Hidden Gold Rainbow Cupcakes
Let’s talk about St. Patrick’s Day.
Do people actually throw parties for St. Patrick’s Day? Or is it just a conspiracy to get food bloggers bending over backwards to make green food?
Sigh. I just don’t know anymore.
On the off chance that you ARE throwing a St. Patrick’s Day Party (will you invite me??), I came up with some fun cupcakes. They’re easy enough that you can throw them together even if you’re just having a simple, fun, Irish-ey evening at home with the kids.
Also. Pub Crawls?
Just don’t do it.
St. Patrick’s Day doesn’t suddenly make hangovers a good look, mmmkay? And no one wants to look at your busted up nauseous self while they’re trying to get their church on on Sunday morning. So stay in, make cupcakes, and watch Leprechaun.
Perfectly appropriate.
These are just plain vanilla cupcakes (I used a boxed mix), with buttercream frosting. Making a fun rainbow swirl is easy–just paint stripes on the inside of your piping bag with gel food color. There’s a great tutorial on THIS blog if you need a visual step-by-step.
But to make these cupcakes extra special…I added a special ingredient.
These shimmery Gold Sixlets that I spotted in the candy store at my mall.
Want to see what I did with them?
Surprise!!
I’m sure that if you can’t find shimmery Sixlets, yellow M&Ms or Skittles would work instead.
1. Start by cutting a hole in your cupcake, going about halfway down. I use a large piping tip, but you could also use a knife. Set aside the portion of cake that you remove.
2. Fill hole with candy, leaving just a bit of room to cover back up with cake.
3. Cut part of the cake off of the bottom of the portion that you cut out, making a “lid” for the hole. Place cake “lid” back over the candy and push lightly until it is flush with the rest of the cake.
4. Pipe frosting on.
The cupcake toppers I used are ones I had leftover from last year, I believe I bought them at Bake It Pretty. But I’m sure you could find toppers at your local Super Walmart or Target.
Enjoy and have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!
P.S. Just kidding about watching Leprechaun. That movie will mess you up for real.
P.P.S. NOT kidding about the Pub Crawl. Don’t do it. Don’t. I have never EVER made a good decision while at a Pub Crawl. EVEEEERRR!!!
Thanks for visiting my blog! I realize you could be doing more important things with your time. Like watching the news or washing socks. I hope you stay awhile. Much more fun than socks, I promise. 
You are hilarious, and genius, and totally right about the hangover thing. Love these!
Too cute Kristan! Love the sixlets! Thanks for sharing :)
Hi Kristan!! You ALWAYS make me laugh!! Sending my puppies to the groomer yesterday, I got pulled over by the traffic police who obviously missed all the other 5 drivers who did the exact same thing as I did!! We were all behind an excavator that seemed stationery at that time so they drove onto a left turn only lane to go around it because right lane is under construction. I thought there was someone directing the traffic so I followed and voila, the cop decided that it’s time to get to work!! NO pardon there and he slapped me with a citation!! I was totally bumped & pissed off but reading your blog seems to take everything away from my upset mind!! BUT, YES, I still have a court date, pay the fine or go to traffic school, all the shebangs!!
Definitley appeal that bad boy!!
We always have a St Patricks Day party which is pretty funny because I am not Irish and my Hubby is Thai, but then again everyone is Irish on St Paddy’s Day (Besides St Patrick was actually Italian ,he went to Ireland to drive the snakes (Pagans) out and bring in Christianity) .Enough with my useless knowledge that is only good for trivia and back to your fantasticness. :O)
I LOVE these cupcakes!! you always have the most amazing ideas ! You’re the best!
Anytime you come to Ma you are welcome to visit!!
I want to eat a rainbow cupcake every day for the rest of my life.
Freaking adorbale. Just freaking absolutely adorable! So creative! I love ya for this! :)
I am going to find that gold:) SO fun!
WOW!! Love that rainbow swirl! So pretty! Gotta go check out that link!
SO creative. Love it!
That is sooo cool!
That rainbow frosting is wacky-bright!! What a cute surprise in the middle. Love that idea.
What a great find! I would love to dig into a cupcake and find this sweet treasure inside:) Genius!
LOL! But I’m not baking green bread, is that bad? ;) My daughter is going to freak over these – they’re way cute!! We’ll try ‘em!
Sixlets were my favorite as a kid, how cool that they are filled with them!! Super cute cupcakes!
We always have a party of St Patrick’s Day. My family is Irish and we go all out! Its a big formal affair. Our friends figured out long ago that its not an affair to be missed! Its too late to make these this year, but they will definitely be on my list for next year!
Leprechaun in the Hood is EVEN crazier.
I loove the hidden sixlets!!
Yeah I don’t get all the green food either…I’m definitely thinking conspiracy!
My kids would love these cupcakes. love!
That’s just funny! And I’m LOVING the sixlets inside the cupcake! Clever idea! :)
BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!
These are fantastic. I love the surprise inside :) Although, never heard of sixlets until now, lol.
I watched the movie Leprechaun as a kid and messed me up for life (funny now when I think back to it though).
I just love all your yummy looking treats. Wish you could ship me some to GA.
I am of the opinion that real Irish people don’t dye food green for St. Paddy’s day. But would totally eat these!
And while I have been DD for a few pub crawls, I have never actually participated – which makes me happy since the police here are currently searching the river for a boy who went missing during/after one last weekend.
And if you’re looking for a good not creepy crazy “I never want to sleep again” lepruchaun movie, I’d suggest Darby O’Gill and the little people. It’s SUPER old, but a lot of fun. Extra perk: 25yr old Sean Connery.
What a fun surprise inside! Love it! And you could not pay me to watch Leprechaun! Have a nice St. Patrick’s Day anyway!
You’re so cute- these are A-dorable :)
Can we get a tutorial on how you did the frosting?
WOW! Now THOSE are St. PAttys Day cupcakes!! There are so many awesome things going on here, I don’t even know where to start! I love he whole thing!
We are not having party but we certainly recognize St. Patrick’s day here. These are a fun treat and the hidden surprise is a great idea.
That frosting is absolutely gorgeous! Almost too pretty to eat!…Almost :)
You are totally invited to my St. Patrick’s Day party. Altough it isn’t so much a party as it is an excuse to have all our friends over, break out the grill, and drink lots of green beer and cocktails! Plus there’s usually corn hole and/or euchre involved, depending on the weather.
totally love these and sixlets are my drop dead favorite, but I have never seen them in this pretty sahde before!!
I wasn’t able to bend over backwards this year and make new St. Paddy’s food for the blog. Peeps will have to check out the older posts. :) Lovely cupcakes! I wish I was a lucky ol’ leprachaun that could chow down on one of these! But, of course, I wouldn’t want to actually look like a leprachaun (how do you actually spell it??).
What a surprise to find the hidden golden candy! What a brilliant idea! Have pinned it!
Shimmery gold Sixlets? Really?! I looooooooove Sixlets!! What a fun surprise-in-the-middle cupcake, and that frosting is super cool, too!
My mouth watered just at the sight of that colorful frosting <3 Thanks for sharing this tutorial, it's so smart!
I linked it in a serie I’m writing for my blog (http://rock-n-roll-stops-the-traffic.blogspot.com/2012/03/diy-from-head-to-toe-3-special-edition.html), I hope you don’t mind! :)
You’re always so creative! Over the top cuteness.
Ain’t no crawling going on over here any time soon, unless you wanna come for a visit and we can make a go of it?
Why do we make St. Patrick’s Day treats?
I have no idea. Certainly, there are no Irish roots whatsoever on my husband’s and my side of the family.
No Paddy’s Day party for us either. But I still have lots of fun seeing and making “green food”.
[...] made these fun cupcakes that have a hidden [...]
Beautiful cupcakes. Thanks for the link to the frosting tutorial. Definitely worthy of a “Pin”.
[...] Hidden Gold Rainbow Cupcakes - These beautiful and totally creative cupcakes from The Cookbook Queen are perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. [...]
HA HA h my gosh I was laughing so hard , super cute post and those cupcakes look great.
ACK!! These are the cleverest, cutest, happiest St. Patty’s cup pies EVAH!! You’re. A. Genius.
Hangover bad, cupcake good! So fun! Those toppers & gold are adorable!
Wow, that icing is so cool! And who doesn’t love a fun surprise in their cupcake! I definitely have to include these in my St. Patrick’s Day Sweets roundup on Monday.
[...] Hidden Gold Rainbow Cupcakes by Confessions of a Cookbook [...]
[...] Source: confessionsofacookbookqueen [...]