"Melting" Snowman Gingerbread Cupcakes

After one of the most tiring semesters yet, I am finally on winter break with two weeks off to do as little as possible.  Last year I ran off to Puerto Rico for a few days, but this year I'm looking forward to laying low, catching up with friends and family, and sleeping A LOT.  Of course I also get to be home when the sun is up which definitely makes baking, photographing, and blogging a whole lot easier too.  Recently it's been a whirlwind of holiday baking for me, and these snowman gingerbread cupcakes are one of my favorite treats to exit my kitchen so far.  They were a ton of fun to make and received rave reviews at our clinic holiday party last week.  

Since I was so busy baking and wrapping up schoolwork, I took a few shortcuts with these cupcakes.  The cupcake is a doctored cake mix that turned out deliciously and while I originally imagined cake balls for the snowman heads, I opted for store-bought donut holes dipped in white chocolate to save some time.  The eyes and buttons are little chocolate candies I found at Whole Foods awhile back, the scarves are Twizzler Pull&Peels, the arms are mini pretzel rods, and the carrot noses are little bits of fondant dyed orange (but you could also use orange tic-tacs).  I made my own cream cheese frosting with a bit of cinnamon added for the "melted" body, but a store-bought can of frosting would work just as well if you want another shortcut.  I think hats would have put these over the top with cuteness, but I didn't think ahead enough to pull that off (I'm imaging mini Oreos with Rolos maybe...).  You can be really creative with what you choose to use here, and I think it would be great to get the kids involved too!

"Melting" Snowman Gingerbread Cupcakes

For the cupcakes: Recipe adapted from Hello, Cupcake

1 box (18.25 oz) yellow cake mix

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup molasses

1/3 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1-1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

- Combine the cake mix and all of the additional ingredients listed above (ignoring the ingredient list on the back of the cake mix box).  Beat together for about 2 minutes.

- Fill paper liners 2/3 full and bake 15-20 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.  

- Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.  

For the cinnamon cream cheese frosting:

12 oz cream cheese, cold

6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the vanilla extract.

- Slowly add the powdered sugar, then beat until well combined.  Mix in cinnamon.

- Load frosting into a piping bag with a large round tip, and frost cooled cupcakes with "blobs" of frosting to resemble a melting puddle of snow.  

For decoration and assembly:

24 glazed donut holes

Twizzler Pull&Peels

Small pretzel rods

Mini chocolate candies or chocolate chips

Orange tic-tacs or fondant

1 package white candy melts (available at craft stores)

- Melt white candy melts according to package's instructions in a deep, microwave-safe bowl.  If the chocolate is too thick, add a little vegetable oil.  

- Drop each donut hole into the melted chocolate, then spoon it out and tap the spoon on the side of the bowl to remove excess. Transfer immediately atop frosted cupcakes.

- Add chocolate pieces for eyes and buttons,  pretzel rods for arms, tic-tac or fondant for a nose, and Twizzlers for a scarf.  Add a hat too if you want!

Recipe yields 24 cupcakes.