A balanced blend of cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg create warm and flavorful spice cupcakes topped with homemade subtly sweet cream cheese frosting.

Garnishing these light and fluffy cupcakes is a light sprinkle of cinnamon. The perfect dessert for the cooler months and pair perfectly with the scents and flavors of fall.

Ingredients in Spice Cupcake Made From Scratch

This cupcake is simple to make and uses ingredients that can be found at any local grocery store.

• All-purposes flour- spooned and leveled. The spoon and level method reduces the amount of flour that good into your baked goods. You end up putting up to 50% more flour than what is needed in recipes when just scooping.
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground ginger
• Ground allspice
• Ground cloves
• Nutmeg
• Unsalted butter – softened. Softened butter creams together with the sugars more easily that using cold butter. It also helps create a tender baked good.
• Granulated sugar
• Light brown sugar
• Sour cream – sour cream lightens the cupcake batter and makes the cupcakes tender
• Eggs – room temp. Room temperature eggs blend into the sugar mixture easier and better.
• Vanilla extract

RELATED: Sour Cream Coffee Cake

How to Make Spice Cupcakes From Scratch

Making these cupcakes from scratch is easy and the trick is to not over mix the cupcake batter. Working with room-temperature ingredients also makes the process easier.

Set the oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.

The unsalted butter is beaten until creamy using a hand mixer or stand mixer. Once the butter is broken down, add the granulated and brown sugar and beat until well mixed.

The vanilla extract and eggs are beaten into the butter mixture until creamy and well combined

In a separate bowl, sift together the spooned & leveled all-purpose flour together with the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. The spice mixture consisting of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice is also sifted in.

Slowly beat half of the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and beat in the sour cream. Beat until just combined.

Beat in the remaining dry ingredients until the dry mixture is moistened. Do not over mix the batter. This will result in dense and dry cupcakes.

Bake in the preheated oven for 23-25 minutes. Check the center of a cupcake with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the cupcakes are done. If it is still wet, bake for a couple of more minutes. The tops of the cupcakes should also spring back after lightly touching the tops.

Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting to prevent the cream cheese icing from melting into the cupcakes. It takes some patience but it is worth it to prevent frosting that melts on top of your cupcakes!

RELATED: Apple Crumb Coffee Cake

Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting

This recipe for cream cheese frosting is subtly sweet. It is balanced well with the amount of unsalted butter and cream cheese.

Room temperature butter is beaten until creamy. Once the butter is creamy, the room temperature cream cheese is blended into the butter until smooth.

Vanilla extract, as well as salt, are then blended into the mixture.

The confectioner’s sugar is then slowly beat into the mixture. If needed, add one to two tablespoons of milk to make it creamy enough to frost. If piping, having the frosting on the stiffer side will make the frosting keep its shape. Add some cornstarch to the frosting to make it stiffer without making it sweeter.

Ground cinnamon is lightly sprinkled onto the decorated cupcakes to add a warm flavor to the cream cheese but it is optional.