Gingerbread Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream are a holiday cupcake recipe that’s perfect for the late fall and winter season. They are a wonderful blend of molasses and spices served up with a topping of a homemade orange buttercream.

When it comes to the holidays, the flavor of gingerbread are classic! It's a great way to make your house smell amazing and so festive.
If you love gingerbread as much as my family, you're going to really enjoy these gingerbread stamp cookies, homemade gingerbread ornaments, and gingerbread truffles. They're great sweet treats to enjoy during the holiday season.
For a festive look in your home, use this recipe for gingerbread ornaments or to build a gingerbread house.
Serve these up for holiday parties or gatherings along with a cranberry orange mocktail or a hot cocoa charcuterie board.
Why This Gingerbread Cupcake Recipe Works
- Super flavor combination! The combination of orange and warming spices is a true winner!
- Your house will smell amazing after baking these!! The smell of gingerbread is so warm and cozy. It's that blend of the spices and molasses that smell like the holidays.
- Excellent moist cupcakes! I'm sharing all my favorite tips for making gingerbread cupcakes so yours come out perfectly delicious!
Ingredients You Need
Let’s take a look at what goes into the best recipe for gingerbread cupcakes. Don’t freak out at the long list! Despite the multiple components of the recipe, it mixes up easily!

- Fat: The cupcakes use oil and softened butter to create a moist and delicious cupcake.
- Sweetener: Brown sugar and molasses give these cupcakes their rich, dark color and flavor.
- Greek yogurt: Adds even more moisture to the cupcakes as well as a bit of acid to the batter to activate the baking soda. You can also use sour cream.
- Eggs: For moisture and structure of your gingerbread cupcakes.
- Vanilla: Use a quality pure extract of vanilla and not imitation vanilla.
- Flour: These cupcakes use a combination of all-purpose flour and whole wheat pastry flour. Whole wheat pastry flour is preferred since it is lower in protein and produces a nice soft crumb on your cupcakes.
- Leaveners: We will be using a combination of baking powder and baking soda.
- Gingerbread spices: Cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg, and ground ginger. All of these spices can easily be found at your local supermarket. I know there are more expensive versions, but let's be real, most of us are on a budget. So, I take the best quality I can get at the best price.
- Cream cheese: Combined with softened butter to make the orange buttercream. Using the combination creates a buttercream with more complex flavors.
- Powdered sugar: Makes the creamiest buttercream frosting. Granulated sugar will not work to make the icing.
- Orange: A combination of orange zest and fresh orange juice gives the buttercream its flavor. Zest the fresh orange first and then squeeze it for juice.
- Pecan halves: Sprinkled over the top but you can also use pieces if you wish.
- Quick caramel sauce: Made with a combination of soft candy caramels and milk.
TOP TIP: It is so much easier to prepare the food if you have everything ready to go. This is a process called mise en place. Meaning, everything is in place and ready to go! This will make the baking process so much easier! So gather all your ingredients and measure them out before you start mixing!
Equipment
Are you ready to get these cupcakes in the oven? Honestly, these gingerbread cupcakes are pretty simple to make! Here are a few tools and baking products I really enjoy using.
- Paper liners: These help keep the cupcake from sticking and make it easier to serve and eat. I used a tulip cupcake wrapper, I think they are so pretty to use!!
- Baking pans: I love the Wilton muffin pans and have used them forever.
- Scooping the batter: Another trick I use to transfer the gingerbread batter to the muffin tray is a cookie scoop. This ensures I am getting an even amount for each cupcake so the cupcakes all bake in the same amount of time.
- Mixing the cupcakes: You will need a couple of medium bowls, a hand mixer, and measuring cups and spoons.
How to Make Gingerbread Cupcakes
Are you feeling overwhelmed about this cupcake recipe? Don't be! I'm going to walk you through it step by step!
For detailed instructions see the recipe card but here's an overview with photos to demonstrate the process.
Step 1: Make the Gingerbread Cupcakes
- When you’re ready to get started, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, line your cupcake pan with liners, and gather all your ingredients together for the cupcakes.
- Combine both flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg in a medium bowl and mix together. Set these aside.

- Combine the softened butter, oil, and brown sugar in a medium bowl and mix well.

- Add the eggs, vanilla, Greek yogurt, and molasses to the butter mixture. Mix again just to combine. You don't want to over-mix it. The eggs are a protein and if they get mixed too much, it will make your cupcakes a little more tough than you want.

- Add the flour mixture to the bowl and mix to combine. It’s very important to not over-mix after adding the flour to the bowl. A few small lumps are not a big deal.

- Use an ice cream scoop or measuring cup to scoop the batter evenly into your lined cupcake pan.
- Place in the hot oven for 12-18 minutes to bake. The time will depend on the actual temperature of your oven.

TOP TIP: I like to underbake these just a touch. After you remove the cupcakes from the oven, they will continue to cook. This is called carry-over cooking. It’s really important when working with whole grains as they can cook up a bit drier since they absorb more liquid than refined flours.
- Test the cupcakes for doneness by touch. This is done by gently pressing in the center of the cupcake. If you can feel it slightly underbaked in the very center of the cupcake, about one-half inch in the very center, it is perfect.
- Remove the cupcakes from the oven and the carry-over cooking will finish off the last little bit.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool for about five minutes in the pan, then carefully remove them and place them on a cooling rack.

Step 2: Toast the Pecans
- While the oven is still hot from baking the cupcakes, spread the whole pecan halves onto a baking sheet and place the tray in the oven.

- Bake for about 7-10 minutes. They will darken a touch and start to smell "toasted". It’s such a great smell. Remove the tray from the oven and allow them to cool before adding them to the gingerbread cupcakes.
Step 3: Orange Buttercream
- Add the softened cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and orange zest to a small bowl. Use a hand mixer to whip the icing until the ingredients are well blended.

- Check the consistency and adjust to your preference. Everyone prefers their icing a little differently, so add orange juice to thin it out or add more powdered sugar for a thicker icing.
- Whip it really well, this will give you the best consistency for this icing. When the cupcakes have cooled, pipe or spread the icing as desired.
Step 4: Make the Simple Caramel Sauce
- Add the caramels and milk to a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 15-second intervals and as soon as the caramel starts to soften, mix it together. Continue to microwave in intervals as needed to get a smoother consistency.
- Allow the sauce to cool just a touch before drizzling it over the iced cupcakes.
How to Ice Cupcakes
I know a lot of people are intimidated by the idea of having to ice cupcakes. Let me show you a super simple method I use.
Put away the piping bag, we won't need it here. Take your cookie scoop and fill it with icing. Can you see my son and I scooping on the scoop?? 🙂

The size of the scoop would be determined by the amount of icing you prefer. I like the medium scoop for this, but go larger if you like, no judgment here.
After scooping you have 3 options.
- Leave the scoop like it is on the cupcake. This is the simplest option.
- Turn over the cookie scoop and press down with the back of the scoop to flatten the icing slightly.
- Spread the icing lightly with a small offset icing spatula. This method is the one I am using.

After icing the cupcakes, add the toasted pecans and drizzle with caramel sauce.


Expert Tips
- It is so important to underbake your whole wheat baked goods just a touch, this will keep them from drying out.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before adding the orange buttercream on top!
- Check your spices! While there's no need to buy fancy spices, you will definitely want to check their freshness! The longer they sit, the less intense the flavor.
- Use a cookie scooper to add the batter to the pan in order to make all the cupcakes the same size.
FAQ
It is lower in protein and produces a nice soft crumb on your cupcakes. I prefer to use a combination of all-purpose flour and whole-wheat pastry flour. It's a blend I use often, trust, and it produces really great results.
If you don't have a grain mill and want to purchase flour, King Arthur Flour is a great source. If you do have a grain mill, I love to use soft winter wheat from Farm Fresh Wheat in Washington. Their wheat has been amazing and they are an incredibly nice generational farming family. I really like to know my sources for the foods I purchase.
There are three techniques I use to make moist cupcakes, especially when baking with whole wheat flour. First, make sure you don’t overbake. Next, use oil and butter. The butter gives the cupcakes more flavor while the oil adds extra moisture. Use Greek yogurt or sour cream in your batter to increase the moisture.

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Gingerbread Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream
Equipment
- bowl for mixing
- Hand mixer optional
- cupcake pan
Ingredients
- ¼ cup oil
- ¼ cup softened butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup molasses
- ⅓ cup greek yogurt or sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
Cinnamon Orange Cream Cheese Icing
- 4 ounces softened cream cheese
- 4 tablespoons softened butter
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- fresh orange juice The amount you use will be to the consistency you are looking for. I like my icing thick, so I used about 2 teaspoons
Toasted Pecans
- 1 cup whole pecan halves
Simple Caramel Sauce
- 8 wrapped caramels
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
Gingerbread Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line cupcake pan with liners for 12 cupcakes. Set aside.
- In small bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In another medium bowl, add softened butter, oil, and brown sugar. Mix well. Add in eggs, vanilla, Greek yogurt, and molasses. This time, only mix to combine. You don't want to overmix it. Last step is the dry ingredients. Add these in and mix again to combine. Be careful not to overmix here! A few small lumps is not a big deal.
- Scoop batter evenly into your lined cupcakes pan.
- Place in oven.
- These will take between 12-18 minutes to bake, depending on the actual temp of your oven.
- I like to under bake these just a touch. The reason for this is even after your remove the cupcakes from the oven, they will continue to cook. This is called carry-over cooking. It really important when working with whole grains as they absorb more liquid than refined flours. I test the cupcakes for doneness by touch. This is done by gently pressing in the center of the cupcake. If you can feel it slightly underbaked in the very center of the cupcake, like about ½ inch in the very center, it is perfect. Remove from oven, and the carry over cooking will finish off the last little bit.
- Remove from oven. Allow to cool aboout5 minutes in the pan, then carefully remove and place on a cooling rack.
- Now, they are ready for icing and doesn't your house smell amazing!!
Toasted pecans
- Leave your oven on from baking the cupcakes, at 350 degrees.
- Pour whole pecan halves onto a baking sheet and place in the oven.
- You will want to bake these for about 7-10 minutes. They will darken a touch and start to smell "toasted". It is such a great smell.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool before using.
Orange Cream Cheese Icing
- Add softened cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and orange zest to small bowl. With a hand mixer, whip the icing until ingredients are well blended. Now, check for the consistency. Everyone perfers their icing a little different, so add orange juice to get to that consistency. If you want it to be more thick, add in another tablespoon or so of powdered sugar. Whip it really well, this will give you the best consistency for this icing. When cupcakes have cooled, pipe or spread the icing as desired.
Simple Caramel Sauce
- Add caramels and milk to a microwave safe bowl. You will wan the caramels to melt and then mix with the milk. Each microwave is different, but I would recommend starting in 15 second intervals. As soon as the caramel starts to soften, mix. Microwave back in as needed to get the smooth consistency you are looking for.
- Allow to cool just a touch, then pour it over the iced cupcakes.
Notes
- It is so important to underbake your whole wheat baked goods just a touch, this will keep them from drying out.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before adding the orange buttercream on top!
- Check your spices! While there's no need to buy fancy spices, you will definitely want to check their freshness! The longer they sit, the less intense the flavor.
- Use a cookie scooper to add the batter to the pan in order to make all the cupcakes the same size.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!