Easy Gingerbread Cupcakes spiced with ginger and cinnamon, topped with a deliciously tangy cream cheese frosting and finished with a decorative gingerbread man biscuit.
I think most people associate the warming smell of freshly baked gingerbread with Christmas and the holidays. The festive aroma that fills the house when these gorgeous little cupcakes are baking is like no other.
I've made a couple of versions of gingerbread cupcakes over the last few days. I originally cut down on the amount of butter and reduced the sugar a bit.
I was left with sad and dry cupcakes so I turned to one of my favourite baking books written by Primhouse Bakery and found a lovely recipe for ginger cupcakes. I did adapt it slightly to suit the ingredients I already had at home and I ended up with really beautiful gingerbread cupcakes. Perfectly balanced with spice and lovely and moist.
Cream cheese frosting
I iced the tops of the cupcakes with a classic cream cheese frosting (as used on this Carrot Cake Bundt) The tang of the cream cheese pairs so well with the spicy ginger and cinnamon. I adore cream cheese icing and could eat it by the spoonful, so I piped oodles on top of the cupcakes and finished them with a tiny gingerbread man.
Aren't they cute?
These cupcakes are very simple and easy to make. I started by gently melting the butter, sugar and treacle in a saucepan then beat in the eggs and milk.
The dry ingredients are all sifted into a big bowl and then the wet ingredients are poured in and mixed into the cupcake batter.
It's as easy at that!
If you'd like to make your own decorations for these cupcakes check out my recipe for Gingerbread Biscuits. They are so quick and easy to make and the biscuit dough doesn't spread so you can achieve perfectly shaped gingerbread men. Why not make a big batch, bag them up and give them away as Christmas presents!
Variations
- The cupcakes can be made without black treacle (molasses). Replace it with golden syrup or corn syrup.
- Substitute the cream cheese frosting for a lemon buttercream, salted caramel icing or cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
- Add pumpkin puree for pumpkin and ginger cupcakes.
- Core the cupcakes and add a filling such as an eggnog cream.
- To make mini cupcakes divide the batter into 30 mini cupcake cases and reduce the baking time by half.
Related recipes
Gingerbread Cupcakes
Easy Gingerbread Cupcakes spiced with ginger and cinnamon, topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting and finished with a gingerbread biscuit.
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cupcakes
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 175 g dark brown soft sugar
- 3 tbsp black treacle , (molasses)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 150 ml milk, whole or semi-skimmed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 300 g self-raising flour
- 2 tsps ground ginger
- 1.5 tsps ground cinnamon
- .5 tsp ground mixed spice, (all spice)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 180 g full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
- 125 g unsalted butter, softned
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 500 g icing sugar
Instructions
To make the Gingerbread Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 180º/160ºFan/gas 4/350ºF line two muffin trays with 18 cupcake cases.
- In a medium sized saucepan set over a very low heat melt the butter, sugar and treacle. Leave it to cool then add the eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Beat well until uniform in colour.
- In a large mixing bowl sift in the flour and spices. Pour in the wet ingredients and beat until thoroughly combined.
- Fill the cupcake cases ⅔ full with the batter. Bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool while you make the frosting.
To make the cream cheese frosting
- Add the cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract to a bowl then beat together until smooth using a hand-held electric whisk or balloon whisk.
- Gradually add the icing sugar and beat until smooth. The consistency should be the same as spreadable butter. Add extra icing sugar a tablespoon at a time if the frosting doesn't feel thcik enough.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with an icing tip. I used a french tip - Wilton 6B. Add a swirl of cream cheese frosting on top of each cupcake and decorate with a mini gingerbread man.
Notes
- Use room temperature milk and eggs for the cupcakes and room temperature butter and cream cheese for the cream cheese frosting.
- I used a Wilton 6B french tip to ice the gingerbread cupcakes.
Storage: Frosted cupcakes should be kept refrigerated and will keep for 3 days. Unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Recipe adapted from Primhouse Bakery.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 18 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 391Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 12gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 42mgCarbohydrates: 53gFiber: 1gSugar: 40gProtein: 3g
Leave a Reply