Gingerbread Cupcakes With Vanilla & Pecan Frosting

Now that Christmas is approaching, it's the perfect time to freshen up on your baking game just in time for all the festive activities. One of the most standard sweet treats to get started with is cupcakes! These ginger and cinnamon flavoured cupcakes are the most delicious christmassy treat and super easy to make, using ingredients you most likely already have laying around in the cupboards. These cupcakes are also topped with vanilla buttercream and crushed pecans, but if you had any Christmas baking decorations, this would be a great opportunity to use them!

I'm hoping to get a lot of Christmas content on my blog this year, but for now, check out some of these other sweet treats:

- Pumpkin Swirl Muffins

- 3-ingredient Oreo Truffles

- Mini S'mores Cheesecakes

- 1 Hour Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

- Easy Caramel Millionaire Shortbread

- White Chocolate Chunk + Cashew Cookies

- Coffee & Walnut Cake

- Cranberry & Walnut Flapjack

This recipe makes 20 cupcakes, perfect for Christmas time when lots of people are around. However, I would suggest halving the recipe if there's not many of you to enjoy them!

 - GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES WITH VANILLA & PECAN FROSTING -

Makes: 20   Prep Time: 10 mins   Cook Time: 25 mins

You will need:

- 3 cups + 2 tbsp self raising flour

- 1 3/4 cups caster sugar 

- 1 tbsp ground ginger

- 3 tsp ground cinnamon

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 450ml oat milk (or other plant milk)

- 1 tsp vanilla extract 

- 6 tbsp vegan butter

For the buttercream:

- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar

- 1/2 cup vegan butter

- 1 tsp vanilla

- Pecans, chopped / crushed, for topping

Method - 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line two muffin tins with 20 large cupcake cases.

2. In a stand mixer or mixing bowl, sieve the self raising flour. Add the caster sugar, ginger, cinnamon and baking powder to the same bowl and stir until all the ingredients are combined.

3. Slowly pour in the oat milk (or other dairy free milk alternative) and add the vegan butter and vanilla extract. Stir these into the dry ingredients until completely combined and there are no lumps.

4. Once the mixture is completely smooth, pour the batter into each of the cupcake cases, making sure they are all equal and are around 3/4 of the way full.

5. Place the baking trays in the oven for 25 minutes until the cupcakes are golden and a skewer / knife is poked through the middle and comes out clean.

6. Place the cupcakes on a cooling rack. Allow the cupcakes to cool for at least 30 minutes before icing. 

7. Once the cupcakes are cool, begin making the icing by adding the vegan butter to a bowl and gradually adding the icing sugar, stirring as you go. Add the vanilla extract and stir again. Make sure the buttercream is completely lump free and is a sort of fluffy, smooth consistency. 

8. Pour the icing into a piping bag and ice them from the outside and finishing off in the middle. I then topped my cupcakes with a sprinkle of crushed pecans and some little gold crunchy decorations, however feel free to decorate them as you please!

This recipe is one of my go to's for whipping up something really delicious whenever baked goods are needed - as after all, we all know they're pretty essential. 

I can't wait to get started on some more Christmas baking so keep your eyes peeled for all sorts of festive treats coming your way. 

What's your favourite Christmas treat?

Love Always,

Shannon x