{Recipes} Gingerbread cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting - from The Georgetown Cupcake girls

On a recent trip to Georgetown...we had the pleasure of visiting the flagship store of Georgetown cupcakes...and yes they were yummy...that in a later post. ;)

We love the TLC hit DC Cupcakes with sisters Katherine and Sophie who run the iconic bakery just outside of Washington DC - Georgetown Cupcakes.

We immediately purchased the book "The cupcake diaries" when it hit the shelves way back. The first recipe we tried from this book was the Gingerbread cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. We decorate ours with little fondant gingerbread men at Christmas time. We really like the recipe. It has that feeling of baking we would only get from Grandmas.

We decided to create them as a Valentine Treat with little fondant hearts. They are a lovely cupcake for cold winter days with just the right amount of gingerbread flavor. :)

We made these and found the cupcake recipe to be a bit off on the numbers. It says it makes 12...but we found it made 24. In any case you need to double the recipe for the icing as there is only enough icing for 12 cupcakes (we have the doubled measurements below). We had to be very sparing with the original from the book... and skip the large signature swirl. We are not huge fans of too much icing on a cupcake. The icing recipe below is doubled for 24 cupcakes. :) We chose to top ours with marshmallow fondant hearts, colored with pink Wilton gel and we added a tiny bit of cinnamon flavor for some extra oomph! We also mixed up a small batch of brown sugar and cinnamon...and sprinkled the tops...just for an extra infusion of flavor...we love our cinnamon around these parts!

Ingredients:

For the Cupcakes:

2 ¾ Cup flour

3 Tablespoons ground ginger (I told you they’re nice and spicy!)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoons ground cloves

½ teaspoons ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoons salt

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 Cup packed dark brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 ¼ Cup molasses

1 Cup hot water

For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

8 Cup Confectioners’ sugar, sifted

12 ounces of cream cheese, at room temperature

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

For the Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard cupcake tins with 24 paper baking cups.

Sift together the dry ingredients, except for the brown sugar, and set aside.

Cream together butter and dark brown sugar in a bowl of a stand mixer or in a bowl with a handheld electric mixer on high speed, about 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating slowly after each addition. Add the molasses, mixing until well incorporated.

Add one third of the dry ingredients and one third of the water and mix thoroughly. Repeat. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the last third of the dry ingredients and one third of the water, and mix thoroughly.

Scoop the batter into the cupcake pan using a 4 tablespoon scoop (we use a 1/4 measuring cup or ice cream scoop), or if you don’t have a scoop, fill to about 2/3-3/4 full.

Bake at 350°F for 16-18 minutes (start checking at 15 minutes) or until a toothpick comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting:

Place all butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat until well combines. Add in the remaining frosting ingredients and beat until well combined.

Frost the cupcakes using a large round tip and a disposable piping bag. Garnish with your choice of sprinkles.

Makes 24 cupcakes

Source: from “The Cupcake Diaries”