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Pot of Gold Cupcakes

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Light and fluffy vanilla cupcakes decorated with a rainbow and pot of gold!
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Prep Time40 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Servings6 cupcakes
Calories612 kcal

Ingredients 

Vanilla Cupcakes

  • 90 g all purpose flour (¾ c.)
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 100 g granulated sugar (½ c.)
  • 41 g unsalted butter cubed, room temperature (3 tbsp.)
  • 32 g vegetable oil (2 ½ tbsp.)
  • 1 egg white room temperature
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 45 g sour cream room temperature (3 tbsp.)
  • 55 g whole milk room temperature (¼ c.)

Ermine Buttercream

  • 150 g granulated sugar (¾ c.)
  • 30 g all purpose flour (¼ c.)
  • ⅛ tsp. salt
  • 170 g whole milk (¾ c.)
  • 170 g unsalted butter room temperature (¾ c.)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2-4 drops green food coloring

Garnish

  • 3 sour candy rainbow belts
  • 2 tbsp. gold sugar pearl sprinkles
  • 6 mini peanut butter cups
  • mini marshmallows

Instructions 

  • Start making the ermine frosting. Add the sugar, flour, salt, and milk to a small saucepan set over medium heat.
  • Continuously whisk the mixture together until it starts to bubble up and thickens to a pudding-like consistency.
  • Transfer the mixture to a heat-safe bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave the mixture in the fridge to chill until the cupcakes are done baking.

Vanilla Cupcakes

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line a muffin tin with 6 parchment liners.
  • To a medium sized mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cubed butter. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to beat the mixture together until the butter has completely combined with the dry ingredients and no lumps remain.
  • Add in the oil, egg white, vanilla, sour cream, and milk. Whisk the ingredients together just until a cohesive batter has formed.
  • Distribute the batter evenly between the six liners. Bake for 15-20 min., or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out with only a few moist crumbs.

Ermine Buttercream

  • While the cupcakes come to room temperature, finish making the ermine frosting. In a medium sized mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it’s light and fluffy.
  • While the mixer is running, add in the milk mixture one heaping tablespoon at a time, allowing it to fully combine with the butter before adding in more. Repeat until you have used up all of the mixture, then beat in the vanilla and green food coloring.
  • Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with your tip of choice.
  • Cut each sour candy rainbow belt in half, and put the gold sugar pearl sprinkles into a small bowl.
  • Dollop a small amount of frosting on top of each mini peanut butter cup, then dunk the side with the frosting into the sprinkles to make the pot of gold.
  • Generously frost each cupcake. Stick each end of the sour candy into the frosting on each cupcake to form a rainbow. On one side of the rainbow, place the pot of gold. On the other side, place a couple of the mini marshmallows. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Affiliate links: Kitchen Scale (my favorite) | Kitchen scale (great starter option) | Cordless Hand Mixer | Cupcake Pan | Oven Thermometer | Cookie Scoops
Beating the butter into the dry ingredients
I've found that this is always much easier and takes way less time when you do it in a a stand mixer. If you're using a hand mixer, just note that this is going to take a couple of minutes, and the smaller you cube up your butter, the easier it will be.
Use a kitchen scale:
I can’t stress enough the importance of a kitchen scale for accurate baking. While other things can go wrong during the baking process, using a kitchen scale helps your recipe come out closer to how mine did and can be more helpful for troubleshooting if something goes wrong. Here is a cheaper kitchen scale (affiliate link) that was trusty and helpful when I was starting with a scale. If you can’t use a scale – please make sure that you fluff up your flour with a fork, and spoon it into your measuring cup while measuring the flour.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cupcakeCalories: 612kcalCarbohydrates: 63gProtein: 5gFat: 39gSaturated Fat: 21gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 85mgSodium: 255mgPotassium: 125mgFiber: 1gSugar: 47gVitamin A: 991IUVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 120mgIron: 1mg