Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Can you think of a more festive and tasty way to welcome December than with soft and fluffy gingerbread cupcakes? These are outrageously moist and tender cupcakes packed full of seasonal spices and flavor. We’ll be topping them with a brown sugar and cinnamon spiced variation of my cream cheese frosting, and it complements the cozy, classic gingerbread flavor so well! If this gingerbread cupcake recipe looks a bit familiar that’s because this is actually an update of an older recipe. While the original was one I was proud of, over the years I felt I could improve upon it. Some people struggled with cupcakes that dipped in on themselves as they cooled, so I wanted a slightly sturdier cupcake that would yield a domed top and could hold its own under a mountain of frosting. ✅✅ And, speaking of frosting, this recipe really does make a mountain. As written, this recipe will make more than enough to cover every cupcake as is shown in photos. If you don’t like a lot of frosting you can cut the recipe in half (or double the cupcakes!).
What You Need
There are quite a few ingredients in the photos above, so let me highlight some important ones:
Molasses. This is a critical gingerbread ingredient! Molasses adds sweetness, but also acidity; a humble but distinct bite that will permeate the cupcakes (and your kitchen! Gingerbread cupcakes smell amazing as they bake!). Use an unsulphered molasses and do NOT use blackstrap molasses, which has a bitter flavor.Brown sugar. We’ve already spoken about the importance of molasses and the cupcakes contain more than a drizzle in their batter, but we’re going to up the ante a bit by also using dark brown sugar, which is made with more molasses than its light brown and granulated counterparts. For the frosting, we want to keep things from being too rich or too sweet and will use just light brown sugar there. Very hot water. Boiling would be even better, just be careful not to splash yourself! We’re adding just a small amount to help bloom the spices and molasses (similar to blooming cocoa powder). This helps infuse a rich, pronounced gingerbread flavor. Sour cream. This is a new favorite cake ingredient of mine, recently debuted in my yellow cake recipe. It makes the crumb soft, moist, and tender (and no, not sour). You could also substitute plain, full-fat Greek yogurt.Cream cheese. Use brick-style, full-fat cream cheese in the frosting. Do NOT using the kind sold in tubs (your frosting won’t set up properly if you do).
SAM’S TIP: Your batter will be quite stiff and dry after you add the butter and oil–this is normal. It will start to thin out once you add the molasses (I switch to a mixer for this part, but with a little elbow grease you could make this entirely by hand). Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Gingerbread Cupcakes
SAM’S TIP: I love using an ice cream scoop to portion the batter into cupcake liners. It makes the process super easy, quick, and clean! Can’t get enough gingerbread? Try my gingerbread cookies or gingerbread cookie bars! Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
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