I honestly don’t think I am capable of letting a holiday go by without making cupcakes. When I was a kid, on St. Patrick’s Day my family didn’t do much to celebrate, not anything really – aside from avoiding getting pinched at school. When my kids were little, I always did the corned beef and cabbage for dinner, but it wasn’t until I had grandchildren that I really got the spirit of the holiday. Who knew Leprechauns could be so much fun? The mischievous little fellows get into all sorts of trouble on St. Patrick’s Day doing things like turning our favorite foods green and making messes everywhere they go.
These St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Cupcakes are certainly not original. I can’t remember where I first saw them, but when I cam across some rainbow striped Sour Power candy strips at Dollar General the other day, I knew it was a sign that these cupcakes just had to be made. I believe that the AirHeads brand makes a similar rainbow striped candy.
St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Cupcakes
ingredients and supplies:
a batch of your favorite cupcakes
1 recipe Buttercream Frosting, tinted green with food coloring
miniature marshmallows
gold sprinkles
Sour Power or AirHeads rainbow candy strips
pastry bag fitted with a grass tip (Ateco #133 or Wilton #233), optional
directions:
1. Bake cupcakes according to package directions. Meanwhile, prepare buttercream frosting and tint with green food coloring.
2. Spread frosting over cooled cupcakes. Optionally, pipe grass onto the top of each cupcake.
3. Cut about 1 to 1/2 inches from each rainbow strip – otherwise they will be a little too long. This also provides a great snack while you are making the cupcakes. Press each end of the rainbow into the top of the cupcake, as pictured. Gently press a few miniature marshmallows into the frosting around the ends of the rainbow, to form the clouds. Sprinkle on the gold.
Tip: I recommend adding the rainbows no more than 2 hours before serving, or they may begin to droop and loose their shape.
How does your family celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Cupcakes
Instructions
- 1. Bake cupcakes according to package directions. Meanwhile, prepare buttercream frosting and tint with green food coloring.
- 2. Spread frosting over cooled cupcakes. Optionally, pipe grass onto the top of each cupcake.
- 3. Cut about 1 to 1/2 inches from each rainbow strip - otherwise they will be a little too long. This also provides a great snack while you are making the cupcakes. Press each end of the rainbow into the top of the cupcake, as pictured. Gently press a few miniature marshmallows into the frosting around the ends of the rainbow, to form the clouds. Sprinkle on the gold.
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These would be perfect for school on St. Patrick’s Day. I actually have everything to do these with except the Sour Power or AirHeads rainbow candy strips. I even have a bag of mini marshmallows that I didn’t use left over from a fruit salad I made with cool whip. I just have to pin this cute St Patrick’s day cupcake. Thanks for sharing it. Your so clever.
My family loves cupcakes; we just got a Lady Di’s Cupcakes near us.
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Janice
Love, love this! Super Sweet and creative! We are gearing up in green for St. Patrick’s day and celebrating it with a sweet shamrock shake! I would love for you to stop over and check out my shamrock shake recipe! 🙂
Cathy
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These are so cute- I love it! The gold sprinkles as coins is an especially nice touch 🙂
Love these – they are so cute! I’m featuring them tomorrow at Show Me Saturday. Thanks for linking up.
Oh, my gosh! These are the most adorable cupcakes EVER! Please come share your blog posts over at the Home Matters Linky Party! We’d love to have you for a visit. The Door OPENS Friday. 🙂
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
These cupcakes are so cute and sweet. I would really like to make them for my granddaughters school class. St. Patrick’s Day is lots of fun for our Irish family
These are so clever and pretty and like nothing I have ever seen before.
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