Gingerbread Cupcakes

These spiced gingerbread cupcakes are topped with a creamy gingerbread buttercream for the perfect treat during the holidays!

These gingerbread cupcakes are perfectly spiced and a deliciously festive holiday dessert.

About the Gingerbread Cupcake Recipe Ingredients:

Here’s what you’ll need to make and decorate the Gingerbread Cupcakes: 

• Flour: Use All-purpose flour or your favourite 1:1 flour. Spoon and level the flour when measuring it, otherwise you’ll wind up with dense cupcakes.
• Sugar: Use either light or dark brown sugar to sweeten things up, it also helps to add a little moisture into the cake.
• Spices: Make sure to use ground spices for this recipe.
• Baking soda: Helps the cupcakes rise in the oven. Make sure to test for effectiveness before using if you’ve had it longer than 6 months.
• Baking Powder: Also helps the cupcakes rise. Make sure to test for effectiveness before using if you’ve had it longer than 6 months.
• Salt: Balances out the flavor of the batter. 
• Eggs: Bring to room temperature before baking with eggs if possible. They mix better and the batter will rise better.
• Milk: I use buttermilk because it helps give the cake a more tender crumb, but feel free to use any milk you have on hand.
• Vanilla Extract: It adds fabulous flavour to the batter and helps to bring out the flavours of other ingredients too!
• Butter: Adds more flavour to the batter, and the dryness butter usually creates in cakes is balanced with the brown sugar and molasses.
• Molasses: Brings all that deep gingerbread flavour to the cake as well as some moisture.
• Frosting: I love the slightly spiced gingerbread buttercream used here but feel free to use use your favourite cream cheese frosting instead.
• Topper: I used my favourite homemade gingerbread cookie recipe here.

Looking for more fun Christmas Cupcake Recipes?

Check out some of my favourite holiday cupcakes:

Santa Claus Cupcakes

Santa Hat Cupcakes

Sugar Cookie North Pole Cupcakes

Christmas Tree Cupcakes

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice

For the Gingerbread Buttercream:

1 cup Butter, softened
3 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Tbsp Molsasses
1/2 tsp ginger, ground

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl.

Mix in the egg, molasses, and vanilla until combined.

In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.

With the mixer on low speed, beat in half the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined and scrape down the sides.

Pour in the milk and then the last of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the paper liners about 2/4 of the way full.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.

Meanwhile, cream the butter then whip in molasses and ground ginger.

Mix in powdered sugar until well combined.

If buttercream is too thick thin it out with a little milk until you get your desired consistency.

Spread or pipe over cooled cupcakes.

Top your gingerbread cupcakes off with delicious homemade gingerbread men!