St. Patrick's Day Red Velvet Clover Cupcakes with Rainbow French Buttercream Cream Cheese Frosting
Wow! It’s March, which officially means we’re 1/4 of the way into 2019 - can you believe it? No, me neither! In other news, did you have a great St. Patrick’s day? ☘️
St. Patrick’s day was always a super fun time for me in elementary school as I loved looking at the bold colours, cutting out four-leaf clovers, and hearing stories about rainbows and leprechauns and pots of gold.
But, the older I got, the more I realised that there was a more personal, family-based reason that St. Patrick’s day was special in my and my family’s hearts.
You see, my mum’s grandmother was Irish (a redhead and all), and although I sadly never got to meet her, she meant a lot to my mother.
We would always celebrate St. Patrick’s day in her honour, with cooking, crafting, and music, but it was only when I got to my teens that I was able to truly get to know my great-grandmother, through my mum’s stories and photos.
She was a wonderful quirky woman who loved to cook, knit, and look after family. The more I learned about her, the more special she became to me.
So, with that, my sister and I especially began to put more time into the St. Patrick’s day cooking and baking, and an even bigger family celebration was born!
This year we went all out food wise - my sister Sophia put together some delicious traditional potato stew and Irish soda bread, and best of all I got to work on some adorable rainbow clover cupcakes 🧁
The cupcakes are made from a traditional (and super moist) red velvet batter, but the cream cheese frosting is far from your grandmother’s recipe!
I absolutely LOVE French buttercream, which is made like an Italian meringue frosting, save one thing: it uses egg yolks instead of whites! 😋
This makes for a wonderfully creamy, light, almost mousse-like texture - I honestly always have only half a bowl left when it gets to frosting anything with it, thanks to the eager spoons of some little taste testers 😄
So, when it came to these cupcakes, I decided to make a combo recipe for the frosting. I wanted to replicate the smooth and subtle sweetness from the buttercream, but with the tangy flavour of the cream cheese.
Cream cheese frosting can so easily be overly sweet from all of the powdered sugar, and I wanted a more balanced taste. Hence my little creation. 🤤
The only change to the buttercream recipe is that roughly 1/2 the butter is replaced with cream cheese. Simple!
It does take more time to make than a normal cream cheese frosting, but the result is well worth it!
The little clovers are made from a homemade modelling chocolate and shaped by myself and my little helper Seraphina. All you have to do to get the clover shape is roll 3 small pieces of the chocolate into balls, and squish them down into a clover shape.
Then, take a tiny piece of the modelling chocolate and roll in into a little stem shape, and press it on. Easy right?
I eyeballed the recipe for my modelling, so unfortunately I won’t be able to share the recipe, but you can always buy some from the baking section of your local grocery store. Also, if you’re looking to DIY the modelling chocolate, I recommend the recipe from Sugar Geek Show.
So, before you get started, I just want to outline 3 tips to getting the best cupcakes:
1. It's really, really important that you have all of your ingredients room temp when attempting this recipe.
Seriously. If you don’t take the time to get your ingredients to room temp, the cupcakes and frosting simply won't come out right. It’ll be easier for you to over-beat the batter, and cold cream cheese may create chunks in your frosting. 😖
2. Also, I usually use 1 cup of plain milk + 1 tablespoon of white vinegar so I don't have to have buttermilk on constantly hand.
I find this really helpful, because I always seem to pick buttermilk up from the store, and when I do, I forget to use up the leftover milk after making the cupcakes. 🤭
3. Lastly, make sure to only cook the syrup to 115 c, or you'll end up with a sweet mess stuck to your pan and bowls.
It literally took me 20 minutes and 5 kettles-worth of hot water to get everything cleaned up! 😩
St. Patrick's Day Red Velvet Clover Cupcakes with Rainbow French Buttercream Cream Cheese Frosting
Looking for a bit more inspiration for your St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes?
Well, now you have it! If modelling chocolate clovers are a bit too much for you, or you’re strapped for time, download my FREE Four Leaf Clover printable cupcake toppers to add a bit of DIY pizzazz to your cupcakes!