• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Kerry Cooks

Recipes and inspiration from the sweeter side of life

  • Home
  • Rainbow Cake
  • Recipes
    • Rainbow Cake
    • Cookies and Cookie Dough
    • Cakes
    • Bars and Brownies
    • Brunch
    • Cupcakes
    • Nutella
    • No-Bake
    • Seasonal
      • Valentine’s Day
      • Easter
      • Summer
      • Autumn
      • Halloween
      • Christmas
    • Healthy Choices
    • Savoury Recipes
  • Baking 101
    • How to’s
    • Cupcake Academy
    • Baking Essentials
    • Baking cheat sheets
  • On the Side
    • Beauty
    • Reviews
    • Blogging
    • Things I love
  • Get in Touch
    • Work with Kerry
    • Disclosure

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

November 25, 2013 By Kerry Cooks 16 Comments

Gingerbread Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

 These fantastically festive gingerbread cupcakes are the essence of a delicious gingerbread biscuit, turned into a cupcake! Ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg take starring roles along with tasty cream cheese frosting in a combination that makes these cakes irresistable.

I love cupcakes (as you know) but when it comes to combinations that I crave, I would usually choose a chocolate or vanilla cupcake. I was blown away by just how tasty these Gingerbread Cupcakes were – and everyone who tasted them agreed with me! I realise that there are a few stages – cake, frosting and gingerbread men – so if the idea of making your own gingerbread men on top of baking cupcakes seems a little exhausting, just buy some of the ready made mini ones that they seem to sell in all the supermarkets nowadays!

This recipe is based on one from the Hummingbird Bakery Book Cake Days.

The little Gingerbread men sprinkles were from a local shop to me – the Cake Decorating Company, and luckily you can buy them here! You can get a cute mini Gingerbread man cookie cutter from various places, such as Amazon,

0198cb773cd76407fcc0ab7269a2843f32f35d0a5b

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
2013-11-15 22:39:47
Serves 16
Gorgeously spiced gingerbread cupcakes with tangy cream cheese frosting.
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
45 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
45 min
545 calories
81 g
105 g
22 g
6 g
13 g
153 g
133 g
55 g
1 g
7 g
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size
153g
Servings
16
Amount Per Serving
Calories 545
Calories from Fat 198
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 22g
35%
Saturated Fat 13g
67%
Trans Fat 1g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 6g
Cholesterol 105mg
35%
Sodium 133mg
6%
Total Carbohydrates 81g
27%
Dietary Fiber 1g
5%
Sugars 55g
Protein 6g
Vitamin A
16%
Vitamin C
0%
Calcium
10%
Iron
8%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Does this look wrong?
For the cupcakes
  1. 140g unsalted butter
  2. 100g golden caster sugar
  3. 100g dark muscavado sugar
  4. 100g golden syrup
  5. 3 large eggs
  6. 310g plain flour
  7. 1tbsp cocoa powder
  8. 1tbsp ground ginger
  9. 1tsp cinnamon
  10. 1tsp grated nutmeg
  11. pinch cloves
  12. pinch salt
  13. 2tsp baking powder
  14. 240ml hot milk
For the cream cheese frosting
  1. 100g unsalted butter
  2. 250g cream cheese
  3. 500g icing sugar
For the gingerbread men toppers
  1. 175g plain flour
  2. half tsp bicarbonate of soda
  3. 2 tsp ground ginger
  4. half tsp ground cinnamon
  5. 60g unsalted butter
  6. 85g golden caster sugar
  7. 1 egg
  8. 2 tbsp golden syrup
  9. To decorate: Gingerbread men sprinkles
Instructions
  1. For the cupcakes: Preheat your oven to 190c/gas 5/375f and prepare two cupcake tins with cases, as well as the bowl of a stand mixer (you can of course also make these cupcakes with good old fashioned elbow grease!). Combine the unsalted butter with your sugars and mix until everything is well combined. Add in the eggs and golden syrup and mix well, and then sift (or whisk once in the bowl!) together the flour, spices, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.
  2. Gradually add the flour mix to the butter-sugar-eggs mix, alternating it with the hot milk (I just microwaved mine in the microwave until tepid). Stir thoroughly to incorporate all the ingredients, and then spoon around a tablespoon and a half into each cupcake case - they should be around two thirds full.
  3. Pop the cupcakes into the oven for 18-20 minutes, removing them to cool once a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
For the cream cheese frosting
  1. Heat the butter in the microwave until very runny, but not completely liquid/melted - if that makes sense! Use a whisk to mix up the butter thoroughly and get rid of any lumpy bits, before whisking in the cold cream cheese thoroughly until everything is combined.
  2. Holding a sieve over the bowl, sieve in the icing sugar, around a 150g at a time, then stir gently (or icing sugar will go EVERYWHERE) until its all combined. Continue until all the icing sugar is incorporated and then set aside (or pop into the fridge) so that the frosting is thick and ready to use.
For the gingerbread men toppers
  1. Sift the dry ingredients (flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda) into a bowl and then add the very soft (almost at melting point) butter. Fork or whisk the butter in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs and then add in the sugar. Beat the egg and mix in the golden syrup, and then add that to the flour-butter-sugar mixture. Form the mixture into a dough, wrap in clingfilm and pop into the fridge for around 20 minutes.
  2. Once its ready, roll out the dough on a very generously floured counter and cut out your gingerbread shapes. Bake on a well greased tray at 180C/350F/Gas 4 for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking tray.
To assemble your cupcakes
  1. Frost each cupcake with about a tablespoon and a half of frosting and use either a small offset palette knife or a regular knife to smooth the edges and create a dip in the middle. Pop a gingerbread man into the centre of each cupcake (some of mine went in upside down for fun!) and sprinkle with gingerbread man sprinkles. Finish with a dusting of ginger and cinnamon, or leave bare (gettit?!) if you prefer.
Notes
  1. The Gingerbread men recipe is based on one from BBC Food
Adapted from Cake Days
beta
calories
545
fat
22g
protein
6g
carbs
81g
more
Adapted from Cake Days
Kerry Cooks https://kerrycooks.com/
Gingerbread cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

  The process of making these is just such a festive, Sunday-afternoon type activity – your whole house will smell of festive spices! I could definitely see these being a welcome inclusion to any Christmas eve as the festive anticipation grows – they are so fun to make, especially if you have kids!

x Kerry

 Follow me | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Google+ | Bloglovin’

Share the love!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Print

Filed Under: Baking, Seasonal Tagged With: baking, cake, Christmas, cupcakes, festive, food, ginger, gingerbread cupcakes

Previous Post: « Snapshots from my week
Next Post: Stop what you’re doing and look at this! »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sarah (@tamingtwins) says

    November 23, 2014 at 9:42 pm

    Gingerbread flavours are my absolute favourite, I adore the addition of real mini gingerbread men on top too Kerry, these are so awesome! Thanks for linking to #festivefoodfriday xxx
    Sarah (@tamingtwins) recently posted…The Magical Journey, Sutton Coldfield – ReviewMy Profile

    Reply
  2. Lucy @ BakingQueen74 says

    November 23, 2014 at 3:45 pm

    I love the look of these little gingerbread men, they are so cute! #festivefoodfriday
    Lucy @ BakingQueen74 recently posted…Cranberry Cheesecake PiesMy Profile

    Reply
  3. Liana says

    November 21, 2014 at 9:07 pm

    I love how these look like the little gingerbread men are ‘drowning’ in luscious buttercream. Definitely a great way to go!
    Liana recently posted…Christmas tree brownie popsMy Profile

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      November 21, 2014 at 10:04 pm

      Thanks lady, me too! I thought it was quite fun to have some in head first – they share my love of cream cheese frosting!

      Reply
  4. Lauren says

    November 21, 2014 at 1:49 pm

    Hi Kerry, I must still be subscribed to comments from last year because I got an update email so thought I would let you know that I came 2nd in my work bake-off last year out of about 15 entrants πŸ™‚ So thank you so much for the recipe! Xx

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      November 21, 2014 at 2:56 pm

      WOW! Thanks so much for letting me know Lauren! That’s amazing πŸ™‚

      Reply
  5. Claire @foodiequine says

    November 21, 2014 at 11:48 am

    These are soooo cute! I already have some tiny gingerbread man sprinkles left over from last year which will be perfect.I might even cheat with read made mini men,
    Claire @foodiequine recently posted…Christmas Pudding Recipes for Stir Up SundayMy Profile

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      November 21, 2014 at 12:45 pm

      Thanks so much Claire! And absolutely it would be easier to use mini Gingerbread men πŸ™‚

      Reply
  6. Lauren says

    November 30, 2013 at 11:54 am

    Kat you are a godsend! I have a festive bake-off event at work next week and was leafing through the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book trying to decide what to bake, and have always thought the gingerbread cupcakes sound delicious and look really cute. But I can’t find the mini gingerbread men sprinkles in any supermarkets and I’ve left it too late to order online…cue massive panic until I saw your amazing idea to bake gingerbread men and have them poking out the top! Hope you don’t mind me stealing your idea, it’s so cute and I love the upside down ones! Thanks so much, Lauren x

    Reply
    • Lauren says

      November 30, 2013 at 11:55 am

      Oops I’m really sorry, your name is Kerry but having just read the comment above and seeing the name Kat the abundance of K names confused me! Sorry :-S x

      Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      November 30, 2013 at 12:14 pm

      Thanks Lauren! You’re more than welcome to steal the idea – hope you enjoy! They really are tasty and the gingerbread men are so cute!x Kerry

      Reply
  7. Kat says

    November 26, 2013 at 11:05 pm

    Such cute cupcakes Kerry! Love the gingerbread men poking out of the buttercream!

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      November 26, 2013 at 11:11 pm

      Thanks Kat! I love them too πŸ™‚

      Reply
  8. Susannah Bianchi says

    November 25, 2013 at 8:07 am

    These sound good Miss Kerry. A good day for me to check in. Just the other day I was sniffing around the Magnolia Bakery, still a major hot spot in old New York that now has various locations. I was mesmerized by the many kinds lined up like little, sugary women of the night calling and wooing in their jeweled, chilled cases. I opted for lemon with a lime and lemony confectionery icing…it even had shaves of lemon and lime gracing the top. Oh My…and I kid you not Kerry, I thought of you…Kerry Cooks in merry old England πŸ™‚

    Reply
    • Kerry Cooks says

      November 25, 2013 at 12:54 pm

      Ooh lemon and lime, delicious! Thanks for coming to say hi! πŸ™‚

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I'm Kerry!
Cookie-dough addict, rainbow cake lover, friend to cats, never met a pizza I didn't like. VERY enthusiastic human. Homebody and adventurer. Nice to meet you!

Read more about Kerry...
Kerry Line
Facebook 11,405Fans
follow
Twitter 2,407Followers
follow
Instagram 1,800Followers
follow
Pinterest 7,150Subscribers
subscribe
Post 1,118Posts
edit
Comment 8,255Comments
comment
Kerry Line
Kerry Line

A note about links

Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, which means that if you click on it and go on to buy something, I might earn a few pennies (and it will cost you the same!).
Kerry Line
Kerry Line

Footer

Work with me!

I love telling my audience about products I love! Get in touch -> Read More…

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Kerry Cooks Privacy Policy

See it here!

Get Kerry Cooks posts direct to your inbox!

Enter your email address below to get new posts by email, it's FREE!

Join 14,765 other subscribers

Foodies100 Index of UK Food Blogs
Foodies100

Copyright © 2021 Kerry Cooks

X
Subject:
Message: