24 Fun and Festive St. Patrick’s Day Desserts

Craving a sweet, shamrock-colored treat? How about a stout-infused dessert or a cool, minty milkshake? You’re in luck! We’ve got those recipes—and more.

March 02, 2023

By: Food Network Kitchen

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Better Than a Pot of Gold

March 17th is one of our favorite days for desserts. Not only do we get to deck all our treats out in plenty of green and gold, we also get to bake them in fun shapes like shamrocks or rainbows—and infuse them with rich, chocolatey stout or sweet Irish cream. What could be better than that? And, while we just as gladly celebrate traditional Irish desserts on St. Patrick’s Day, there’s something deliciously joyful and light-hearted about the American take on this holiday. Rainbow cookies, gilded cakes resembling a pot of gold, stout sundaes—with so many fun ideas, where do you start? You can’t go wrong with these green velvet cupcakes. Grouping three together will make them look just like shamrocks—and we’re pretty sure that triple the cupcakes is a sign of good luck!

Get the Recipe: St. Patrick's Day Green Velvet Cupcake Shamrocks

Guinness Brownies

Guinness stout is a very dark beer that boasts notes of coffee and caramel, two ingredients that pair naturally well with chocolate. For this recipe, the Guinness is reduced to a syrup to intensify the flavors and really make the chocolate stand out. The brownies are a nice marriage of fudgy and cakey and are intensely chocolatey, thanks to the bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder.

Get the Recipe: Guinness Brownies

Pot of Gold Cake

This sparkling cake may look ordinary, but cut into it and you’ll find a show-stopping surprise: an overflowing sea of golden M&Ms.

Get the Recipe: Pot of Gold Cake

Shamrock Cookies and Rainbow Dip

Lasheeda Perry says, "One of my favorite childhood treats was the epic cookie-and-frosting duo called Dunkaroos. Here's a homemade version of the snack reimagined with a St. Patrick's Day twist."

Get the Recipe: Shamrock Cookies and Rainbow Dip

Chocolate Stout Ice Cream Floats

Top a coffee liqueur with seltzer and stout before adding scoops of chocolate ice cream.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Stout Ice Cream Floats

Lucky Charms Cheesecake

We use a triple dose of cereal — in the crust, steeped in milk for the filling and on top to decorate — in this over-the-top rainbow cake.

Get the Recipe: Lucky Charms Cheesecake

St. Patrick's Day Mint Schnapps Shakes

A grown-up milkshake, this pale green delight is perfect as a midday treat or after-dinner dessert. It's only as good as the ice cream that goes into it, so splurge on a really high-quality one.

Get the Recipe: St. Patrick's Day Mint Schnapps Shakes

Irish Cream Poke Cake

This poke cake is spiked with the flavors of Irish coffee for an easy adult dessert that will feed a crowd.

Get the Recipe: Irish Cream Poke Cake

Rainbow Slice-and-Bake Cookies

Leprechauns small and large are sure to fall under a magical spell when they take a bite out of these fantastical cookies. To make the wispy clouds, melt one cup of white candy melts in the microwave and pipe away!

Get the Recipe: Rainbow Slice-and-Bake Cookies

St. Patrick's Day Green Velvet Layer Cake

Skip cream cheese frosting in favor of old-fashioned boiled frosting for this layered cake.

Get the Recipe: St. Patrick's Day Green Velvet Layer Cake

Lucky Charms Marshmallow Treats

Say hello to these super-fun, double-marshmallow treats. Not only are these crunchy bars coated in a marshmallow-butter mixture, but the small, colorful ones from the cereal box are the perfect decoration.

Get the Recipe: Lucky Charms Marshmallow Treats

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

The flavor of Guinness melds perfectly with chocolate to make rich, tender cupcakes. As an added presentation bonus, cream cheese frosting looks like Guinness's iconic foam.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

St. Patrick's Day Lime Poke Cake

This beloved dessert is made of not-too-sweet buttermilk cake and very lightly sweetened whipped cream. The cake tastes best just lightly chilled, so let it warm up a bit after removing it from the refrigerator.

Get the Recipe: St. Patrick's Day Lime Poke Cake

Guinness Floats with Whiskey Whipped Cream

Ree whisks heavy cream, Irish whiskey and sugar together to make the delectable whipped cream that tops her Guinness floats. It's so delicious, we won't blame you if you scrape the bowl clean after making it!

Get the Recipe: Guinness Floats with Whiskey Whipped Cream

Rainbow Bundt Cake

This whimsical rainbow cake doesn't require any special equipment — just a simple Bundt pan. Dyed shredded coconut achieves those iconic ROYGBIV blocks of color — so no painstaking decorating necessary.

Get the Recipe: Rainbow Bundt Cake

Chocolate Beer Cake

Stout's malty and roasted cocoa notes are enhanced in this cake with the addition of malted milk powder and Dutch-process cocoa — plus a syrup made with more stout. This sheet cake makes an ideal cake for grown-ups (served with a few pints, of course!).

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Beer Cake

Green Velvet Cupcakes

Everyone's favorite cupcake just got a St. Patrick's Day upgrade! With a touch of green food coloring in the batter and a shower of green sprinkles on top, there's no denying how lucky you are if you get to enjoy one of these sweet treats!

Get the Recipe: Green Velvet Cupcakes

Irish Cream Jelly Shots

An old-school spiked coffee drink just got an update. These boozy jelly shots have everything the cocktail does — coffee, Baileys and whipped cream. Cut them into squares or use a small shamrock cookie cutter for good luck.

Get the Recipe: Irish Cream Jelly Shots

St. Patrick's Day Mint Shakes

Milkshakes, like other simple concoctions, are only as good as their ingredients, so use high-quality ice cream and vanilla extract. Combining peppermint extract and vanilla ice cream gives the drink an extra-refreshing, minty flavor you wouldn't get from using regular mint chip ice cream.

Get the Recipe: St. Patrick's Day Mint Shakes

Chocolate Stout Bundt Cake

Not all beer needs to go in a glass: Maybe it's just us, but we'd rather partake in stout when it's flavoring a rich chocolately cake.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Stout Bundt Cake

Rainbow Cupcakes

These showstopping cupcakes are going to be the centerpiece of your St. Paddy's celebration. Layers of dyed cupcake batter make it easier than you think. And no one's going to be looking for a pot of gold when the rainbows is this sweet!

Get the Recipe: Rainbow Cupcakes

Guinness Sundaes

Take your sundae game to a new level with this super easy sypup made out of beer and sugar. You might want to bookmark this one because you'll want it year-round.

Get the Recipe: Guinness Sundaes

Pot O' Cold

What happens when you add homemade biscotti and ice cream to an Irish coffee? Magic. And this wonderfully seasonal take on the classic affogato.

Get the Recipe: Pot O' Cold

Guinness Float

Make homemade Baileys Irish Cream and Irish whiskey-spiked ice cream to top off this Guinness Float.

Get the Recipe: Guinness Float

On Tonight

St. Patrick's Day