This month’s MSC recipe was chosen by my good buddy Kayte over at Grandma’s Kitchen Table: gingerbread cupcakes. I’m not sure there was a more perfectly appropriate selection in the book for this time of year! I love the smell of gingerbread treats filling my house as they bake in December. I was feeling so festive I pulled my snowman platter out of storage to photograph these treats 🙂
As much I as was looking forward to making Kayte’s selection, there are so many sweets around here right now that I couldn’t justify making more than 1/4 of the recipe (which yielded 4 cupcakes). The cupcakes come together quickly and include a healthy dose of holiday spices along with molasses. The recipe suggests 25 minutes of baking time, but mine were finished around 22 minutes so I’m glad I checked them early. I baked them in cute Christmas wrappers but ended up peeling them off because they looked odd when combined with the color of these cupcakes.
A fluffy vanilla frosting is recommended for pairing with these cupcakes and that’s what I used. Three simple ingredients – butter, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla – and you’re good to go! I definitely didn’t find this frosting as easy to pipe as I have some of the others we’ve made from this book (like the cream cheese frosting). It was almost too stiff, even at room temperature. I probably could have whipped it a bit more in my mixer, but the sun was setting and I was running out of light. There were cute little gingerbread men also suggested as toppers for these cupcakes but, like I said, already too many sweets around here so I skipped them and just threw a few festive sprinkles on top!
I have to confess that I didn’t taste the cupcakes. I gave them to my mom in exchange for some more eggs from her chickens. I haven’t had to buy eggs in months – it’s been fantastic!! This morning she emailed to tell me she loved the cupcakes! She thought they were moist and she really enjoyed the fall spices. The frosting wasn’t her favorite (she much prefers cream cheese frosting) but she thought it was ok. I’ll definitely make these again – if not this holiday season, next year. Many thanks to Kayte for hosting this month’s selection. You can visit the MSC site to see how the rest of the bakers fared this month.
Lemon Bars
Glazed Grapefruit Cake
Orange Sherbet
Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
I have some friends that are having Christmas open houses, and I’m about to volunteer to bring cupcakes so I can try these!! Yours look delicious, and I admire your strength in not tasting them. I have no willpower as far as gingerbread is concerned.
I wish I would have tried the frosting b/c it looks so pretty! You never would have known that is was difficult to pipe- your cupcakes look perfect.
I love the festive snowman plate too!
i’m not sure if its the photography or the cute and minimal sprinkles, but these look so so sweet and dainty!
Ah, you are so sweet with your comments in the blog about my choice, etc. I think the idea of taking those wrappers off to see the actual cupcake was a great idea! I will remember that for the future when I don’t have co-ordinating wrappers. The piped icing looks great…I was trying to make mine look like snow for the gingerbread men and Matt’s comment was: “Looks like all the gingerbread men have fallen in the snow and are getting ready to make snow angels.” See why I don’t bother to decorate much over here? It is completely lost on guys of the teenage variety. I do admit, however, that he has a point. I should have piped and sprinkled like yours, or lined up those little men around the swirl standing up, that would have worked! Next time. Love that Snowman plate!
Tracey, those are beautiful. The piped/swirled frosting is fantastic.
And they were delicious. You will HAVE to make them again. I tasted one, but hubs etc. have eaten the rest.
Cute plate.
My frosting was actually really soft and easy to pipe… I wonder if your butter needed to be a touch softer? Either way, the piping looks great, and I think the sprinkles were a gorgeous choice for topping these!
I have all sorts of holiday plates — was so excited to get them all out of storage for the holidays!
Your cupcakes are always so beautiful. Love the plate too!
Your frosting looks fab!!!
Katie xox
Those look FANTASTIC, right up my alley. The frosting looks so fluffy and I just want to lick one clean. LOL!
I’m sorry you didn’t like them so much. These were definitely one of my favorites. I wasn’t a huge fan of the icing myself. I had to make it twice and my first batch was extremely stiff and it was because I had way too much powdered sugar. The second was much better to frost with though. Overall, fabulous cupcakes as always!
I thought these were really good – and I wish I had spent more time on my piping. Eh, next time, right?
your cupcakes look great! I like the way you decorated them. This time of year is always sweets overload.
Love them! I agree they look lovely without the wrappers. Like a dream. I also like the nice simple touch of sprinkles. I wish I had someone to get fresh eggs from. I love yard eggs!
That little plate is sooo cute! And the cupcakes look delish!
Yours turned out moist? Really?
I thought this recipe was a fluke because mine turned out dense, again muffin-like. I baked them for 20 min. I was disappointed. Oh well.
Yours look great btw. I am glad these worked out for you!
Thanks so much for baking along with us! You are a cupcake star!
beautiful cupcakes! i love your swirls! and your Christmas platter is soooo adorable!
Funny you mentioned the baking time – I had some trouble with that, because mine were probably done around 22 minutes, but I didn’t check them until 25. I won’t make that mistake again. And you’re not alone, I didn’t taste mine either, too many cookies and cakes around at the moment!
I love when gingerbread flavors are used in something other than cookies. These cupcakes look tasty and beautiful! I would probably eat the entire batch.
The cupcakes look amazing. I love gingerbread and sugary icing, so I have a feeling I’d love these. I admire your discipline, it’s really hard for me to not sample the baked goods I make.
These look great! I love your snowman plate.
Oh these look so gorgeous. In the effort to save time, I skipped the frosting and went with a raspberry glaze. I agree that the cooking time definitely needs to be shorter..mine were slightly crispy at 25 minutes.
Your cupcakes look delicious! I love the snowman platter too.
Your cupcakes turned out beautiful! I love the little red sprinkles on top!
yum! these cupcakes look great! might have to try these next week!
Your cupcakes are beautiful! I love the snowman plate.
How cute on your platter with the snowmen! And so festive with the sprinkles! I really need to scale down more of my recipes…
Love your festive red sprinkles 🙂
Love how these are photographed without the liners! I love seeing the “cake” part as a whole cupcake! Great sprinkles – just enough of them. I agree – the frosting was the perfect compliment, simple and delicious – AND a great platter!
That is some gorgeous piping and sprinkling! I think some MS cream cheese frosting would have improved them, myself…but then I think that frosting improves everything.