Shamrock Shake Cupcakes

It’s only about a week until St. Patrick’s Day, so the buzz right now, as it is this time every year, are the Shamrock Shakes from McDonald’s.  I’ve heard my coworkers talking about this shake lately, so I decided to surprise them with a cupcake version today.

I’m not going to type out the recipe, since you can see how it should look from the photos and use your favorite cake mix and frosting.  (I used the Better Homes & Garden vanilla cake recipe and it turned out a little dry.)  Just substitute Shamrock Shake for the milk and add in peppermint extract to your tasting.  Add green food coloring to the frosting until you achieve the desired shade.

In order to make the McD’s arches, I melted white almond bark in a ziplock bag in the microwave, then added yellow food coloring.  I printed out an image of the golden arches, placed it under wax paper and piped away.  After letting them cool, the candy arches popped right off the wax paper, ready to be used on the cupcakes.

Give these a try!  You have another week to fit it in to your schedule, or you’ll have to wait until next year.  These are guaranteed to stand out at a St. Patty’s party…