Pot of Gold Cupcakes for St Patrick’s Day
With St Patrick’s Day just a week away, I wanted to share a cupcake recipe that’s perfect for the holiday. I took a chocolate cupcake, filled it with dulce de leche, and topped it with my favorite Swiss meringue buttercream. They tasted as amazing as they sound.
And with the festive cupcake liners and sprinkles, they’re the perfect addition to your St Patrick’s Day party!
My cupcake got a little smooshed when I cut into it to show you the “Pot of Gold” portion of the cupcake (aka, the dulce de leche hidden inside). These cupcakes are the same flavor that I made for Hubby’s 30th birthday party, but I didn’t get proper pictures of them. Since they were such a big hit at the party, I decided to make them again.
One Year Ago: Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes (also great for St Patrick’s Day!)
Two Years Ago: Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Three Years Ago: Scallop Burgers and S’mores Cupcakes
Pot of Gold Cupcakes
Yield: 24
Ingredients:
For the Pot of Gold Cupcakes
24 Chocolate cupcakes (recipe follows)
about a cup of Dulce de Leche (store bought or homemade)
1 batch of Swiss meringue buttercream
For the Chocolate Cupcakes
2 2/3 cups flour
1 1/4 cups + 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
5 oz water + 5 oz milk
Directions:
To assemble the Pot of Gold Cupcakes
Once cupcakes have cooled completely, use the cone method to remove a cone of the cupcake.
Fill the empty cone with dulce de leche. Replace the top part of the cupcake on top of the dulce de leche.
Frost the cupcakes and decorate with festive sprinkles
For the Chocolate Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350. Place cupcake liners in 2 muffin tins
Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine the sour cream, vanilla, and almond extract. Set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat until smooth. Set mixer on low and add eggs, one at a time.
Add the flour and sour cream mixtures by alternating between them, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down bowl after each addition.
Gradually add the milk/water and scrap down bowl. Beat until thoroughly combined.
Portion into batter into cupcake liners and bake about 20-25 minutes or until they spring back after being touched.
Chocolate Cupcake Recipe from Confetti Cakes for Kids, by Elisa Strauss
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I love freezing dough but somehow most ends up in my tummy unbaked when I do that 🙂
What a great gift! I’m thinking that would be wonderful for all sorts of occasions. Thanks for the idea!
These are adorable and I love that idea! Two questions, though: 1) Were these as good as the cookies from the other recipes? and 2) When you freeze them, do you bake right from frozen?
Great questions Carly – As far as comparing them to the other cookies. I enjoyed the chocolate M&M cookies the best, but they were REALLY chocolatey. The other non-chocolate M&M cookies were a bit more chewy and they had nuts in them, so they had a different vibe. This recipe was more of a classic M&M cookie for sure.
As far as baking from frozen, you can def just go straight from freezer to oven. Bake them ~13 minutes instead of ~11 and take them out when they look done.
these were delicious!
they look so cute all frozen up 🙂
I love the pink and red M&Ms. Thanks for the idea of freezing the cookie dough.
I was going to ask you the same thing as Carly, well the first question. These cookies are cute. Your freezing method reminded me that I have a bunch of sugar cookies still in the freezer! Do you know how long cookies can stay in the freezer?
I don’t know how long they will last in the freezer. I have a tendency to forget about things in my freezer… I’d guess a couple months? Anyone have ideas?
What festive little cookies 🙂 I love them! I also like the fact that you froze them. I bet they were delicious. Make sure to enter the All Through the Year Cheer event for Valentine’s Day 🙂
I think that sounds like a great way to spend valentine’s day. It can be intimidating the way it’s so hyped up. The cookies look very festive, love ’em!
We don’t do “valentine’s day” either since my MIL was born on the 14th and daughter’s birthday is the 15th – besides, its more important to say you love someone everyday, not just one day out of the year. Love the idea about freezing the cookie dough in preshaped form and giving that away. Wonderful idea!
I am looking for cookies that travel well for my soldier adopted through Soldier’s Angels and these look like a winner!!
Mmm, these were so tasty! Happy Valentine’s Day!
These are just too cute!! I love M&M cookies too!!
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Just had to add my two cents on the idea of giving cookie dough frozen and ready to be baked – genius! For some reason, I’ve never thought of that, even though I’ve given cookies frozen to people to be defrosted when they’re ready to eat. I love the dough idea!
YUM-these look absolutely delicious! I love the pink and red M&Ms!