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. 
OMG, I am in love with these cupcakes! They’re so awesome! I love HP, and I made owl cupcakes when the movie came out. I might need to give these a try before going to see the IMAX 3D movie.
How cute are those?! And i was wondering how you got the lettering so perfect – thanks for the step-by-step. Lol – I just dragged DH to the Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry – I’m sure he’ll be happy when the final movie comes out and he doesn’t have to hear about it anymore!
Great job, how lucky are your friends?
I’m so jealous! My two sisters are going to the exhibit this weekend. I thought about flying to Chicago to join them. Luckily I found out the exhibit is coming here in October. Whew!
These look fabulous! You did such a great job on them!
WOW JEN!! Those are fantastic!! Better than professional! Seriously, what talent you have to make those! 🙂
Aw thanks Katie – you’re making me blush.
I hate when cupcakes do that to me too. Instead of baking up they bake out! 🙁
Love your Harry Potter cupcake toppers! Very cute and creative!
~ingrid
Hi Jen! A friend of mine forwarded me your page for HP Cupcakes and I just wanted to drop in and say that I think they’re awesome and I want to run home now and try to create some fun hp themed cakes! I had done some in the past–cauldron cakes if you will, by buying mini cauldrons and cutting the bottom off so the tops sat just on the cakes and then used a bit of green frosting on the inside. You should join up with the HP-MA crew! We’ve been organizing some meet-ups for Boston Fans!
Sounds awesome Manda.
Oh my goodness, what adorable little cupcakes!
So so cute! And yeah, those “HPs” must have taken FOREVER. I have a fabulous vanilla cupcake recipe that never fails me here: http://annies-eats.com/2008/07/18/vanilla-cupcakes/. Also, I recently made Dorie’s perfect party cake into cupcakes and had great results with that as well.
I love your HP cupcakes! I too am a huge Harry Potter fan but I have to admit, I don’t think I’d be patient enough to make cupcakes and toppings as cute as yours!
These are so awesome!! I wish I would have seen them and did some of these with the HP cake I did!!