Money Cakes

Make Cupcakes with a Hidden Treasure Inside
My grandma used to make a money cake every year on my birthday. I decided St. Paddy's Day was the perfect time to reinstate the tradition. After all, those sneaky little leprechauns like shiny golden coins, no? Here's the gist of the money cake tradition: Grandma would scrub up all her special coins (silver dollars, fifty cent pieces, etc.), wrap them in wax paper and bake them into a birthday cake. The birthday kid chooses his/her piece of cake first; whatever they find in their slice of cake is theirs to keep.

My version is a tiny bit different. Cupcakes. Each baked with a shiny gold dollar inside; and topped off with a chocolate gold coin as a hint at what's inside. We'll devour a few ourselves and deliver others to our friends. If you're not totally grossed out by the thought of baking money into a cake, here's a quick how-to: