Pot Of Gold St Patrick's Day Cupcakes
Pot of Gold Cupcakes for St Patrick's Day, with a zesty lemon blueberry drizzle cupcake, topped with grass buttercream, a rainbow & pot of gold!
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
Butter - always unsalted butter for sweet or savoury baking for better & reliable results.
Sugar - UK Caster Sugar used for the cake batter & US equivalent is Extra/Super Fine Sugar (but you can lightly process your own from granulated). Granulated sugar is used for the lemon drizzle syrup because it is being dissolved. But if you want you can use any white sugar for this.
Eggs - UK medium sized eggs listed & US equivalent is about large. If using UK large-extra large, you can get away with using 3 eggs instead. Make sure your eggs are at room temperature too.
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.
BUY ME A COFFEE - don't feel you need to, but there is an option to buy me a coffee, via the link below, that will help keep the site & video channel going.
https://buymeacoffee.com/caro.easybakinglessons
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.
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.
BUY ME A COFFEE - don't feel you need to, but there is an option to buy me a coffee, via the link below, that will help keep the site & video channel going.
https://buymeacoffee.com/caro.easybakinglessons
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.
Nutrition Facts
Pot Of Gold St Patrick's Day Cupcakes
Serving Size
1 Cupcake
Amount per Serving
Calories
504
% Daily Value*
Fat
23
g
35
%
Saturated Fat
13
g
81
%
Polyunsaturated Fat
1
g
Monounsaturated Fat
6
g
Cholesterol
114
mg
38
%
Sodium
157
mg
7
%
Potassium
44
mg
1
%
Carbohydrates
70
g
23
%
Fiber
1
g
4
%
Sugar
57
g
63
%
Protein
4
g
8
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.