These are super fun St. Patrick's Day cupcakes. Jazzed up box mix that tastes like a bakery cake, with a no-fail creamy filling and stabilized whipped cream topping.
Prepare a muffin tin by lining with cupcake wrappers. You'll need about 20 liners.
In a small bowl mix together 2 tablespoons of the flour with the ⅓ cup of green nonpareil sprinkles. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine all of the cake ingredients except for the sprinkles, mix well. (Remember to add in the remaining flour.) Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to make sure it is well mixed and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
Once the cake batter is mixed, gently fold in the sprinkle mixture. Be careful to not over mix as the color from the sprinkles will bleed into the batter if you mix too much.
Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, scoop batter into each of the cupcake wrappers in the muffin tin. Fill them just over halfway but no more than 3/4 of the way.
Bake the cupcakes in the pre-heated oven for approximately 20 to 25 minutes or until they are cooked through. The top center will bounce back when you touch it.
When the cupcakes have finished baking, remove from the oven and let cool completely.
Make the filling:
While the cupcakes are baking you can prepare the filling. In a clean bowl mix together the pudding mix, cream, milk, and the Baileys (If you are not using the Baileys you can replace the Baileys with the same amount of heavy cream or milk).
Whisk in the green food coloring until you've reached the desired color.
Cover the mixture and set in the refrigerator for later.
Make the stabilized whipped cream:
Make the stabilized whipped cream for the topping. Start by putting the cold water into a small dish that is microwave safe.
Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and mix in. Let sit for about 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes the mixture should be a solid texture, take the dish and place it in the microwave for 3 to 5 seconds. Take the dish out and stir, it should now be liquefied. If for some reason it is not liquefied try microwaving for another 3 to 5 seconds.
In the bowl of a stand mixer pour in the heavy whipping cream and begin whipping the cream on high using the whisk attachment.
Slowly add in the vanilla and powdered sugar.
When the cream becomes thick but not yet peaks slowly stream in the liquefied gelatin mixture. Make sure you drizzle this in very, very slowly so you don't get clumps.
Continue to whip on high until stiff peaks form.
Assemble the cupcakes:
When the cupcakes are cool, take a small knife and cut the center out of the cupcake, about the width of a quarter. When doing this it is easiest to have the knife at a small angle so that you're cutting a cone shape out from the center of the cupcake. Avoid going all the way to the bottom.
Remove the filling from the refrigerator. Either pipe the filling or spoon the filling into the centers of the cupcakes all the way to the top, it's okay to go a little bit above the top as well.
Fill a piping bag that has a large open star piping tip (Wilton 1M or 2D) with stabilized whipped cream.
Pipe swirls of the stabilized whipped cream onto the cupcakes.
Top each cupcake with sprinkles and a gold coin.
Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. These are great served same day however you can absolutely make them one day in advance.