Irresistibly Fun and Easy Gingerbread Cupcakes

It’s been a while since I shared a new cupcake recipe with you! I’ve been working on this gingerbread cupcake recipe for a few weeks, and have been doing lots of taste testing haha! This is the perfect holiday party recipe, because the cupcakes are such a traditional Christmas dessert flavor, but in a new form. I also love that when I serve them as mini cupcakes they’re so easy for people to eat in a party setting.

What I found interesting in making these cupcakes is that I needed to tone down the traditional spices quite a bit compared to what you would find in a gingerbread cookie recipe. Now they’re still definitely present, prominent and flavorful, but not overwhelming.

My other “secret” ingredient is coffee. I tested this recipe with milk, buttermilk, water, eggnog (not even kidding haha!), and coffee. They all turned out well, but using coffee added a delicious level of richness and depth to the gingerbread flavor that I loved.

Aren’t the sprinkles on these so fun? I can’t not mention them, because I think they’re so cute! They’re such a perfect finishing touch and really elevate the final product. When I served these cupcakes this past weekend, so many people commented on how cute the sprinkles are. 

Makes approximately 12 regular cupcakes or 36 mini cupcakes

Gingerbread Cupcake Ingredients: 

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup coffee
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients: 

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
8 oz full-fat cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350, and line two mini cupcake tins with liners.

Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through cloves, and set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, molasses and coffee, mixing until combined. Your batter will look kind of piecy at this stage, and that’s ok! It will all come together in the next step.

Add the dry ingredients in two batches, mixing on low speed until just combined and making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl often.

Fill mini cupcake liners about 2/3 full each of the batter, and bake for 7-9 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting: beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing on low. Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

At this point you can add a little more powdered sugar if the frosting needs to be thicker, or a little bit of milk if it’s too thick. Beat on high for a few minutes to fluff up the frosting, and then fill a piping bag and frost your completely cooled cupcakes.