How To Bake Deliciously Festive Gingerbread Cupcakes!
Saturday, November 27, 2021AD - This post contains affiliate links. I recieve a small commission per purchase at no extra cost to you. Please read my disclaimer for more details!
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, so it's time to start the Christmas baking! Gingerbread is a warm and cosy flavour. I love having gingerbread over the festive period as it's great after a meal. If you love gingerbread, here's how to make a delicious gingerbread cupcake, perfect for the whole family! This recipe is simple to make, tasty and the whole family will love these cupcakes, especially with a glass of Bailey's!
Why Make A Gingerbread Cupcake?
I love Christmas, and baking is something that brings me a lot of joy. I wanted to create a cupcake that is warm and tasty, perfect for with winter months. Christmas is a happy time of year, and I wanted to capture the flavours in a cupcake. I decided to use gingerbread as my Christmas flavour because it brings back a lot of memories. It's also something that the whole family can enjoy. I'd highly recommend serving these at a Christmas party to spread the love. If you're looking for a more traditional or cultural dessert to serve, there are lots of delicious options on Marcellina in Cucina. She shares lots of Italian recipes for those with both a sweet or savoury tooth!
Ingredients You'll Need
- 180g room temperature butter
- 120g golden caster sugar
- 60g brown sugar
- 180g self-raising flour
- Two teaspoons mixed spice
- One teaspoons cinnamon
- 1.5 teaspoons ginger
- A splash of milk
- A drop of caramel extract
How To Bake The Gingerbread Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to fan oven 180C/ 350F/ Gas oven 4 before mixing the ingredients
- Cream together the butter and both types of sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. I'd recommend using a hand whisk or kitchen aide instead of a spoon
- Sift in half of the flour and mix well. Bit by bit, mix in the rest of the flour until fully combined
- Crack in both the eggs, caramel extract and add the splash of milk. Whisk the mix until fully combined
- Add the spices into the bowl and mix well. The mixture should be light and fluffy. I like to tilt the bowl slightly while whisking to let in a bit of air and make the cake fluffier. You don't want to put too much air into the mixture
- Using an ice cream scoop, scoop one load of the mixture into a cupcake case. It should perfectly fill up 12 muffin cases or one cake tin layer. To make your muffins more special, you could use gingerbread or Christmas themed cases!
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. The cakes should come out a golden colour due to the sugar and spices. To check the cakes are cooked, use a cake tester. It should come out clean. If you gently push on the top, the cake should spring back too
- Leave the gingerbread muffins in the tray to cool before decorating. You want to make sure they are completely cool before decorating
What You'll Need For The Frosting
- One tub cream cheese frosting or vanilla frosting
- Gingerbread/Christmas themed sugar toppers
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- A splash of caramel extract
or
- 250g icing sugar
- 125g room temperature butter
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- A splash of caramel extract
- A splash of milk
- Gingerbread/Christmas themed sugar toppers
How To Make The Gingerbread Frosting
- Spoon a tub of pre-made icing into a mixing bowl and whisk until light and fluffy. Personally, I like to whisk my Betty Crocker icing before use as it makes it fluffier and creamier
- Sprinkle in the mixed spice and add a splash of caramel extract
- Continue to whisk until well combined and creamy
- Spoon into a piping back with a star nozzle. I used a piping tip similar to the Wilton 1B. Piping tip - use a tall glass to hold your piping bag open. It lets you spoon in your frosting deeper to avoid wasting any!
- Swirl the frosting onto the top of a cupcake and top with a sugar decoration of your choice!
- Enjoy the cupcake with a glass of Bailey's on a cold, festive night!
or
- In a bowl, whisk together the butter and the icing sugar. You'll want to do this bit by bit to avoid the icing sugar going everywhere!
- Add in the mixed spice and caramel extract and whisk until well combined. You can add extra mixed spice or ginger to suit your personal preferences
- If your icing is quite thick, you can add a splash of milk to make it creamier
- Spoon your mixture into a piping back and swirl onto the top of each cooled cupcake
- Top with a sugar decoration or mini gingerbread man to finish. You can also decorate with sprinkles or rice paper toppers
- Enjoy the cupcake with a glass of Bailey's on a cold, festive night!
Alternatives To Try
Fancy something a little different with your cupcakes? Here are some creative alternatives you can try to make your muffins a little bit fancier! I love experimenting with this recipe, and here are some ways I have found to enhance the flavours a bit better!
Bake your own gingerbread men - If you love gingerbread, you could try to make little gingerbread men to stick on the top of the cakes. I opted for the easy option of decorating mine with pre-made sugar decorations. If you don't have time, you could buy some little gingerbread people from the supermarket!
Add some extra spice - If you like brown sugar cupcakes, you could add more brown sugar and reduce the amount of caster sugar. Make sure you keep the 180g of sugar, but you can alter the taste slightly by changing the quantities of each.
Try other decorations - You could add other sugar decorations instead of gingerbread men. I have seen lots of adorable Christmas toppers come into the shops recently. If you don't want sugar decorations, why not try sprinkles, glace cherries or white chocolate! You could also crush up a gingerbread person and sprinkle that on top.
Change the frosting - I didn't have butter when I originally created the frosting, so I used a Betty Crocker vanilla buttercream. I've included both in the recipe above, but both are gingerbread themed. You could make a white chocolate or vanilla buttercream to top the cupcakes. Both would taste great.
Final Thoughts
This recipe turned out better than I expected. The cupcake was fluffy, and the flavours were warm and comforting. I'd highly recommend you bake this recipe for a Christmas party. It's easy to make and captures the magic of Christmas in each bite. I like the flavour of the frosting, but you can customise it to suit your taste. I think white chocolate or cream cheese frosting would work equally as well. I couldn't find little gingerbread sugar toppers at my local supermarket, but they are about if you didn't want to use a polar bear. There are so many ways to change up the recipe. It's worth trying this festive season! Once made, you can store these cupcakes in an airtight container for up to a week - but I'm sure they won't last that long anyway!
I love cupcakes, and this cupcake hits the spot. It has all the right flavours without being too overwhelming. I love how fluffy and warm the cake came out, perfect with a cup of coffee on a cold afternoon. I thought it looked cute with the polar bear toppers, but you could decorate the cupcakes however you wish. If you bake this recipe, I'd love to see what creations you come up with! Please send me your pictures on Instagram or Twitter.
4 comments
Ooh these look delicious - I love the addition of the snowman, too! I absolutely love gingerbread but I've never actually tried a gingerbread cupcake, so maybe this will be the year. Thank you so much for sharing, I can't wait to give these a go x
ReplyDeleteWow! I didn't know there was such a thing as gingerbread cupcakes. It sounds like such a good idea and these cupcakes look absolutely delicious. I would love to give them a try.
ReplyDeleteThese cupcakes are so attractive and festive! Anything gingerbread this time of year adds a little warmth and spice to baked goods, and the decorations on these cupcakes make them perfect to take to a holiday party.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
These cupcakes are too cute! Love the polar bear and snowman toppers.Thank you so much for sharing - pinned for later!
ReplyDelete