These Leprechaun Hat Cupcakes are super adorable and fun to make! A moist green vanilla cupcake stuffed with gold sprinkles, topped with a fluffy green and orange vanilla frosting and a cute little leprechaun hat sitting on top! This is the ultimate St. Patrick’s Day treat!

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For the past few weeks, I’ve been so busy planning out all of my Easter recipes that I completely forgot about St. Patrick’s Day! Now St. Patrick’s Day is only a week away so I had to think of something that was easy and last minute, so I decided to make cupcakes!

Leprechaun Hat Cupcakes

Nothing screams St. Patty’s Day quite like leprechauns, so it was only appropriate for me to make a leprechaun themed dessert!

These cupcakes are the cutest thing ever! It starts with an easy vanilla cupcake that I tinted green. I made these cupcakes in the middle of the night, so I was super tired and accidentally overmixed my batter. This caused my cupcakes to sink in the middle, which sank my heart :(.

However, the star of these cupcakes is supposed to be the leprechaun appearance, and I want this recipe to be as easy as possible, so you can totally get away with using a vanilla cake mix and tinting it green. Less steps and less ingredients!

If you want to take these cupcakes an extra step, you can cut a hole in the middle and fill it with gold sprinkles! So when you take a bite out of the leprechaun, you find all his gold! It’s less morbid than it sounds, trust me.

To frost the cupcake, I made a large batch of my Dreamy Vanilla Buttercream (without the shortening), divided and tinted one half green and the other half orange.

Starting with the green frosting, I scooped it into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip and piped a large poof onto each cupcake. You can also just use an ice cream scoop to add a dollop onto each cupcake.

Then I took a small offset spatula and flattened the top of the frosting and smoothed out the sides. I then dipped the sides of the frosting into orange sprinkles. This is supposed to represent the leprechauns beard!

Then I scooped the orange frosting into a separate piping bag with a large star tip and piped a swirl on top of the green frosting to act as the leprechauns “ginger” hair!

How to make Leprechaun Hats

Now it’s time to make these cupcakes look like leprechauns, and one of the most popular parts of a leprechaun is his big green hat!

I spent days struggling to think of a way to make the leprechaun hats. In the end I discovered that large marshmallows and Oreo thins make the perfect leprechaun hat shape!

From there on, I just needed to find a way to make them look like the famous green hat. I tried a few different methods, but the easiest one was to dip the cookies in the candy melts first, then let it set in the freezer.

Candy melts can easily set up at room temperature, but you want the cookies to be chilled because when we dip the marshmallows and place it on top, it’ll stick on perfectly.

I tried placing the marshmallow on top while the cookies were set at room temperature and they just slid right off. But when the dipped cookies are frozen, the marshmallows just stick on perfectly. This is great because I used a toothpick to dip the marshmallows, so this made it super easy for me to just gently pull the toothpick out without the marshmallow coming off.

There’s no need to return the hats to the freezer or refrigerator because they will quickly set up at room temperature. This is also why I recommend working as quickly as possible, because my candy melts hardened before I finished dipping all of my marshmallows so some of them came out lumpy and ugly instead of nice and smooth.

For the finishing touches on the hat, I took a small black frosting tube and piped a line around the centre of the hat. Then I placed a mini yellow M&M in the centre to act as the gold buckle on the leprechaun hat.

These hats could honestly be a St. Patrick’s Day treat on their own, but they look so perfect on top of these cupcakes!

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Let’s get baking!

Leprechaun Hat Cupcakes

Yield: 18-20 cupcakes

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 58 minutes

These Leprechaun Hat Cupcakes are super adorable and fun to make! A moist green vanilla cupcake stuffed with gold sprinkles, topped with a fluffy green and orange vanilla frosting and a cute little leprechaun hat sitting on top! This is the ultimate St. Patrick’s Day treat!

Ingredients

Leprechaun Hats:

1 package green candy melts
1 tablespoon shortening
20 Oreo thin cookies
20 large marshmallows
Black frosting tube
20 mini yellow M&Ms

Green Vanilla Cupcakes: [See Notes]

1 and ⅔ cups all purpose flour
1 and ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon Baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 and ¼ cups granulated sugar
3 large egg whites, room temperature
⅓ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
Few drops of green gel food colouring
Gold sprinkles, for filling (optional)

Green and Orange Frosting:

2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
⅛ teaspoon salt
8 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Few drops of orange gel food colouring
Few drops of green gel food colouring
1 cup Orange sprinkles

Instructions

For the Leprechaun Hats:

Line a baking sheet with a silpat mat or wax paper. Set aside.
In a medium heat proof mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, melt ½ tablespoon of shortening.
Once shortening is melted, add ½ a bag of the green candy melts and stir until fully melted and smooth.
Remove bowl from heat. Using a fork, dip the Oreos into the candy melts and turn to coat. Pick it up with the fork and tap off the excess. Place onto lined baking sheet and use a toothpick to gently push it off the fork.
Transfer baking sheet to the freezer. Meanwhile, in a separate clean bowl, repeat steps 2 and 3 with the other half of shortening and remaining candy melts.
Remove baking sheet from the freezer and set aside. Insert a toothpick into the top of a marshmallow and dip it into the candy melts. Turn to coat the sides of the marshmallow and spoon some over the top.
Allow the excess to drip off and swipe the bottom over the rim of the bowl to get rid of the excess on the bottom so it doesn’t spread out.
The marshmallow should stick onto the cold cookie so you should be able to easily twist and remove the toothpick. Dip the tip of the toothpick into the candy melts and use that to cover the hole on the top. Allow to set at room temperature. Remember to work quickly because the candy melts will harden quickly.
Once set, use the small black frosting tube to pipe a a line around the bottom of the marshmallow. Pipe a small dollop in the middle and place on the yellow M&M, making sure the symbol isn’t showing. Set aside.

For the Green Vanilla Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350° F (177°C). Line two 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners. This recipe makes about 18-20 cupcakes.
In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk to combine. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Lower the speed to medium-low and mix in the egg whites, one at a time until just combined. Mix in the vegetable oil and vanilla extract.
Alternately add dry ingredients in 3 additions and buttermilk in 2 additions to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat each addition just until combined, before adding the next.
Add a few drops of green gel food colouring to the batter. Continue to beat until fully combined. DO NOT OVER-BEAT.
Fill each liner until ⅔ way full. Bake in preheated oven for 16-18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the cupcake comes out clean.
Allow to cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

For the Green and Orange Frosting:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the softened butter and salt until super pale and fluffy, about 5-6 minutes.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add half of the powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined.
Once combined add heavy cream and vanilla and continue to beat until combined and smooth.
Add remaining powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing on low speed until it’s all combined.
Increase speed to medium-high and beat for about 5-7 minutes, or until frosting is light and fluffy.
Evenly divide the frosting between 2 bowls. Tint one bowl of frosting green and the other half orange.

Assembly:

Optional: use the bottom of a piping tip or an apple corer to cut a hole out the centre of the cupcakes. Fill with gold sprinkles, if desired.
Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop out a dollop of green frosting on top of the cupcake.
Use a small offset spatula to smooth the top and edges of the frosting. Roll the sides in orange sprinkles.
Scoop the orange frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip (I used Wilton 1M), pipe a swirl of orange frosting on top.
Top each cupcake with a leprechaun hat. Enjoy!

Notes

Instead of making the cupcakes from scratch, you can use a box of vanilla cake mix and tint the batter green. It should yield the same amount of cupcakes.
Store cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Cupcakes and leprechaun hat can be made a few days ahead of time and stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

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Leprechaun Hat Cupcakes

Leprechaun Hat Cupcakes

How to make Leprechaun Hats