Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.

Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).

Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. (I usually put the batter into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.)

Bake cupcakes for approximately 18-22 minutes.

Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter (on medium speed) until completely smooth (30 seconds to a minute).

Add salt (if needed).

One cup at time, add 2 cups of powdered sugar, beating after each addition.

Add vanilla, or other flavorings and beat to combine.

Add about 1 tablespoon of cream, and continue beating.

Add the remaining 2 cups powdered sugar, one at a time.

Add an additional 1-2 tablespoons cream until desired consistency is reached. If you want to pipe the frosting on cupcakes, the frosting should be nice and thick. Continue to beat another minute or so. The frosting should now be smooth and fluffy.

Bake a batch of cupcakes.

Note- You’ll want the cupcakes to have a bit of a dome above the top edge of the cupcakes liners, so fill the liners about 2/3 -3/4 full. I’ve found that I can not plan to use the whole batch of cupcakes, because due slight inconsistencies, some may rise quite enough to use for this technique. Plan accordingly.

Prepare a batch of frosting (canned will work for these). I used my American Buttercream Recipe. I think adding 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract would be appropriate for these as well. Color the frosting light green.

When the cupcakes have cooled, used a small serrated knife to cut off the tops of the cupcakes, using the cupcake liner as a guide. Keep tops matched with their cupcakes.

Use a small shamrock cookie cutter (available HERE and HERE) to cut out the shamrock shape from the cupcake tops.

Mound a bit of green frosting onto the center of the (now topless) cupcakes. You’ll want the frosting domed a bit so that when you press on the cupcake top, the frosting will come up into the cutout shape a bit.

Place the cutout cupcake top, and press down a bit. *If desired, before adding cupcake top, sprinkle cutout top with powdered sugar.