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Fresh Gingerbread Cupcakes

Fresh Gingerbread Cupcakes

Print Recipe
All the warm flavors of the holiday season packed into one bitesize cupcake.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword butter, Eggs, Holiday recipes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

  • ½ cup 110 g unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ 100 g cup sugar (brown, granulated or Demerara all work great)
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup 120 mL molasses or black treacle
  • 3 tbsp 50 g freshly grated ginger, packed
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2/3 cup 160 mL Guinness (water or buttermilk can be substituted for a non-alcoholic version)
  • 1 and 1/3 cup 170 g all-purpose flour

For the icing:

  • ½ cup 110 g unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup 110 g cream cheese (a firm kind, try to avoid an easily spreadable one)
  • 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups 240 g icing sugar

Instructions

To make the cupcakes:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C and line a 12-cup muffin tray with cupcake liners.
  • In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Add in the egg and molasses and continue to blend.
  • Stir in the ginger, making sure to mix well so that it is evenly distributed throughout the batter.
  • Toss in the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  • Alternate the Guinness and the flour in three batches, starting with the Guinness and ending with the flour. The mixture will clump slightly, but it will come together once everything is incorporated.
  • Spoon the batter into the muffin liners. Using an ice-cream scoop to do this ensures even amounts of batter for each cupcake.
  • Bake for roughly 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  • Cool completely before frosting.

To make the icing:

  • Beat together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy.
  • Add the lemon and continue to mix.
  • Slowly add in the confectioners’ sugar, tasting to ensure good flavor. You may add less based on the texture of the sugar- the more sugar you add, the less stiff cream cheese icing becomes. 1 ½ to 2 cups is perfect for me.
  • Finally, blend in the vanilla extract.
  • For a fancy finish, spoon the icing into a piping bag, snip off the end and pipe dollops of frosting atop the beautifully browned cupcake.
  • Top with crumbled up cupcake or sprinkles.

Notes

Control recipe from Taste of Home, frosting adapted from The Food Network