Gingerbread Cupcakes: Could they be Perfect?

Gingerbread cupcakes are perfect for the holidays. Upon tasting the gingerbread cupcakes, Groom 1.0 stated that he thought they would be perfect for their wedding and even though he hadn't tried the many cupcakes that were still to come these gingerbread cupcakes would likely make the cut.

The only complaint that everyone had was that I didn't put enough icing on each gingerbread cupcake. They looked cute, but more icing was needed.

Gingerbread Cupcake Recipe

I found a recipe for gingerbread cupcakes on allrecipes and decided to give it a go. This was only a four star recipe but the reason everyone gave for 4 and not 5 stars was that the icing wasn't good. I ditched their icing and decided to make a variation on the icing I made for the chocolate chai spice cupcakes.

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 5 T unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 1/2 C unsulfured molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1 T cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 t ground ginger
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground allspice
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 C hot milk
  

1. Cream 5 tablespoons of the butter with the white sugar.
   
2. Add the molasses and the egg and egg yolk.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt.
   
4. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk.
   
5. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined.
   
6. Stir in the hot milk mixture.
7. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
8. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when touched.

Gingerbread Frosting

As I said above this recipe came from modifying the frosting recipe Chockylit used in her chocolate chai cupcakes.

• 1/2 t cocoa powder
• 1/2 t allspice
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t cinnamon, ground
• 1/4 t ginger, ground
• 1 C (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
  
• 4-5 C powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 C milk
• 2 t minced fresh ginger

1. Mix the spices in a small bowl.
   
2. Beat butter until creamy, scrape bowl.
3. Add 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar, milk, spice mix, and ginger. Beat until combined.
4. Add more powdered sugar as needed to get piping consistency.

The Gingerbread Man Sprinkle

On top of the frosting I placed a solitary gingerbread man sprinkle. I was really excited to find these online at Shop Bakers Nook.

Chocolate Chai Spice: The First Cupcakes

First things first, to begin the project I went out and bought some supplies. I decided I would make 24 cupcakes in each test batch so I would need to buy a second muffin tin. I also was definitely going to want to play with piping icing so I needed a pastry bag. I ended up finding some disposable ones at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. The less cleanup the better. I'll assume they work as well as non disposable ones unless someone tells me otherwise.

Then to pick the first recipe. I could tell this was going to be the fun part of the project. There are so many recipes out there to choose from. I had a blast exploring.

I decided to start with chocolate chai spice cupcakes from a cupcake blog that a friend had told me about. This woman makes some amazing stuff and it all looks so pretty.

They turned out great! Phew. I feared that if my first cupcake was a flop, I might lose my job. :) They had just the right amount of kick to compliment the chocolateness. Having virtually no experience with piping icing, I was also very surprised at how easy that went.