Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream

These Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream are absolutely amazing! Not too spicy but not too sweet! You can absolutely eat these at any time of the day (I have!), but if you'd like a good seasonal muffin recipe, look no further than these Cinnamon Muffins!

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Course: Dessert, Snack, Treats

Servings: cupcakes

Calories: 332kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

1 stick unsalted butter room temperature
1/2 cup golden brown sugar packed
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the buttercream

6 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
4 ounces full fat cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

To make the cupcakes:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners.
In a small bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg. Set aside.
With a stand or handheld mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. 2-4 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
Add in the milk, molasses, and vanilla. Mix for about a minute. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. It will look weird and kind of chunky. Don't worry, this is okay.
With your mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.
Make sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl again. Just fold the little bit flour that may not have incorporated in well. Make sure to not over mix. It will still look slightly chunky.
Evenly distribute the batter into the 12 cupcake liners. I use an ice cream scoop. One full scoop perfectly does this job and I can get exactly 12 cupcakes with this batter.
Place the cupcakes into your preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. Mine are always done right at 18 minutes. If you very lightly touch the top of one it should spring back. Remove them from the oven. Let them sit in the pan for about 2 minutes, then remove them and let them finish cooling on a cooling rack.

To make the buttercream:

With a stand or handheld mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. 2-4 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
Add in the powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla. Beat for another 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Place the buttercream into a piping back fitted with a 2A piping tip. If you don't have piping bags or tips, you can easily put the buttercream into a plastic sandwich baggie and snip the corner.
When the cupcakes have completely cooled, squeeze a swirl of buttercream on the top of each cupcake.
Enjoy!