Each hand-held cake consists fluffy gingerbread spice sponge topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and a drizzle of homemade caramel topped with a vegan gingerbread man.
The perfect vegan Christmas cupcakes to bring to your next festive gathering or office party!
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📖 Recipe Overview
- Quick And Easy - If you make the caramel sauce and frosting while they bake, the entire recipe comes together within an hour.
- Moist And Fluffy - These ginger cupcakes are moist and soft thanks to a combination of molasses and dark brown sugar.
- Perfect For Parties - If you're wondering what to make for a festive potluck or Christmas gathering, look no further than this easy gingerbread cupcake recipe!
Love all things gingerbread spice? Try my vegan recipes for Christmas cheesecake, gingerbread loaf, gingerbread chocolate tart, gingerbread millionaires, or even make your own gingerbread house from scratch!
🧾 Ingredients Needed
Along with homemade vegan cream cheese frosting and optional caramel sauce, here's what you need to make these ginger cupcakes:
Ingredient Notes
- Vegan Butter - Block-style butter is important here, you don't want spreadable margarine from a tub.
- Non-Dairy Milk - Soy milk is always my first choice for vegan baking as it makes the perfect buttermilk substitute when mixed with acid. You can also use oat milk or almond milk if needed.
- Molasses - For that authentic gingerbread flavor, molasses gives the cupcakes a lovely moist texture. Use regular sugar cane molasses if you can, blackstrap molasses is more bitter. If you can't find it in your supermarket, it can often be found in health shops and online.
- Unsweetened Applesauce - This is often labeled as apple puree, the key is it should be without added sugar. Applesauce acts as an egg replacer for vegan baking.
- Gingerbread Spices - Ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves are combined for a delicious flavor profile. You can also add allspice and a touch of black pepper for even more spice!
🥣 How To Make Gingerbread Cupcakes Vegan
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Before getting into the main steps of the recipe, prep your ingredients and equipment:
- Preheat your oven.
- Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners.
- Mix together the dairy-free milk and vinegar and let them sit.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
Step 1: In a large bowl, whisk the butter for 2-3 minutes until light and airy. Add in dark brown sugar and continue to beat until evenly mixed.
Step 2: Add the molasses, applesauce, and vanilla extract and whisk until incorporated.
Step 3: Alternate between adding the vegan buttermilk and flour mixture to the batter in 2 increments. Whisk to combine between each one.
Step 4: Divide the batter between the paper liners using an ice cream scoop or cookie scoop. Bake for 20-22 minutes.
Step 5: Allow the cupcakes to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool further for 30 minutes to cool completely.
Step 6: Pipe buttercream frosting on top once the cupcakes have completely cooled.
📝 Recipe Tips
Use room temperature ingredients. This applies to both the cupcakes and the frosting. Room temp ingredients will emulsify together nicely when whipped, if your ingredients are cold the mixture can turn lumpy and split.
Alternate adding ingredients. I recommend adding a little vegan buttermilk followed by some of the dry ingredients and whisking between each one. Because the batter is butter fat-based, this helps to create an even emulsion.
Check the cupcakes for doneness by piercing them with a toothpick or a knife, it should come out clean with a few crumbs but no batter on it.
💬 FAQs
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. If you're keeping them for more than a couple of days, refrigerate them for up to 5 days.
Let them sit at room temperature for at least 2-3 hours before serving. The cream cheese frosting will stiffen in the fridge so you will need to let it soften up before digging in!
Yes, you can freeze them in an airtight container for a month or two. To defrost, let them sit at room temperature for a few hours.
If you can't get your hands on molasses, black treacle is a popular substitute. Treacle will give a slightly sweeter, less bitter flavor.
🧁 More Vegan Cupcakes
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📖 Recipe
Description
Ingredients
- 120 ml (½ cup) soy milk, *see note 1
- 1 ½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 220 g (1 ¾ cups) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 100 g (3.53 oz) vegan butter (block-style), softened *see note 2
- 100 g (½ cup) dark brown sugar, *see note 3
- 100 g (⅓ cup) molasses, cane molasses, not blackstrap
- 45 g (3 tbsp) unsweetened applesauce, apple puree
Toppings
- ¼ batch vegan gingerbread cookies, baked into miniature cookies
- ¾ batch vegan cream cheese frosting, *see note 4
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ batch caramel sauce, optional
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 160°C/320°F fan (180°C/356°F conventional). Line a 12-hole muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Make vegan buttermilk: Mix together the soy milk and apple cider vinegar and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
- Combine dry ingredients: To a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, and whisk to combine.
- Cream the butter and sugar: Add the softened butter to a separate large mixing bowl and use an electric whisk (or paddle attachment if using a mixer) to beat the butter for 2-3 minutes until light and airy.
- Add in dark brown sugar and continue to beat until incorporated. Stop mixing and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed
- Mix in the wet ingredients: To the creamed butter and sugar, whisk in the molasses, applesauce, and vanilla extract.
- Make the batter: To the creamed butter mixture, alternate between adding the vegan buttermilk and dry ingredients to the batter in 2 increments. Whisk to combine between each one.
- Bake: Divide the batter between the cupcake liners using an ice cream scoop or cookie scoop. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Check they are done by piercing them with a toothpick or a knife, it should come out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool further for 30 minutes to cool completely.
- Garnish: Meanwhile, prepare the cream cheese frosting and whisk in a tablespoon of ground cinnamon at the end.
- Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with an open star nozzle and pipe it on top of each cupcake. Top with an optional drizzle of caramel sauce, a gingerbread cookie, and some fresh mint leaves and red currants to decorate.
- Storage: Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. If you're keeping them for more than a couple of days, refrigerate them for up to 5 days. Let them sit at room temperature for at least 2-3 hours before serving.
Notes
- Soy Milk: Swap with oat milk or almond milk if needed.
- Vegan Butter: Take this out of the fridge 1-2 hours ahead of time.
- Dark Brown Sugar: Sub with light brown sugar if needed, I use dark muscovado.
- Cream Cheese Frosting: Use half a batch for lightly frosted cupcakes.
Nutrition
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