Happy St. Patrick's Day ~ Leprechaun Cupcakes

Happy St. Patrick's Weekend!!!

(And beware of the Ides of March)

My little one's school is celebrating today with green so I thought I'd send him in with these cute little cuppies for his classmates. They are Leprechauns with their Pots O' Gold. Very simple to make- but adorable...

Take a batch of your favorite cupcake recipe. I used my basic Yellow Cupcake one. But I folded in 1/2 cup of rainbow colored sprinkles in at the end since all little leprechauns need RAINBOWS! Whip up a batch of a simple vanilla frosting... 

OK, for half of the cupcakes, I made them the "usual" way in cupcake liners.

The other half? I filled the liner up HALF-way, then placed a flat-bottomed ice cream cone, UPSIDE-DOWN into the batter-filled liner. Yep.  Then baked as usual. Easy as that.

Allow all cupcakes to cool.

For the "Pots O' Gold":

Frost with vanilla topping then dip into yellow decorating sugar. Top with 5-6 strategically placed Captain Crunch pieces.

For Leprechauns:

Carefully peel away the cupcake-liner the ice cream cones were baked in; discard wrapper. Thinly frost with vanilla topping, then decorate using 

1) Captain Crunch pieces for hair & beard 

2) a large red or pink candy for the nose (I used the Lucky Charms cereal balloon marshmallow but an M&M would do, or large, round sprinkle, etc.) & 

3) 2 candy Wilton eyes.

Carefully place your leprechaun onto a new cupcake liner/wrapper.

The children will love them! I hope.
<3 Lishie