Easy St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Cupcakes

I wanted to make some rainbow cupcakes with a pot of gold for St. Patrick’s Day, but I procrastinated. I had wanted to use these AirHead Extremes rainbow candies for the rainbows, but I couldn’t find them anywhere in my small town and I had no time to order them online.

So, as most procrastinators do, I improvised.

Instead, I was able to find some of these rainbow colored Twizzlers, and figured I’d be able to make them work somehow. And honestly, I really do love the final product.

Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow Cupcakes

Materials needed:

Yellow Cake Mix—because we are gluten-free, I use this one, which is easily found at most grocery stores.

Green Frosting—I was pleased to find this very green funfetti frosting at the grocery store, saving me from dealing with food coloring.

Baking cups—I used silver ones since that is what I had on hand, but it would probably be more fun (and more apropro) to use metallic gold baking cups or these fun St. Patrick’s Day themed baking cups.

Rainbow Twizzlers—Note, licorice is NOT gluten-free. I made some cupcakes without the rainbows so that they would be safe for my Celiac daughter. If you choose to use the Airheads instead, those are also NOT gluten-free.

Rolos—Rolos are gluten-free, so you could make some cupcakes with just the pots and not the rainbows.

Plain M&Ms—I just picked out the yellow ones. You could also use yellow Skittles instead.

Directions:

1. Bake the cupcakes according to directions, let cool.

2. Frost with green frosting.

3. Cut the rainbow licorice into thirds, making sure to have one of each color of the rainbow.

4. Stick the licorice straight down into the frosted cupcake. You’ll want to have it go all the way to the bottom of the cup so that it stands up well.

5. Stick one yellow M&M into each unwrapped Rolo.

6. Place the Rolo onto the cupcake next to your licorice rainbow.

7. Put another yellow M&M or two next to the Rolo on top of the cupcake.

8. Use the funfetti sprinkles that came with the frosting to finish off the look. You could also use green sanding sugar or these gold sprinkles.