Gingerbread Cupcakes with Caramel Molasses Cream Cheese Frosting

And we're on to flavor 2 of 4 for my Christmas baking spree. The first was Carrot Cake Cupcakes. Does anything scream "Christmas!" more than gingerbread? As I was making these, I realized that almost every flavor I had chosen to make called for a cream cheese frosting. I used the cream cheese for this one, but changed it for my Chocolate Peppermint cupcakes I made after.

Deciding to bake 4 batches of cupcakes in one day is a lofty goal. Granted, I was able to bake 2 sets of cakes last night, but I still had 2 more to bake today and to frost all four. Not to mention, I didn't just choose standard cupcakes with plain frosting. No. My cupcakes needed chocolate ganache filling, or white chocolate coconut snowballs, or mini gingerbread men, or little carrots made out of frosting. I don't always choose easy recipes when I should...

It was all worth it in the end, but after a few hours in the kitchen, and dropping a box with 3 cupcakes in it, my frustration began to kick in. I powered through and got them all done, all while cleaning my kitchen 3 times, and cleaning my electric mixer bowls a total of 7 times between batter and frosting batches. I also could not find gingerbread dough or mini gingerbread men cookies in the store. I was certainly not about to bake a batch of cookies, I settled on glazed molasses cookies that I used my mini gingerbread man cookie cutter on to make them into what I needed. I also made a makeshift, quick, homemade caramel sauce with these. Not as good as taking the time to really make a caramel sauce, but it worked for what I needed.

A little sneak peek at some other flavors...

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Caramel Molasses Cream Cheese Frosting
frosting from Life, Love & Sugar, cake from McCormick's

2.5 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
1 cup boiling water

For the frosting:
1 block cream cheese
2 sticks salted butter, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp. molasses
1-2 tbsp. milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. For the Gingerbread Cupcakes, mix flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and baking soda in medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat butter, brown sugar and molasses in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended and smooth. Add eggs; beat well. Add flour mixture alternately with boiling water, beating on low speed after each addition. Spoon batter into 24 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely.
4. For the frosting: Place 1 stick of butter and brown sugar in a microwave safe bowl and cook for 30 second intervals, mixing in between for 2 minutes. Mix until the sugar mostly dissolves.
5. Beat the remaining butters and cream cheese together until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing between additions. Add the caramel slowly and beat. Add the molasses and milk and beat until everything is combined and a desired consistency. To make it thicker, add more sugar, to make it thinner, add more milk.