Four Leaf Clover Cupcake Cake

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cupcake pans with green paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, add in the mini semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of the dry cake mix. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add in the box of cake mix, pudding, vegetable oil, eggs, milk, and extract. 
4. Whisk until everything is combined and most of the lumps are worked out. 
5. Stir the chocolate chips and dry cake mix. Dump into the cake batter and fold in.
6. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full of cake batter.
7. Place into the oven and bake for about 21 minutes until done. Place a toothpick into the center of the cupcake and if it comes out clean or with moist crumbs, it’s done. Batter means it needs to bake longer. Let cool completely.

Frosting

1. In a large bowl, add in the butter. Beat with a hand mixer on medium until creamy.
2. Add in the peppermint extract, powdered sugar, and milk. Beat until it comes together.
3. Add the leaf green gel food color and turn the hand mixer on high and beat an addition 1 minute or 2 until light and fluffy. You can add more green food color if it isn’t dark enough.

Assemble

1. You’ll need 14 cupcakes. Place the cupcakes into the shape of a 4 leaf clover. It should have 4 triangles made up of 3 cupcakes with the points of each triangle. Add two cupcakes in between 2 leaves for a stem. See picture.
2. To hold the cupcakes in place, you can add a small spot of frosting on the bottom of each cupcake before setting it in its final place on the cake board. I just held mine as I was spreading the frosting on it.
3. Using a large cookie scoop, scoop frosting on top of each cupcake.
4. Using an angled spatula, spread the frosting on each cupcake. Be sure to leave space between each leaf and fill in the center. Carefully work the frosting over the gap in the center so it doesn’t fall in and get all over the sides of the cupcakes. 
5. Using the angled spatula, clean up the edges of the frosting so they’re tidy and well shaped. 
6. Add the forest green gel food color to the remaining frosting and stir with a spatula to combine. You can add more gel food color if needed to get the desired color.
7. Add the frosting into a disposable piping bag fitted with a coupler or straight tip. 
8. Keeping a steady hand, pipe the outline of the clover. 
9. Quickly add the sprinkles to the green frosting. If it’s crusted already, sprinkle them on the inside of the clover.