Cupcakes with delicious gingerbread spices. Topping this gingerbread classic flavor is a spiced buttercream frosting.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Gingerbread is a popular flavor in the Fall and Winter months and it's especially loved in adorably decorated gingerbread men. Much like the well-known cookies, these cupcakes are made with the classic flavors found around Thanksgiving and Christmas time.

With the spices of ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon, these cupcakes are comforting, heart-warming, and absolutely delicious.

It's incredibly easy to make these cupcakes! The melted butter and molasses keep these cupcakes moist from start to finish.

Once all the ingredients are combined, the water is slowly added to blend into the mixture. This recipe makes 12 cupcakes and it's a good idea to either line the muffin tin with cupcake liners or grease the cavities well.

The batter gets equally distributed among all 12 cavities and filled to the rim. This will produce beautiful and tall cupcakes.

Gingerbread Cupcakes topped with a spiced buttercream frosting on a white dessert plate with two cinnamon sticks.

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese pairs wonderfully with gingerbread and even more so when it's spiced with the flavor of cloves. A little bit of cloves goes a long way to produce lots of flavor. There is only half of a teaspoon of ground cloves in this cream cheese frosting and it's so good!

Always start with room temperature ingredients when making a cream cheese or buttercream frosting. That way, you aren't stuck in the kitchen trying to break down small bits of cream cheese or butter.

Working with chilled or cold ingredients will make it harder to pipe as well because of the small bits and lumps of the ingredients not creating a smooth and creamy frosting.

Unfrosted gingerbread cupcakes resting on a wire rack with cinnamon sticks.

Make these Cupcakes into Pumpkin Gingerbread Cupcakes

By adding one simple ingredient to this mix and additional spices in the cream cheese frosting, you can turn these already delicious cupcakes into pumpkin gingerbread cupcakes.

It's a great and tasty way to spruce up these already flavorful cupcakes by adding real pumpkin to the batter!

Gingerbread cupcakes in brown wrappers piped with spiced buttercream on a metal cooling rack.

📖 Recipe

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Name: Gingerbread Cupcakes
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 17 min
Total time: 27 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour; 1 egg; 1 teaspoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon ground cloves; 2 teaspoon ground ginger; ¼ teaspoon nutmeg; 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon; ½ cup unsalted butter, melted; ½ cup brown sugar, packed; ½ cup molasses; ½ cup water; 8 oz cream cheese, softened; ½ cup unsalted butter, softened; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; ½ teaspoon ground cloves; 4 cups confectioner's sugar; 1 tablespoon milk

Cupcakes with delicious gingerbread spices. Topping this gingerbread classic flavor is a spiced buttercream frosting.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 17 minutes

Total Time 27 minutes

Ingredients

Pumpkin Gingerbread Cupcakes

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
½ cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup molasses
½ cup water

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground cloves
4 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon milk

Instructions

Pumpkin Gingerbread Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350° and line a muffin tin with 12 liners. Alternatively, you can grease the muffin tin well.
Beat together the melted butter, molasses, and brown sugar.
Add in the egg and beat until mixed.
Add in the baking soda, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.
Beat in the flour and add the water into the mixture.
Use the batter to fill up the muffin cavities all the way.
Bake in the preheated oven for 18 minutes and remove from oven and allow to cool completely for 20 minutes before frosting.

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat together the softened cream cheese and softened butter.
Add in the vanilla extract and ground cloves
Beat in the confectioner's sugar a little at a time and add the 1 tablespoon of milk to cream it together.

Notes

*1 tablespoon of milk is a starting point. If you want your frosting more creamy, add 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 606Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 75mgSodium: 231mgCarbohydrates: 100gFiber: 1gSugar: 85gProtein: 4g

Nutrition calculation is a rough estimate and can vary depending on the cooking technique and the exact ingredients used. For informational purposes only.