Gingerbread Cupcakes filled with nutella, frosted with Gingerbread Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and topped with a Nutella Gingerbread Cookie Sandwich
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cupcakes, gingerbread, nutella
Prep Time 1 hourhour
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
0 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour40 minutesminutes
Servings 12cupcakes
Calories 280kcal
Ingredients
Gingerbread Cupcakes
6tablespoonsunsalted butterroom temperature (85 grams, 3 oz)
1/2cupbrown sugar100 grams, 3.5 oz
1/2cupmolasses
1egg
1 1/4cupsall-purpose flour159 grams, 5.62 oz
1 1/4teaspoonbaking powder
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
1teaspoonground ginger
1teaspoonground cinnamon
1/4teaspoonground cloves
1/4teaspoonground allspice
1/4teaspoonfine sea salt
1/2cupbuttermilk
1/4cupnutella
Gingerbread Swiss Meringue Buttercream
3egg whites
1cupbrown sugar200 grams, 7 oz
3/4teaspoonmolasses
18tablespoonsunsalted butter255 grams, 9 oz
1teaspoonvanilla extract
1teaspoonground ginger
1 1/2teaspoonground cinnamon
1/4teaspoonground nutmeg
1/4teaspoonallspice
1/4teaspoonground cloves
Nutella Gingerbread Cookie Sandwich
1/3cupunsalted butterroom temperature (73 grams, 2.6 oz)
1/2cupbrown sugar100 grams, 3.5 oz
1/4cupmolasses
1large eggroom temperature
1/2teaspoonvanilla extract
2cupsall-purpose flour
1/4teaspoonfine sea salt
1teaspoonground ginger
3/4teaspoonground cinnamon
1/4teaspoonground cloves
1/4teaspoonground allspice
1/2cupnutella
Instructions
Gingerbread Cupcakes
Pre-heat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake pan with paper cups.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and salt together. Set aside.
Cream butter with a mixer, at medium-high speed for about 1 minute. Add sugar and beat for another 2 minutes.
Add molasses, mix until combined
Add egg and mix until incorporated.
Scrape sides of the bowl constantly.
Add buttermilk to the bowl and mix until incorporated.
Add dry ingredients and mix with a spatula.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until done. Touch cupcake surface lightly with your finger and if it springs back, means the cupcake is done baking.
Remove them and let them cool.
Gingerbread Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Right before you start to make your buttercream, remove butter from the fridge. Cut it into thin slices, about 1/4 inch thick. Set aside.
Place egg whites and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. I like to use my KitchenAid bowl. Prepare a double boiler, make sure the bottom of the mixer bowl won’t be in contact with the water in the double boiler.
Over barely simmering water, whisk sugar and egg whites until they reach 140F, that’s a safe temperature for the egg whites to be consumed.
Once whites and sugar have achieved this temperature, and sugar is completely melted, not leaving any granules behind, you may turn the heat off and move the bowl to the stand mixer.
With the whisk attachment on, beat meringue until stiff peaks form.
You are going to beat the meringue until stiff peaks form. Now, this might take a while. Usually takes me about 10 minutes. The reason for that is that the egg whites have to cool down first and then they will be able to reach stiff peak.
Just let the mixer do its job and cool down the meringue as it whisks it.
Once your meringue has reached stiff peaks, add the molasses. Mix until combined.
Now start adding the butter, with the mixer on medium-high speed.
Add one slab of butter at a time. Waiting a few seconds before adding the next one.
At times, you will question yourself if your meringue will ever form, the answer is mostly likely: yes it will form. Just be patient. Keep whisking it.
Add vanilla once you’re done adding the butter.
Now you may also add the spices and mix until combined.
At this point, you should see your meringue having hardened up and formed into a smooth cream.
If not, there are a few troubleshooting tricks you could try.
Please refer to the post above for troubleshooting.
Nutella Gingerbread Cookie Sandwich
Whisk flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter for about 1 minute. Add sugar and cream for another 2 minutes.
Add molasses and mix until combined.
Add egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
Now, add all dry ingredients.
Mix with a spatula until incorporated.
Form dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Remove from the fridge. Cut into 4 pieces.
Roll one piece out at a time on a floured surface until about 1/8” thick. Cut into the shape of your choice.
Place cut out cookies in a baking tray.
Pre-heat oven to 350 and place tray in the freezer while the oven pre-heats.
This will ensure that the cookies are cold, and the butter will be in a solid state and won’t start to melt as soon as it enters the oven.
And it will give the gluten formation a chance to establish its structure before the fat melts.
Bake for about 8-10 minutes, flipping in between if necessary.
Let them cool before filling with the nutella. I used a piping bag filled with nutella to pipe it over the cookies as you can see on the post above.
To assemble
When cupcakes have cooled down, use a spoon to remove the middle of each cupcake.
Place Nutella (you'll need about 1/4 cup, it depends on how much you want to stuff it in your cupcakes) in a piping bag, or use a spoon to place some filling in the middle of each cupcake.
Place the piece of cupcake that you removed on top of the filling.
Pipe frosting over cupcakes and top with a cookie sandwich.
Storage
Cupcakes will last for about 4 days in the fridge, covered.
Cookies will last for about 2 days at room temperature, and 4 days in the fridge, covered.