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Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream

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Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream, festive sprinkles, a gingerbread man, and a ginger cookie crumble!
Servings 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Gingerbread Cupcakes

  • 2/3 cup buttermilk room temperature
  • 2/3 cup sour cream room temperature
  • 3 whole large eggs room temperature
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 15.25oz Cake Mix - Spiced Mix I prefer the taste and texture of Duncan Hines, but anything you find that's similar should be fine.

Cream Cheese Buttercream

  • 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter (3 sticks) left out at room temperature for 10 minutes
  • 8 oz cream cheese left out at room temperature for 10 minutes
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 7-8 cups powdered sugar

Extras

  • 3 cups crushed crisp ginger cookies about 20 cookies
  • holiday sprinkles These are NeonYolk brand, but anything similar should be great!
  • edible gingerbread men toppers I found mine from Wilton

Instructions

For the Gingerbread Cupcakes

  • Prep a cupcake tin with cupcake liners, set aside. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees (convection bake. If you aren't doing convect bake, then just leave the cupcakes in the oven a couple extra minutes at the end).
  • In a large bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except for the cake mix. When thoroughly combined, sift in the cake mix and gently stir until just combined (don't overmix!). Use a cookie scoop to evenly divide the cupcake batter into 24 cupcakes. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Buttercream

  • In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip up the butter and cream cheese until they're light and fluffy. Add in the salt, vanilla, and heavy cream. Whip up again until everything is thoroughly combined.
  • With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in the powdered sugar and then whip up the buttercream on high speed until it's lightened in texture and color. Add in more powdered sugar if needed to thicken, or more heavy cream if needed to thin. Add the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1A (large circle) piping tip.

Assembly

  • Add the cookie crumbles to a bowl or plate.
  • Pipe a medium dollop of buttercream in the middle of the cupcake tops, then flip the cupcake upside down and press the buttercream into the cookie crumbles.
  • Pipe a smaller dollop of buttercream on top of the cookie-crumbled cupcake top. Then add on the holiday sprinkles and edible gingerbread man.