Gingerbread Cupcakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

What better way to welcome the Christmas season than with a batch of these festive Gingerbread Cupcakes.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings Cupcakes

Calories 266kcal

Author Nicole Crocker

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

3 1/4 Cups All-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
2 teaspoons Ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon Ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon Ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Cups Hot Water
1 Tablespoon Baking soda
1 Stick Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Vegetable oil
1 Cup Brown Sugar ,packed
1 1/3 Cups Molasses
3 Large Eggs ,room temperature

For the Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

1 ,8 ounce package Cream Cheese ,softened
2 Sticks Unsalted butter ,softened
3 Cups Confectioner Sugar ,+ more if frosting is too runny.
1/4 Cup Caramel Sauce ,homemade or store bought

Instructions

For the Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Line standard cupcake tin with cupcake liners. I ended up with about 33 cupcakes from this recipe. Set aside
In a medium bowl combine, flour, baking powder,ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Whisk to mix together and set aside.
In a small bowl mix hot water and baking soda. Set aside.
In a large bowl mix, brown sugar, butter and vegetable oil together with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.
Beat in molasses until well combined.
Add baking soda/water mixture alternating with dry ingredients until well combined.
Mix in eggs one at a time until well combined .
Fill each cupcake liner with about 1/4 cup of the batter. Place in the middle rack of preheated oven and bake for about 18-20 minutes.

For the Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

In a large bowl mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Add Confectioner sugar a little at a time and beat until well blended.
Mix in caramel sauce until well combined.
Top each cooled cupcake with frosting.
Decorate with a gingerbread man, sprig of rosemary, and a drizzle of caramel sauce. Dust with a sprinkle of confectioner sugar if desired.

Notes

For the Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting I made my Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce and used about a 1/4 Cup of it in the frosting and drizzled more on the cupcakes.

*Make sure your Caramel is completely cooled before adding to frosting.

*Add more confectioner sugar to frosting as needed if it seems too runny.

For the Gingerbread men I made my gingerbread cookie recipe. You can also buy mini gingerbread men pre-made.

Links for Caramel Sauce recipe and Gingerbread cookie recipe are in the recipe directions.

Nutrition