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Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

From Georgetown Cupcake

PHOTO: Georgetown cupcakes' gingerbread cupcake is shown here.

From the kitchen of Georgetown Cupcake

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 ¼ cups molasses

1 cup hot water

For the cinnamon cream cheese frosting:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

For the gingerbread man fondant decoration:

1 cup of brown fondant

24 red candy balls

1 mini gingerbread man cookie cutter

Cooking Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a standard cupcake pan with twelve paper baking

cups, or grease the pan with butter if not using baking cups.

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

like to sift on a piece of parchment paper or wax paper so we can easily pick it up and and pour it into our mixer, little by little.

Cream together butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a bowl

with a handheld electric mixer on high speed, 3 to 5 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 standard-size ice-cream scoop.

Bake at 350ºF for 16 to 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 ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until well combined. Frost cupcakes using Georgetown Cupcake's signature swirl. We decorate our Gingerbread cupcakes with fondant gingerbread men with red candy buttons. You can use a mini gingerbread man cookie cutter and cut out fondant gingerbread men to place on top of your cupcakes to give them an extra- special festive touch!

For the gingerbread men decorations:

Using a rolling pin, roll brown fondant out to the thickness of ¼ inch. Cut out gingerbread men using a gingerbread man-shaped mini cookie cutter. Gently press in the red candy balls, one above another, on the gingerbread man's tummy. Place each gingerbread man on each cupcake.

Serve and enjoy!

Recipe courtesy Georgetown Cupcake.