These pretty St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes are a great way to celebrate this holiday. This small-batch recipe is perfect for a delicious treat. The cupcakes are lightly flavored with peppermint and go gorgeously with the delicious buttercream icing.
Want more sweet treats for this special day? Try our Irish Apple Cake or a terrific Treacle Tart.
Why I Love This Recipe
- Small-Batch
- Light peppermint flavor
- Delicious buttercream frosting
- Easy to make
- Fun for St. Patrick’s Day
Helpful Items For This Recipe
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St. Patricks Day, Edible Sprinkle Mix
St. Patrick’s Day Cupcake Ingredients
Recipe Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients:
All-purpose flour and baking powder – Standard ingredients for a cupcake. I have not tried to make them gluten-free.
Unsalted butter, room temperature – You can definitely use salted butter or whatever you have on hand. Add salt if you are using unsalted.
White granulated sugar – I wouldn’t use brown sugar for this recipe.
Eggs – I always use large-sized eggs.
Peppermint extract – Not too much as this can be powerful.
Whole milk – I like the richness of whole milk for these cupcakes.
Green food coloring – Use the color that you like to get a lime green or a dark green. I like to use liquid or gel food coloring.
Frosting Ingredients:
Butter at room temperature – You can use unsalted here also if that is what you have, but add a pinch of salt then.
Powdered sugar – This is called icing sugar or confectioners sugar. Don’t use granulated sugar here.
Milk – You can use whole milk again here too.
Vanilla – Use only pure vanilla, not artificial.
Green sprinkles of choice – These are fun and come in so many variations.
Green straws cut into 10 2-inch pieces – You can get plain stripes like seen or ones with shamrocks.
How to Make St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes
Directions for Cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a 12-serving cupcake pan with 10 paper liners. Set aside.
Add the flour and baking powder to a small mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
Add the butter, sugar, egg, and peppermint extract to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
Add the dry ingredients and milk to the mixing bowl and mix until smooth.
Add some green food coloring to the mixing bowl and mix until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula and mix once more to ensure all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Add more food coloring if necessary until the desired shade of green is reached – ideally a light, minty shade of green.
Pour the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake pan until each liner is about ¾ full.
Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
Transfer the cupcakes onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Directions for Frosting:
Add the butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and milk to a large mixing bowl and mix on low speed until fully incorporated. Increase the mixer speed and beat the frosting until smooth and fluffy.
Scoop the frosting into a large decorating bag fitted with a large star tip.
Pipe a generous swirl of frosting onto each cupcake.
Top each cupcake with sprinkles and a straw piece so that each cupcake mimics a miniature shamrock shake.
Store any leftover cupcakes in an airtight container for up to three days.
Recipe Pro Tips!
What are some Additions I can Make to these Cupcakes?
If you are feeling very festive, you can add chocolate gold coins and a rainbow candy strip to the cupcakes. Or if you can find shamrock sprinkles, you can add those too.
I have also made them with shamrock cupcake liners and shamrock straws. They work with whatever you can find.
This time, I enjoyed them looking simple with the light green decor, but the fun is to make them your own.
The recipe can be easily doubled for more cupcakes.
Storage
Cupcakes with buttercream can last at room temperature for 1-2 days and 3-5 days refrigerated.
Cupcakes that have been iced can be frozen and will last 3 months, well-wrapped with plastic wrap, the straw is helpful to keep the wrap from directly touching the icing. You can freeze up to 6 months with no icing.
WANT MORE ST. PATRICK’S DAY RECIPES?
We love celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in our house, and we always make corned beef and cabbage and then enjoy some of these wonderful sides too.
St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 tablespoon peppermint extract
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- Green food coloring
Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Green sprinkles of choice
- Green straws cut into 10 2-inch pieces
Instructions
Directions for Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a 12-serving cupcake pan with 10 paper liners. Set aside.
- Add the flour and baking powder to a small mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Add the butter, sugar, egg, and peppermint extract to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Add the dry ingredients and milk to the mixing bowl and mix until smooth. Add 2 Tbsp. milk first, and then the remainder if needed to get to the right consistency.
- Add some green food coloring to the mixing bowl and mix until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula and mix once more to ensure all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Add more food coloring if necessary until the desired shade of green is reached – ideally a light, minty shade of green.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake pan until each liner is about ¾ full.
- Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Transfer the cupcakes onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Directions for Frosting:
- Add the butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, and milk to a large mixing bowl and mix on low speed until fully incorporated. Increase the mixer speed and beat the frosting until smooth and fluffy.
- Scoop the frosting into a large decorating bag fitted with a large star tip.
- Pipe a generous swirl of frosting onto each cupcake.
- Top each cupcake with sprinkles and a straw piece so that each cupcake mimics a miniature shamrock shake.
- Store any leftover cupcakes in an airtight container for up to three days.
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