Best gingerbread cupcakes

2020 has been rough. So let's add in some dessert to smooth out the end. Supporting a friend, I had acquired a gluten-free "healthier" gingerbread cake mix a while ago. AND Just a heads up, I'm not peddling this mix! This is purely a tutorial on how to get creative with baking mixes.

The first thing to remember when getting creative with baking mixes is that you can absolutely turn ANY cake mix into a no forks or plates allowed kid-approved cupcake.  So let's do that. 🎯

The SECOND thing to remember when being creative with baking mixes is that you can change the ingredients as long as the dry to wet ingredients ratio stays the same. You don't want to add too many wet ingredients or the cake won't rise enough. Likewise you don't want to add too many dry ingredients that it cooks too fast and crumbles when you chew. So let's do that too ✅

My cake mix called for 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of oil, and 1/4 cup of molasses. Basic stuff for a gingerbread mix. 

Instead I used 1 egg and 1/4 cup of oil and 3/4th of a cup of homemade pureed spinach*. 

I wanted to add a vegetable for nutrition and for moisture. Plus my my kids don't like a super strong gingerbread flavor so I didn't need molasses. You can add any pureed fruit or vegetable with most mixes. 

To do this. Either buy it premade in a jar or in the baby food aisle or make it. I took some grocery chopped spinach and some water and blended it up until it was thick like a green smoothie. Took 5 minutes. 

BAKING: like the common shoe brand - just do it. Follow the box instructions, and check using a tooth pick. If there are only cake instructions you'll have to guess and stay closer to check on it. But it's easy. 

My package says to bake the cake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. I baked it in a cupcake lined cupcake pan for 18 minutes at 350 degrees. Then checked them with a tooth pick. I let them sit in the pan for a few minutes then let them finish cooling on a cooling rack before lightly frosting then with chocolate frosting. 

I highly recommend this baking mix, not only because it's heathy and light, but even with tweaking it to make cupcakes with extra veggies, it was so great. It had that classic gingerbread flavor without being super sappy sweet but not let the ginger go crazy and overpowering the entire dessert. Its easy to use and perfect for the holidays. 

Enjoy, 

Stephanie