Gluten-free Gingerbread Cupcakes Recipe

Gluten-free gingerbread cupcakes recipe - filled with gooey caramel and topped with a gingerbread man. Coeliac-friendy and wheat-free. See the FAQ section for advice on making this dairy-free.

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 22

Total Time 37

Servings -16

Calories 579kcal

Author Becky Excell

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

150 g butter softened
150 g light brown sugar
175 g golden syrup
50 g black treacle
3 large eggs
180 ml milk
300 g gluten-free self-raising flour
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1.5 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon

For the buttercream:

225 g butter softened
450 g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon optional - or use an extra 1/2 tsp of ginger instead

For decorating:

12-16 store-bought gluten-free gingerbread men linked in FAQ section
store-bought caramel (I used Carnation) optional filling for the cupcakes

Grams - Cups

Instructions

For the cupcakes:

Preheat your oven to 160C Fan / 180C and prepare your cupcake tin.
Melt together your sugar, golden syrup, butter and black treacle. Put to one side to cool a little.
In a bowl mix together your eggs and milk until well combined.
Slowly add your slightly cooled syrup mixture to your bowl with your eggs and milk in it. Ensure you do this slowly and are constantly mixing as you do.
In a large bowl place your gluten free self raising flour, xanthan gum, ginger and cinnamon. Mix these together.
Then gradually add your wet mixture into your flour, mixing all the time once more until smooth and combined.
Pour or spoon your mixture evenly between your cupcake tins, mine were about 2/3 - 3/4 full. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes (I always do about 22 minutes) until cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool briefly in the tin before transferring to a cooling rack.

For the buttercream:

For the buttercream, ensure your butter is soft and at room temperature. I find it takes a good hour out of the fridge to soften, but never let it go too soft! Place your butter into your mixer and mix on a medium speed for about 5 minutes until the butter has gone a lot more pale in colour.
Add your icing sugar gradually. I add it in 2-3 stages and beat for about 3 minutes between each addition. Start your mixer slowly but then increase the speed to medium / high for each of your 3 minutes.
Add your vanilla extract, ginger plus optionally cinnamon and mix once more - it should now be done. Ensure it's the right thickness - it should be if you've beaten it for long enough. However, if it's too thick you can add a tiny amount of milk. And if too thin, add in a little extra icing sugar - this might be the case for dairy free buttercream using hard margarine.

For the assemly of the cupcakes:

If you want to fill your cupcakes, core the centre of each. I use one of my piping nozzles to gently push into the centre of the cupcake and remove a bit. You could use a knife and remove a little too. Just make sure you don't go too deep as you need some of the cake beneath to hold the filling!
Spoon some caramel sauce into the hole you've made in each cupcake.
Spoon your buttercream into a piping bag with a large star nozzle. Then pipe your buttercream on top. If you don't want to pipe it, you can spoon it on top too!
Finish with either a shop bought or homemade gingerbread man! Enjoy!

Notes

Putting caramel in the centre is completely optional - I just love it, but the cakes are super flavoursome on their own.

The shop bought gluten free gingerbread men I used in the photo I cut the legs off to make them shorter and easier to stick in. The legs made a great baking snack!!

Nutrition