Day 4 of 12 Days of Cupcakes: Gingerbread Cupcakes

Lucky for me my friends are awesome and one of them requested that I make some Christmas themed cupcakes for his work Christmas party as part of my 12 Days of Cupcakes. This is helpful because even with making half batches of these recipes, the cupcakes are beginning to pile up! I decided to make gingerbread cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese icing. I think these would be equally amazing with lemon cream cheese icing. I tried a couple of recipes out for both the cupcake and the icing, but ended up sort of creating a Frankenstein recipe of my own using parts of 4 different recipes. Here are my cupcakes:

Gingerbread men waiting for their cupcakes:




Recipe:
Gingerbread Cupcakes and Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

Cupcakes;
1 stick butter, softened
2/3c brown sugar
2 1/2c flour, sifted
1T ginger
2t cinnamon
1/2t cloves
1/2t nutmeg
1/4t ground pepper
1/8t allspice
1/2t salt
2t baking powder
1c boiling water
2t baking soda
3/4c unsulfured molasses
2 lg eggs, lightly beaten

Frosting:
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick butter, softened
2T cinnamon
1t vanilla
powdered sugar

Cupcakes:
Preheat to 325F. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, spices, salt and baking powder. In a small bowl mix boiling water and baking soda. Add the flour and water mixtures to the butter- alternating, beginning and ending with the flour. Add molasses and mix until well combined. Add eggs, mix until incorporated. Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full and bake for 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting:
Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add cinnamon and vanilla, mix until fully incorporated. Add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. Frost cooled cupcakes.

These bring lots of Christmas cheer, I hope they're a hit at the Xmas work party!