Didn't the gingerbread man say, "You can't catch me... I'm the gingerbread man..." Well, have we got a surprise for you. You can catch these delicious gingerbread cupcakes. Check out this Kid's Kitchen recipe from www.allrecipes.com.

The Cake

(Makes 12 cupcakes. I doubled it.)

• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup hot milk

Directions:
1. Cream butter with the white sugar.
2. Add the molasses and the egg and egg yolk.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt.
4. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk.
5. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the hot milk mixture.
6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes or until slightly springy to the touch.


The Frosting:

• 1/2 cup chilled whipping cream
• 4 oz mascarpone
• 2 teaspoon coffee extract
• 1/8 cup coffee grinds
• 1.5-2 cups confectioner's sugar (depending upon how thick you prefer frosting)

Directions:

1. Whip up whipping cream in mixer until soft peaks begin to form. Fold in mascarpone.
2. Mix in 1/8 cup coffee grinds. Then while mixing over low speed, slowly add about 1.5 cups of the confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time, being careful not to over-whip frosting. 

The Sprinkles:
I purchased the gingerbread sprinkles here.

The Assembly:
Put some of each frosting into a pastry bag and pipe onto the cupcake.

An Easier Option:
This cupcake would be just as good if you just made the cake and latte frosting and didn't bother with the gingerbread half of the frosting or the simple syrup. You could also just make the gingerbread portion of the frosting. You can't go wrong!

Get more Kid's Kitchen recipes here.