Gingerbread Cupcakes

Gingerbread Cupcakes with a Cinnamon Brown Sugar Buttercream, Topped with a Little Gingerbread Man Cookie

So when my little brother (who is not so little at 6'5"), heard about my plan to make eggnog cupcakes for Christmas, he told me no one likes eggnog (soooo not true!) and that I should make something else.

Then he proceed to ask me why I had not made a second attempt at shipping him cupcakes (see my first attempt). As you can see from my first attempt, shipping cupcakes to Texas did not prove as easy as expected.

I did however, attempt to ship cupcakes a second time....they just didn't make it to the shipping part! I had this great idea of making Mountain Dew cupcakes, because what college freshman doesn't live on Mountain Dew and video games? But I ended up with just an OK cupcake with a blob of melted mountain dew frosting. I guess the carbonation from the soda destroyed the icing's ability to hold it shape and look pretty. Needless to say, I tried to forget this failed cupcake and did not blog about it, much less ship it!

Anyways....when I began listing off other Christmas themed cupcakes I could make, he settled reluctantly on gingerbread. Probably because all the others were just as bad as eggnog in his eyes.

Well, I am so glad I decided to make a second cupcake!

So here it is:

The Gingerbread Cupcake (from Tidy Mom)
Made 14 cupcakes.

• 1/2 cup canola oil 
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1/2 cup molasses 
• 1 egg, room temp and beaten 
• 1-1/2 cup flour 
• 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 
• 1/2 cup boiling water 
• 1/2 tablespoon baking soda 


1. Preheat oven to 350° and line muffin tins with baking cups.

2. In mixing bowl, using whisk attachment, combine oil, sugar, and molasses; then add beaten egg until well mixed.

3. In a medium bowl whisk flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and cloves. Whisk into molasses mixture until well combined.

4. Boil water and remove from heat. Add baking soda and whisk into batter.

5. Fill baking cups 2/3 full and bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Set aside to cool.

6. Top with brown sugar butter cream. Garnish with gingerbread man cookie.

The Cinnamon Brown Sugar Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter (softened) 
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening 
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed 
• 1 pinch of salt 
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 3 cups powdered sugar 
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk butter and shortening until fluffy. Add brown sugar, salt, vanilla and cinnamon. 
2. Continue mixing until well blended. Gradually add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Until you have a very thick gooey mixture. 
3. On the highest speed of your mixer, stream in the heavy whipping cream pouring nice and slow until desired consistency. 

The Little Gingerbread Man  (from food for my family)
This makes A LOT of dough, I halved it and still had twice as much as I needed!

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup molasses

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream together brown sugar and butter in a stand mixer for 2 minutes. 
3. Add in eggs and molasses and stir until combined. 
4. Mix in flour and spices and mix until a soft dough forms and the dry ingredients are incorporated. 
5. Split the dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
6. Lightly flour a flat surface. Roll out gingerbread dough and cut into shapes and then place on a baking sheet. 
7. Preheat oven to 350º F and chill the dough on the baking sheet while the oven preheats. 
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges just start to brown. Allow to cool completely. 

I have to say these were AMAZING! I wish I made more of them! The cinnamon brown sugar frosting complimented the gingerbread perfectly!