Gingerbread Cupcakes

This is the December cupcake entry for the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club! The purpose of this club is to bake through Martha's entire book of cupcake recipes. Every month, a few dozen bloggers bake the same cupcake and blog about it. This is my fourth month doing so, and it's been sooo incredibly fun! I've made quite a few blogger friends along the way!

I'm waaaay too excited about these cupcakes to ramble on (like I always do at the beginning of blog entries), so I'm just going to dive right in! =)

(1) The Gingerbread Cupcakes

Mix together the dry ingredients, including a variety of warm, fragrant spices like ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Smells delicious already!

In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.


Add the molasses. Kinda crazy looking!


Then the eggs and vanilla.


Gradually add in the flour, mix until combined.


Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Set aside to cool while you make the decorations!


(2) The Gingerbread Cookies

If you missed the previous entry that I did on these, be sure to check it out! I actually made both the cookies and the cupcakes on the same day, then decorated! It took me literally the entire day, from 9am until 6:30pm. But it was the best baking day ever! My entire house smelled like Christmas and I was able to spend some quality time with a friend that I don't get to see very often! I LOVED these cookies. They were SO delicious and stayed fresh really well!

I split the cookies and the cupcakes up into two different posts because it would've been a super long entry if I did both together. Plus, the cookies were so pretty and delicious that I thought they deserved their own little spotlight. hehe.

(3) The Cupcake Wrappers

As you guys all know, I'm the queen of cupcake wrappers! In fact, these cupcakes deserved something spectacular because it was for Christmas! (Please see this previous Cupcake Wrapper entry for details on how to make them.)

I found a cute snowflake cut-out and some pretty snowflake stickers with rhinestones!

I didn't want to use the traditional red and green colors, so I opted for two different shades of blue. They complimented each other really well and turned out great. For some of the wrapper edges, I used regular craft scissors, and for others, I used the snowflake cut-out. Super cute!


They looked great when I fitted them onto the cupcakes! Now I'm ready to frost and decorate!

(3) The Cinnamon Swiss Meringue Frosting

I didn't want to use the frosting suggested in the book- I rarely do. It looked like a regular American style buttercream, which I hate. yuck! Way too sweet. So I decided to make my own SMB, one that was cinnamon flavored, to compliment the cupcake. SMB definitely takes more time to make, but it's totally worth it! I get emails from readers all the time, saying how I've converted them from being a cupcake hater to a cupcake lover with my SMB recipes! It's light and fluffy and will totally rock your world!

The buttercream is a bit involved. Please see this prior entry for step by step instructions on how to make it, if it's your first time doing so.

Once the buttercream is ready to go, add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp nutmeg. Blend well for about 30 seconds. Reeeeeeeally delicious frosting that you'll want to eat straight out of the bowl!

(4) Decorate, Decorate, Decorate!

Saying that these cupcakes were SO incredibly delicious would be an understatement. If you like gingerbread, you'll looooove these! I think the frosting really made these cupcakes spectacular! It was light, subtly cinnamony, and really brought out the flavor of the gingerbread in the cookie and cupcake. These are a definite must-have at Christmas dinner!


Click HERE for the recipes seen in this blog entry.