These moist Gingerbread Cupcakes with Eggnog Buttercream Frosting are made from scratch and the perfect handheld non-cookie treat for your holiday party this year! Made with molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and other spices, these cupcakes taste just like Christmas.

We love all things gingerbread! Some of our other gingerbread recipes are How to Make a Gingerbread House, Soft & Chewy Molasses Cookies, and Soft & Chewy Gingerbread Men Cookies!

Gingerbread Cupcakes with eggnog buttercream frosting


I'm starting a new thing I'm calling "Reader Requests". For the past few weeks, I've had a survey up on some of my most popular blog posts and have been collecting feedback from visitors to my site. One of the questions where I asked readers if they had any specific recipes they would like to see on the blog has been eye-opening for me and inspired me to start this new series.

Guys, I'm seriously blown away by the responses! There have been so many great ideas (some that were already on my radar and others that I hadn't even thought of) that I started compiling a spreadsheet to organize them and help me plan my calendar for next year!

As much as I can, I will try to work my way through and give a shout-out to the requester or requesters (some recipes have had multiple requests - I'm looking at you lasagna) when I share it. Stay tuned to see if I cover your request!

To get things rolling, Carmen J. asked for more cupcake recipes (I've got s'mores cupcakes with graham cracker frosting and chocolate cupcakes, which, obviously that's not enough because who doesn't need more cupcakes in their life?!).

And Christine P. specifically mentioned gingerbread cupcakes. Um, YES PLEASE!

An image of an unwrapped gingerbread cupcake with eggnog buttercream frosting flavored with rum extract, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
An image of homemade gingerbread cupcakes with eggnog buttercream and golden star sprinkles.

I adore gingerbread. Really I do. The warm spices and the deep rich molasses flavor get me every time.

I think gingerbread men cookies are just the best, I've used gingerbread spices to make gingerbread whipped cream for crepes, and I love a good molasses cookie!

One of these years I'm going to get around to sharing my favorite gingerbread cake with whipped cream and bananas, but for now, let's talk gingerbread cupcakes!

An image of a perfect Christmas cupcake made with a gingerbread cupcake and sweet eggnog frosting with a big bite taken out of it.

How to Make Gingerbread Cupcakes

This recipe makes 12-14 cupcakes as written.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature, because it really does make a difference when making cake and cupcakes to work with room temperature ingredients vs. cold butter, eggs, and milk.
  2. In a stand mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed using the paddle attachment until light and creamy.
  3. Add the egg, milk, molasses, and vanilla, mixing well and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. The ingredients won't totally combine to a homogenous look just yet, but don't you worry - they will finish coming together with the addition of the dry ingredients.
  4. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, mixing on low speed just until combined and making to sure scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl again so the ingredients are evenly mixed throughout the batter.
  5. Fill cupcake liners â…” full - no more!  I like to use a cookie scoop to do this to help keep things clean and even. I often find that there is just enough batter left over for 1-2 more cupcakes (making 13-14 total cupcakes) if I'm sticking to the â…” full guideline. Sometimes I get lazy and divvy that extra up between the 12 cupcake liners so they are more like ¾ full and I usually regret it because the tops aren't as round and end up with a rim around the edges, where when I am a stickler for no more than â…” full I get better rounded cupcake tops. You can see evidence of this in the two pictures below, where some of the cupcakes got just a bit too full since I was rushing to get these done to photograph them before running out to a Christmas party. The cupcake in front and in focus is perfectly rounded while the blurry ones toward the back got filled a bit too much. Oops.
  6. Bake cupcakes for 19-21 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs when inserted into the center of a cupcake, then cool completely before frosting.
An image of gingerbread cupcake batter in paper liners in a muffin tin.
An image of unfrosted gingerbread cupcakes cooling in a muffin tin.

What Frosting to Use for Gingerbread Cupcakes

Speaking of frosting, I've got an AMAZING eggnog buttercream frosting recipe for you that I used to frost this batch of gingerbread cupcakes. Not to toot my own horn, but really, they were pretty phenomenal.

I took these to a church Christmas party and had multiple people who were initially skeptical and said they didn't like eggnog come up to me and say that it turns out they DO like eggnog in frosting form apparently.

For the record, I also truly think that most people who say they don't like eggnog have only tried store-bought eggnog, which is by and large no bueno. Do me a favor and make a batch of homemade eggnog and THEN tell me what you really think. I'm betting more than half of you will have a change of heart.

But if you are truly skeeved out by eggnog, you could go with a classic vanilla buttercream, or (and I think this would be amazing and I want so desperately to try it but just haven't had the time this season) make a batch of homemade rainbow chip frosting and color the chips red and green! (Seriously, I'm going to have to make that happen soon because I love, love, love gingerbread and white chocolate together!).

I'm also very interested in the cinnamon cream cheese frosting that King Arthur Flour pairs with their gingerbread cupcake recipe. So many frostings, so little time. Sigh.

An image of gingerbread Christmas cupcakes frosted with swirls of eggnog buttercream frosting and sprinkled with gold star sprinkles.
An image of gingerbread Christmas cupcakes frosted with swirls of eggnog buttercream frosting and sprinkled with gold star sprinkles.

More Christmas Desserts That Aren't Cookies

Did you make this recipe?

Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.

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Gingerbread Cupcakes

4.95 from 35 votes
Amy Nash
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 19 minutes
Total Time 29 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 cupcakes
These moist Gingerbread Cupcakes with eggnog buttercream frosting are made from scratch and the perfect handheld non-cookie treat for your holiday party this year!  Made with molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and other spices, these cupcakes taste just like Christmas.

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup butter softened to room temperature
  • ½ cup light brown sugar packed
  • 1 large egg room temperature
  • ½ cup whole milk room temperature
  • ½ cup molasses
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 â…“ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Pinch of ground allspice
  • 1 batch eggnog buttercream frosting or other favorite frosting recipe

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.  
  • In a stand mixer, beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed using a paddle attachment until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.
  • Add the egg, milk, molasses, and vanilla, mixing well and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Don't worry if the ingredients don't totally combine - they will finish coming together with the addition of the dry ingredients in the next step.
  • Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, mixing on low speed just until combined and making to sure scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl again.
  • Fill cupcake liners â…” full.  Bake for 19-21 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs when inserted into the center of a cupcake, then cool completely before frosting.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction.

Nutrition

Calories: 168kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 2g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 223mg | Sugar: 9g
Tried this recipe? Show me on Instagram!Mention @HouseOfNashEats or tag #houseofnasheats!

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About the author

Hi, I'm Amy

I enjoy exploring the world through food, culture, and travel and sharing the adventure with mostly from-scratch, family friendly recipes that I think of as modern comfort cooking.

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Reader questions and reviews

  1. 5 stars
    I am not sure which sounds better-- the cupcake or the icing! I think together they would be wonderful and perfect for holiday celebrations!

  2. 5 stars
    These look great! I love eggnog, and don't understand why people won't even try it. It's delish! I didn't see anything about those beautiful golden stars. Are they edible? Do you have an affiliate link for them? I love them!

    1. Yes! They are from Sprinkle Pop and they are totally edible. They are great sprinkles because you actually don't even notice them when you are eating the cupcake - they don't have a crunch like other sprinkles. I don't have an affiliate link but if you just search "sprinkle pop stars" you should be able to find them!

  3. 5 stars
    These cupcakes look and sound amazing! They have all of the warm spices that I love. I like the idea of a survey like this too. There are so many amazing ideas in the community.

  4. 5 stars
    I can smell these baking now! The eggnog butter cream is perfect with gingerbread. I always have extra eggnog during the holiday season, so definitely making these.

  5. 5 stars
    These are quite possibly the world's most perfect cupcake!! Gingerbread holds a ver special place in my heart. I can't wait to try these!

  6. 5 stars
    Hello! These look absolutely delicious and I can’t wait to make them! But I was wondering where you got that mini cooling tray? My girlfriend does some food photography for fun and her birthday is coming up and I know she would love to have that as a gift. I can’t find them anywhere, please help.

  7. 5 stars
    This is seriously making me want to make cupcakes today! I know the deep molasses will make my house smell so good and Christmassy! and that eggnog frosting?// Holy moly! That is going to happen here at my house very soon!

  8. Wow these cupcakes were amazing. So incredibly moist. I couldn't make the eggnog icing so instead I made a cinnamon buttercream frosting with a couple tablespoons of cream cheese which complimented the cupcakes alot. Will totally make these for Thanksgiving 🙂

  9. These look so good but is there a way to make it as a cake? Would I just double the recipe and bake it at the temperature it says?

  10. 3 stars
    Just made the cupcakes and they taste amazing!!! Defiantly a 5 star However I was expecting a bit more flavour from the egg nog frosting So I added double the rum extract added nutmeg and way more egg nog Just need to cool the icing in the fridge before using.