High Altitude Gingerbread Cupcakes
Soft, fluffy, spiced gingerbread cupcakes, filled with sweet and tart lemon curd, frosted with cinnamon ginger buttercream, and topped with the cutest little gingerbread cookies.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ¾ cup full fat sour cream
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ¼ cup light or dark molasses
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
Filling
- 1 jar lemon curd
Buttercream
- 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp meringue powder, optional
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- mini gingerbread cookies, for decorating
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line one or two standard muffin pans with 14 paper liners.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.
- Separately, whisk together the sour cream, brown sugar, molasses, eggs, melted butter, oil and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk together just until moistened.
- Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling them no more than 2/3 - 3/4 full.
- Bake the cupcakes for about 17-18 minutes, until the tops spring back when gently touched.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for several minutes, then gently remove and cool completely on a cooling rack before filling and frosting.
Filling
- Use a cupcake corer to remove the centers of the cooled cupcakes.
- Stir the lemon curd to smooth it out, then use a spoon or a piping bag to fill the centers of the cupcakes with the lemon curd.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for one minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the cinnamon, ginger, meringue powder and salt, mixing until combined. Add the vanilla.
- Increase the speed to medium, and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl down several times, until very light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 1 more minute.
- Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, and pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes.
- Decorate with sprinkles, cinnamon-sugar and a mini gingerbread cookie.
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