Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting // Baby News!

We have some big news! Our family is growing next year, and we couldn’t be happier!

I made some big cupcakes to represent B and me, and mini cupcakes to represent the future baby. After all, what’s the point of mini cupcakes if you can’t use them for baby announcements? 

We (especially B) had been hoping for a baby for a long, but is wasn’t easy. Timing a family is tricky during medical training, but it worked out perfectly during my gap year after residency and before fellowship.  

While working working nights, I was wondering why I was so exhausted all the time. I had just started my new job as a hospitalist / nocturnist and had done more shifts and longer hours during residency. Once I started having severe nausea and vomiting, that’s when I took the test and saw the two pink stripes.

I called B who was in the operating room. He was so excited! When we hung up, his attending said, “Alright, someone either got engaged or is pregnant.” So his attending was the first one to know the news haha.

We broke the news to family quickly.

Me: Hi Mom, we have some great news
Mom: Oh what is it?
B: We switched to Geico and saved 15% on car insurance
Mom: Oh, how wonderful!!!
B: No, mom that’s not it
Mom: No? Isn’t saving 15% on car insurance great news?!
Me: No, you’re going to be a Grandma!
Mom: Oh, how wonderful!!!

I called my brother at Sunday 11pm (he has the worst hours as a Wall Street financial analyst) and here was his response.

Me: *texting* Hans, pick up the phone, we have news
Hans: *texting* I‘m at work, I don’t have time to talk
Me: *texting* I‘m pregnant
Hans: Ok, I have time to talk

I’m more than halfway along and wanted to share the news on the blog by baking cupcakes.

I really love these Christmas cupcakes – gingerbread flavored with cinnamon cream cheese frosting! I topped them with sugared cranberries and sprigs of evergreen from our Christmas tree.

Adapted from King Arthur Flour.

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
GINGERBREAD CUPCAKE
1 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses (I used maple syrup)
1 large egg
1/2 cup water

FROSTING
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 to 2 tablespoons milk, enough to make a spreadable frosting

SUGARED CRANBERRIES
1/4 sugar, plus additional for coating
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup fresh cranberries

Directions
GINGERBREAD CUPCAKE
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease cupcake pans ( I used regular size and mini sized).

Combine the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup, and egg. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix. Add water, stirring until thoroughly combined. Spoon the batter into the cupcake pans

Bake the mini sized cupcakes for 15 min, and the regular sized cupcakes for 22 to 24 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from oven, and let cool for 30 minutes.

FROSTING
Beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and cinnamon, beating well. Add the milk a little at a time, until the frosting is spreadable. Fill a piping bag with the frosting, and pipe large swirls on top of the cooled cupcakes.

SUGARED CRANBERRIES
Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved to make your simple syrup. Do not boil. Add cranberries to the syrup and and transfer cranberries to a plate or tray. Let them dry and once dry and sticky, roll cranberries in sugar to coat
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.