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.
📖 Recipe
Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Spice Cupcakes
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup unsalted butter - softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar - packed
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs - room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter - room temp
- 8 oz cream cheese - room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1-2 tablespoon of milk - as needed
- Dust with cinnamon
Instructions
Spice Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350
- Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners
- Sift together the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice together in a bowl.
- Beat the softened butter and sugars together in a large bowl and beat until creamy.
- Beat in the eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy.
- Beat in half of the dry mixture and add in the sour cream.
- Mix the remaining dry mixture into the batter until just incorporated. Do not over mix
- Bake in the preheated oven for 23-25 minutes.
- Check the center of the cupcakes with a toothpick to check if they are done. The toothpick should come out dry.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack until completely cool before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat the room temperature butter until creamy and beat in the cream cheese until well combined and smooth.
- Beat in the vanilla and the salt.
- Slowly beat in the confectioner's sugar until the frosting and smooth.
- If needed, add in one to two tablespoons of milk to thin the frosting.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on third-party calculations. Actual values may vary due to ingredients, measurements, and serving sizes.
© Mama Needs Cake
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Dana is an experienced recipe creator who crafts easy and delicious recipes for all levels of home cooks.
Her recipes range from classic comfort foods to healthy and nutritious meals, and she is always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to bring flavor and variety to the table.
Gloria says
I remember spice cake as a kid. This is the perfect time of year for these tasty cupcakes. Great for Thanksiving.
Amanda Dixon says
These spice cupcakes are perfect for fall baking! They came out wonderfully soft and moist and had just the right kick of spice. I'll want to make them again and again!
Claudia Lamascolo says
very flavorful I love the spices in these one of my favorite kind of cupcake!perfect for fall!
Louise says
These were just delicious! The perfect fall recipe.
I made them for a brunch with the girls and everyone loved them 🙂
Julie says
YES! These cupcakes are perfection. So fluffy and the icing is cream cheese heaven. Perfect for fall.
Natalie says
Gorgeous cupcakes. I love all the spices you used here. Sounds so seasonal and delicious. And that frosting?! Oh, my.. yum! I can't wait to make this.
Gail Montero says
I love that you loaded this up with so many of my favorite fall spices! Deliciousness in every bite!
Ann says
These cupcakes turned out delicious! I love a spice cake recipe, takes me back to my childhood! I will definitely make these again!
Sam says
These were wonderful. I made 12 the first time and they overflowed. Second batch, I made 21 and they were perfect. I filled mine with a pumpkin cream cheese filling too. Took them into work and most people came back for seconds.
Anna says
Can these be made a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator? Thinking about making for thanksgiving but don’t want to sign myself up for too many things day off.
Thank you!
Dana says
Yes, you can easily do that! I'd allow them to sit out to come to room temperature before serving though 🙂
Rene says
The cupcake was pretty dense and dry.
Matt says
My batter was very thick and a bit sticky. Is that what I should expect? Tricky getting into the cupcake liners.
Monique says
Can I use self _rising flour for this cupcake recipe
Dana says
Yes, you can.
Lauren E says
Thanks for this! I tried making them and they turned out a bit dense but incredibly delicious! I don't think I mixed the butter and sugar enough; I mixed them on medium for about a minute until they were combined.
For anyone else doing this recipe I would recommend cutting the frosting recipe in half unless you're obsessed with cream cheese frosting. Even after I halved it, I only used about 2/3rds of the batch. However, I didn't pipe them I used a knife and put a decent sized blob on each.
I will be making these again soon!
Courtney says
I made the cupcake exactly as written and it's one of the best I've ever had... Very moist but doesn't fall apart, still has substance. The spice blend is perfect to me. This would be a great carrot cake base I think. I did not use the cream cheese frosting recipe. Instead I'm making a maple buttercream. These will be at Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Happy holidays!
(Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!)
Dana says
I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Courtney! The maple buttercream sounds delicious with these cupcakes! 🙂
Jamie says
Hi there,
Love these cupcakes! Is there any difference in the recipe to make this into a 9 inch round double layer cake? And would the cook time be around 30 to 35 minutes?
Vikki Flaherty says
Great spice cake recipe. Believe it or not my son's favorite birthday cake is spice cake with peanut butter frosting! For his past birthday I made the spice cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. My husband and I love it too.
Dana says
That combination sounds amazing!
Sarena Conrad says
Absolutely delicious! Even with my 3 and 5 year old helping bake and haphazardly measuring ingredients! Will definitely make again <3
Dana says
Kids in the kitchen is the best thing ever! Thanks so much for sharing and I'm happy you loved the cupcakes!
rose says
great recipe but it made more than was said so i wasted batter which was horrible
Kim says
What did I do wrong? I followed the recipe exactly but the batter cane out thick. When baking, the cupcake baked over the edges of the cup and then flattened. Upon taste, the spices tasted wonderful but they fell apart and realized they had way too much butter. The liners were greasy. I reviewed the recipe several times and am certain I used the correct portions of all ingredients. I think I have to throw them out.
Dana says
That’s so frustrating when that happens! The water content in the butter can affect how baked goods turn out, and the freshness of the baking powder and baking soda can make a big difference in how the cupcakes rise. It sounds like you did everything right, sometimes ingredients just behave differently. 💛