick. Spoon the syrup on top and use the back of a spoon to spread over the surface. Repeat till all the syrup is used up. Leave to absorb.
Make The Buttercream:
- Add softened small cubes of unsalted butter to a mixing bowl & beat till spreadable. Gradually add in the sieved icing/powdered sugar & mix till combined and smooth. Add a very small amount of green food colouring to the buttercream for the grass. (*see notes below).
- Fit a piping bag with a grass/fur nozzle (see notes), & fill with the green buttercream. Pipe the buttercream on top of the cupcake, making tall grass or short grass, until all the surface is covered. Repeat with the rest of the cupcakes.
Prepare The Decoration
- **Note the rainbow belts should be left out to harden a little for a few hours or overnight as they are quite soft. Trim at least 1cm, ⅓" off the end & leave to the side.
- For the pots of gold, wet the top of the 'pot' with water, syrup or food glue. Sprinkle on or dip the pot in gold sprinkles. Then add the gold coins by hand or with tweezers.
Assemble The Cupcakes:
- Place the pot of gold on the right side of the cupcake. it should sit nicely on the buttercream grass. Then add some more gold sprinkles & coins on the grass, to mimic like it is has fallen out of the pot.
- Only when ready to serve, should you add the rainbows. They will stay on the cupcake, but like to bend as they are soft. Place into the grass making a rainbow arch, just behind the pot of gold. See photos. Serve immediately.
Serving & Storing
- As mentioned, the rainbow belts should only be added right when serving. You can do all the other decorations ahead of time, even a day or two before.
- Store the cakes (without the rainbow), in metal cake or cookie tins, or cupcake container at room temperature provided not too hot. The fridge is not advised as it can cause condensation. Will be fine for at least 3 days & the sugar content will probably make them last longer. Don't leave the buttercream too long exposed to the air or it might crust.
- Undecorated cupcakes can be frozen preferably without the syrup). Wrap well, individually with paper then foil or cling film & place in a labelled food bag or air-tight container & freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge in the wrapping. For a warm muffin, after defrosting, heat in the microwave for no more than 10 seconds.
Video
Notes
Flour – Plain/All Purpose Flour is listed but I have tested using UK Self-raising Flour. Only add 1.25 tsp of baking powder if using this flour.
Ground Almonds – US best equivalent is fine almond meal, but almond flour that is not too fine, will work too. Or you can grind your own.
Lemons – lots of lemon juice & zest used but really worth it. Small lemons were used so adjust accordingly if your lemons are bigger.
Blueberries – fresh & frozen both been tested & work well. Make sure to be flour coating them & if using frozen, no defrosting. Just remove from the freezer right when the cake batter is prepared & toss in flour before adding to the batter.
Recipe Yield – 12 full-size cupcakes.
CUPCAKE DECORATION
Green Food Colouring – brand SugarFlair’s Forest Green was used & recommended for concentrated colouring. Only add a small amount.
Rainbow -rainbow-coloured fizzy/sour sweets/candy used. Sometimes called Rainbow Belts, US brand Airheads makes Xtremes Rainbow Berry Candy. ***Please leave the rainbow belts out to harden as they are very soft. Also, ONLY ADD to the cupcakes when ready to serve.***
Pot/Bucket – I used a black Midget Gem sweetie/candy for the pot of gold. Square or round will work, just turn upside-down. Mini Rols can be used too
Gold – for the gold, I used gold/brass coloured nugget sprinkles (Aldi brand) & also some tiny gold-coloured discs to resemble coins.
Grass Buttercream – enough buttercream for piping tall grass with a Grass/Fur piping nozzle (equivalent to Wilton Grass Piping Tip #233 used). See video or photos for reference. Process photo collage 11 & 12 before this Recipe card, show two different lengths. Make shorter & you could reduce the buttercream by 25%.
Check out other Spring recipes. Or try these egg & butter-free chocolate mini bundt cakes with Spring surprise inside.
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Nutritional Information – I am not a qualified nutritionist and all values are approximate. These values are based on 1 serving as 1 cupcake, with buttercream. rainbow & pot of gold, from a yield of 12 cupcakes. Assumes all ingredients are used. Make more or less cakes, or not eat the decoration, & these values will change. All values calculated via MyFitnessPal.com.
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Pot Of Gold Cupcakes (St Patrick’s Day)
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Everyone loved these & all 12 were nearly gone in less than 2 days!