Leprechaun Rainbow Cupcakes

There are few holidays with as many traditions in our house as St. Patrick’s Day. I know, a million traditions for St. Patrick’s Day seems a little crazy, but for some reason I can’t get enough of this green holiday. I have loved it ever since I was a child when I was painting one fingernail green so I could pinch back anybody who pinched me for not wearing green.

 As an adult, the holiday took more meaning when March 17th became the anniversary of my first date with my husband, where he made me dinner complete with rainbow chicken, or grilled chicken covered in rainbow sprinkles to celebrate the holiday. Ever since then, I can’t let the holiday pass without some crazy all-green dinner and our favorite rainbow cupcakes.

I have blogged about these fun cupcakes before, but they are such a big part of our March, that I had to bring them back for another post!

 You will need:

• a white cake mix and all ingredients to make it
• food colors (I prefer to use gel colors in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple) 
• white frosting
• Airhead Xtremes Sour Belts
• Rolos (You need to buy a full package of these, the rolls aren’t individually wrapped) 

 Mix up your cake mix and then separate into six different bowls for coloring. Add a small amount of color to each bowl, until the cake mix is the shade you want. Starting with your darker colors on the bottom, spoon a couple spoonfuls of each color until each cupcake liner. Use the back of the spoon to smooth out the color into a full layer. Resist the urge to tap the cupcake tray as it will make the colors settle into each other.

Bake the cupcakes according to the directions on the package. When they are cool, top with cream cheese frosting. Cut the Airheads into smaller sections and push both ends of the “rainbow” into the frosting to set. Finish off with a Rolo.

These are definitely our favorite St. Patrick’s Day treat. March 17th just wouldn’t be the same without them. Do you have St. Patrick’s Day traditions?