Runs on Coffee and Cream

I've been on a ginger recipe kick since I purchased a container of molasses recently. I had my parents up to visit a couple of weeks ago so I thought gingerbread cupcakes would be a fun and festive treat to make.

As usual, I manipulated a boxed cake mix for this recipe. It was super easy and the cupcakes, even without frosting, are so moist and yummy! I feel like if I threw some chocolate chips in the batter, it'd be a tasty muffin.


Gingerbread Cupcakes:
1 box of yellow or golden cake mix
1 cup water
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (or oil if you like)
1/4 cup molasses
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place cupcake liners in your muffin tray.
2. Mix all your ingredients together in a mixing bowl using a hand mixer. Mix for approximately 2 minutes.
3. Using a spoon or ladle, add cupcake batter to cupcake liners. Fill liners approximately 3/4 full.
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until top is springy to the touch.
5. Let cupcakes cool completely.

Frosting:
Cream cheese frosting is sometimes recommended for gingerbread cakes but we're not huge fans of cream cheese frosting in our house so I stuck with buttercream.

I made a basic cinnamon buttercream using 1/2 cup butter, 4 cups of icing sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and teaspoons of water as needed to get the right consistency. I blend my buttercream in my stand-up mixer to prevent my hand mixer from over-heating.

I absolutely love how the cupcakes turned out. The cake itself has a bit of spice to it which is nice. I'm a fan of spicy gingerbread. But the sweet frosting definitely helps with the spice. I added white decorative sugar to the tops to add a bit of sparkle.


These cupcakes would be a hit for any holiday event! I will definitely make these again.

Are you a big fan of gingerbead?
xo Jen

You can find my other ginger recipe here:
Ginger Cookies