Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
These festive Gingerbread Cupcakes are perfectly spiced and ready in just 30 minutes! Serve them hot right out of the oven or enjoy them with our dreamy cinnamon cream cheese frosting!
Key ingredients
- Brown sugar: Both dark and light brown sugar will work for this recipe. Brown sugar adds a rich flavor to the cupcakes and pairs well with the gingerbread flavor.
- Molasses: Unsulfured molasses adds a sweet, intense flavor to the cupcakes. Make sure to avoid blackstrap molasses, which has a bitter taste.
- Flour: To get perfectly tender cupcakes, it’s important to measure the flour accurately. Be sure to spoon and level the flour into your measuring cup to avoid compacting it, which could result in dense cupcakes.
- Spices: I use a combination of ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves to get the perfect amount of spice. Feel free to adjust to taste.
- Baking powder and soda: A combination of both baking powder and soda give these cupcakes a tender and fluffy texture.
Step by step instructions
- Beat butter and brown sugar until smooth.
- Mix in egg, then molasses, milk, and vanilla.
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and gradually mix into wet ingredients.
- Divide batter evenly into liners and bake for 18–20 minutes.
Storage
Frosted gingerbread cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Unfrosted cupcakes can also be stored in the freezer for up 3 months. Thaw before frosting.
Expert tips and tricks
- Check for doneness early. Start checking the cupcakes at 18 minutes by inserting a toothpick into the center. A few moist crumbs are fine, but wet batter means they need more time.
- Adjust the powdered sugar in the the frosting to taste. I recommend adding the powdered sugar one cup (120 g) at a time. For these particular cupcakes I used about 3.5 cups of powdered sugar, as I wanted the frosting to be quite stiff when I piped it onto the cupcakes. If you want to spread the frosting on with a knife, 2-3 cups of sugar would give you a lighter consistency.
- Pipe the frosting for decorative swirls. For the cupcakes in the photos, I used a Wilton open star tip 1M. While I generally have piping bags on hand, a ziplock bag with the corner cut off would also get the job done. And if you’d rather, definitely feel free to use a knife or spatula to swirl the creamy frosting on top.
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Gingerbread Cupcakes Recipe
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Global
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cupcakes
- 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (140 grams) molasses
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups (180 grams) all purpose flour, spooned and leveled*
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 8 ounces (225 grams) cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3–4 cups (350–450 grams) powdered sugar
Instructions
Gingerbread Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a muffin tin with 12 liners.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Beat in the egg until combined.
- Add the molasses, milk and vanilla extract and continue beating until incorporated.
- In a separate bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat until well combined.
- Distribute the mixture evenly among the 12 muffin liners and bake for 18-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out mostly clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.
- Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon and continue beating.
- Add the powdered sugar 1 cup (120 grams) at a time and continue beating until smooth. Continue adding powdered sugar until you reach your desired level of thickness and sweetness. I used 3.5 cups (400 grams) of powdered sugar for this batch.
- Use a knife to spread frosting onto the cupcakes or a piping bag to decorate.
Notes
Spooned and leveled: I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to measure flour. If measuring by volume, use the spoon and level method to avoid over-measuring the flour. Lightly spoon flour into the measuring cup until it’s completely full. Then run the back of a knife over the cup to gently scrape off any excess.
Storage: Frosted cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
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