Blimey, it’s almost time for green beer and “Kiss me, I’m Irish” pins again. Fortunately this also means – it’s time to start planning our St. Patrick’s Day cakes.

Lucky leprechauns, pots of gold and shamrocks are all part of the fun. And with the following ideas and your cake decorating skills, you’ll need a pin that reads “Kiss me, I’m the cake decorator!”

Leprechaun Hat Cake

Here’s how to make this lucky cake. (More St. Patrick’s Day cake ideas follow!)

Bake a dome cake and a single layer round cake. If you don’t have a dome cake mold, you can use an oven-proof glass bowl. If you’d like to fill the dome cake, use a serrated knife to carefully saw through the dome.

 

Ice the cakes with green tinted buttercream. First ice the bottom cake, and then place the dome on top and ice it.

Add a wide hatband. This can be created with chocolate buttercream or fondant. If using buttercream, you may want to take a strip of paper (the width you want the hat band) and gently press it against the cake so that it leaves an imprint. Then fill in the band with chocolate buttercream using a decorating bag fit with a star tip.

Now add a big shamrock to the hatband. The easiest way is to first make an imprint on the cake with a shamrock cookie cutter. Then fill in by piping dark green icing with the star tip.

Alternatively, pipe a gold buckle (with orange-yellow icing) onto the hatband. For a magical touch, apply edible gold glitter to the bucket. Finally, pipe the shamrock, offset and above the band.

To make sure your leprechaun’s hat is a perfect fit, watch this video on evenly-baked level cakes (it’s free):CLICK HERE

The above video is a sample from “Cake Decorating Made Easy!” Volume 1.
Here’s what one reader had to say about our Video Books:

“Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful knowledge and techniques with us all..
I am thrilled to have this book and to tell everyone how important it is to me and my new hobby…
I have been told by friends how great my cakes are and they are passing the word on, and that’s keeping me very busy – and happy. Thanks again!”

Doreen Cuttriss,

St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Here are more original and enchanting St. Patrick’s day cake decorating ideas:

· Make a favorite character cake (you can find these at large craft stores and online), but modify the directions by adding a touch of the Irish. For example, pipe shamrocks on a cartoon characters’ pants.

· Decorate a sheet cake with a rainbow and pot of gold.

If you enjoy modeling with marzipan or sugarcraft, make the pot three-dimensional and fill with gold wrapped candies.

Or using dark chocolate buttercream, pipe a picture of a pot at the end of the rainbow, and then using yellow buttercream pipe gold nuggets and sprinkle with edible gold glitter.

Pipe a St. Patrick’s Day message, and highlight with the edible gold glitter. Complete the scene with leprechaun figurines, store bought or sugarcrafted.

· Fashion a cake after the pot of gold. Place a rainbow (you’ve crafted or purchased) over a round or upside down dome cake (that has been iced with a fitting color such as chocolate brown or yellow-gold) so that the ends of the rainbow set on top of the cake.

Add cloud-like freshly whipped cream, and sprinkle with bits of marzipan or pieces of tasty marshmallow fondant rolled into nugget shapes and covered with edible gold glitter. Sprinkle some of the glitter over the entire cake. Serve immediately.

· Bake an Irish Coffee cake and decorate with whipped cream, shamrock cake confetti and leprechaun party picks. Serve immediately (unless using stabilized whipped cream).

· Charm your cake with the luck of the Irish. Purchase St. Patrick’s Day good luck charms, one for each guest.

Bake an angel food or bundt cake. Ice or glaze. Thread each charm onto a clean ribbon.

Dangle the charms inside the center of the cake, allowing the ribbons to drape over the cake. Before slicing, each guest draws a charm.

Alternatively, charms can be added as they often were to Victorian wedding cakes. A round, torted cake could be made with the charms being placed between the layers when the cake is filled. Each guest pulls out a charm using the ribbon.

· Think green! Select cake recipe that can be tinted green. Use a pretty green filling such as pistachio pudding. Not nuts about pistachio? How about key lime? Or choose a filling you can tint green, or just one that goes with your green cake.

· Lucky Charms cupcakes are quick and easy to make. Remove the marshmallow charms from the cereal. After frosting with big swirls of green buttercream, decorate with the four leaf clovers, blue moons, shooting stars, and other charms.

Finally, here’s one more tip.

As you’ve noticed, edible gold glitter brings added magic to a St. Patrick’s Day cake. This non-metallic decoration isn’t cheap, but you can find an ounce for about $7 or a quarter ounce for about $3. Our favorite online cake decorating stores: CandlandCrafts.com, which sells it in 1/4 and 1-ounce bags. Large craft stores such as Michael’s may also carry this.

May the luck of the Irish be with you through all of your cake decorating endeavors!

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Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author
Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2
The World’s First Cake Decorating Video Books

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