(Delicious) St. Patrick's Day Treats

My daughter was an almost-St-Patrick's-Day baby.

Via Our Best Bites

Though she doesn't share her birthday with a holiday that REALLY overshadows her special day, it does mean that her classroom birthday celebrations tend to pull double duty.

A couple of years ago, when she was in Kindergarten, her teacher asked me if I wouldn't mind making the cupcakes green and running with the St. Patrick's Day theme.

I think it was my favorite birthday celebration yet- and those homemade cupcakes were way more yummy than the store-bought Justin Bieber cupcakes she had me buy last year...

I wish I had better pictures, but with St. Patrick's Day coming up I thought you might enjoy a little flashback of her Kindergarten birthday!

I started with one of my favorite recipes, Rainbow Clown Cake from Allrecipes.com.  This picture is from early that same year.  Though they would work well just like that with the rainbow theme, the cupcakes I made for her class were made the same way only with varying shades of green and green frosting.

My favorite part of her party, though, were the favors- the kids went crazy for them!  My only picture of my creations is pretty sub-par, so I'll just send you over to Our Best Bites blog for detailed directions and beautiful pictures.  These are exactly what I made, though, and they were so cute!!  Perfect for a class party.  I used the rolos, but gold coin chocolates would be adorable too.

Rainbow Clown Cake

From Allrecipes.com

3 egg whites

1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix

1 1/3 cups water

2 tablespoons canola oil

Assorted paste food coloring

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.

2. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until frothy, about 1 minute. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed.

3. Divide the cake batter into six separate bowls. Use a toothpick to scoop a dab of food coloring into one bowl of batter and stir; add more food coloring, if necessary, to reach the desired shade. Repeat with the remaining colors and bowls of batter.

4. Scoop spoonfuls of batter into the prepared pans, alternating the colors. Use a toothpick to gently swirl the colors for a marbled effect.

5. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes clean, about 30-35 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.