Skip the Gingerbread Men and Make These Gingerbread Cupcakes

These moist and fluffy gingerbread cupcakes are carefully designed to have beautiful domed tops. My recipe is quick (less than an hour) and includes a cinnamon and brown sugar frosting.

Ingredients
Gingerbread Cupcakes
1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour (167g)
½ cup dark brown sugar 100g)
¼ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoons salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil (78ml)
⅓ cup melted butter (76g)
⅓ cup molasses (use an “unsulphured” molasses, I like Brer Rabbit and Grandma’s brand) (78ml)
1 egg + 1 large egg yolk, room temperature preferred
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ cup very hot or boiling water (60ml)
⅓ cup sour cream (75g)
Frosting (see note)
8 oz cream cheese, softened (226g)
½ cup unsalted butter, softened (113g)
2 Tablespoons light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste (or substitute 1 ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 ½ cups powdered sugar (440g)
Pinch of salt (about scant ⅛ teaspoon)

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Instructions
00:00 Introduction
For Cupcakes
00:35 Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners.
00:38 In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves).
01:38 Add melted butter and oil and stir well. Batter may be a bit dry, but make sure all of the flour is moistened.
02:29 Add molasses and stir well.
03:05 Stir in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.
03:34 Add hot water and stir again until batter is completely combined, then stir in sour cream until batter is uniform (make sure to scrape sides and bottom of the bowl).
04:23 Divide batter evenly into prepared cupcake pan (filling liners approximately ¾ full) and bake in center rack of 350F (175C) oven for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for 10-15 minutes before carefully removing to a cooling rack and allowing to cool completely before frosting.
For Frosting
05:25 In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, brown sugar, vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract) and salt. Use an electric mixer to stir together until smooth, creamy, and well-combined.
06:18 With mixer on low-speed, gradually add powdered sugar until completely incorporated and frosting is smooth and creamy.
06:54 Spread or pipe over cooled cupcakes. I like to use an Ateco 848 or Ateco 846 tip. This frosting makes enough to generously cover each cupcake (as shown in the photos).

Notes
Frosting
This recipe makes a generous amount of frosting. It will cover all of your cupcakes generously (as shown in photos) or will modestly cover 24 cupcakes. If you want only a modest amount of frosting, feel free to cut the frosting in half (or double the cupcake recipe!).

Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 48 hours or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Using this recipe for cake
I recommend using my gingerbread cake recipe instead, it is closely related to this one, but designed to be a perfect cake.

Original Recipe

[luxithegoose]

Great teaching style of the saying the spices helps keep track of baking!

[Bia.mgl.]

Oh, delicious.... I'm Brazilian, and here this cupcake ain't a Christmas tradition. But you did me want to eat it... Thank you!

[WowCow]

If anything ever happens to Sam, that mixer is going to be the prime suspect 😂

[jodistaton]

All I can say is, I can’t wait to make them!!! Thank you!!!

[elfvampire]

I made these for my Christmas Gifts last year! I trebled the recipe (which is never a great start for a review, but hear me out!)... And somehow ended up accidentally making 62 cupcakes? So I guess cupcakes are smaller in New Zealand than they are in America? I'm fairly adept at baking, so was able to adjust the cooking times. ☺ The flavour is absolutely top notch! Even the ones I accidentally overbaked were super-moist.

I doubled the frosting recipe, and had the perfect for a single "rose style" pipe on each of my 62 cupcakes.

[nicolehuff]

Another delicious recipe for chilly weather!🙂

[grunklecirno]

Just had a late night baking session and followed your recipe! These came out AMAZING and my roommates are trying the steal the ones I made for my workplace!

[jholly]

I can’t wait to make these. Sam, thank you so much for the recipe.
Hopefully I’ll make this just before Christmas so I can share it with my family.

[divinecomedy]

Excellent video. Not only looks delicious, but all your points and choices of ingredients make it look possible for a beginner baker to try. Thanks so much for sharing this with us!

[karenbalkaranali]

Excellent!!! Great choice for the season!!!

[JCeeDarkStar]

Thank you! I'm going to make these.

🍂🤎🤍🧡💛🍂🏵🍁🌻🦋

[peggymann]

Mmmmm, can't wait to make these!!!

[TheSnortler]

I just wanted to leave a comment, letting you know that I made these for the Christmas Eve dinner... and they were a huge hit. Sooo tasty ❤️

[lindalamacchia]

I love all of your recipes!! I will be making these this weekend for my family😍♥

[ninalopes]

Thank you for the ricepe excellent BRAVO from paris 🥰

[peggajordan]

My mouth is watering 💧, will be making these soon.

[lisafinley]

Love the gingerbread cupcakes idea and those look so good! I'll have to try these. I wanted to ask you if you have a home-made pie crust recipe?

[Zeropatience]

I have made so many of your recipes and they turn out absolutely wonderful. After I make them I share your video with my mom so she can also enjoy. Thank you so very much. With the Christmas season coming up I know you have made (what my family calls) Christmas Crack... the chocolaty cracker goodness lol. Do you happen to have a recipe for making your own crackers? Thank you for helping us all so much in our kitchens and putting smiles on our families with good food. :-) have a wonderful day.

[mmakomanyatja]

Very very Sam thank you so much God bless

[glendalopez]

I’m so glad I came across your video, definitely will subscribe to your channel to ensure I receive all your future videos. I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. 🤗