If you’re a fan of gingerbread men then you’ll love this delicious, smooth gingerbread buttercream, flavoured with ginger and black treacle.
I love gingerbread biscuits at Christmas (well all year round really, but they just feel “right” at Christmas), so when it came to thinking up a flavour for day 3 of my festive buttercream week I decided that it had to be gingerbread.
I’ve experimented with ginger buttercream before but never managed to get the flavour quite rich enough to really bring all the memories of gingerbread biscuits when eating it. I ended up pouring over gingerbread biscuit recipes thinking about what gives them their distinctive flavour and thinking about whether I could somehow shoehorn that into a smooth buttercream.
After much experimentation, I discovered that the secret to making a buttercream that tastes just like gingerbread was to add lots of ground ginger (obviously) and also a little black treacle. I’m traditional and stick to just ginger but I know some people prefer to add other spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg to their biscuits, so feel free to switch some of the ginger for these in the recipe if you prefer.
I’ve served this gingerbread buttercream on some of my vanilla cupcakes and they’re topped with some cute gingerbread man sprinkles that I found in Hobbycraft.
What You’ll Need
Before you start, make sure you have all of the equipment needed.
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Weighing Scales- Measuring Spoons
- Knife – to cut the butter
- Electric Mixer (or a bowl and hand mixer or wooden spoon)
- Sieve
- Piping Bags – if you’re planning on piping the cupcakes
- Piping Nozzle – To pipe the cupcakes as shown in the pictures you’ll need a JEM 1B nozzle.
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Gingerbread Buttercream
INGREDIENTS
- 225 g butter - soft at room temperature
- 450 g icing sugar
- 4 tbsp black treacle
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- A little milk
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cut the butter (225g) into cubes and beat in an electric mixer on a low speed until soft.
- Add the icing sugar (450g) and beat until fully combined – I prefer to add the sugar a couple of spoonfuls at a time as this minimises the amount of sugar that flies out all over the kitchen.
- Add the black treacle (4 tbsp) a tbsp at a time and beat until fully combined.
- Add the ground ginger (1 tbsp) and again beat until fully combined.
- Check the consistency of your buttercream, if it seems a little too firm to pipe then add a little milk (no more than a tsp at a time) until you have the required consistency.
- Your buttercream is now ready to use.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Gluten-Free
- Egg-Free
- Tree Nut-Free
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Soya-Free
- Lupin-Free
Trish says
Absolutely delightful!! Thanks so much for sharing this gorgeous buttercream recipe which will go great on top of cupcakes 🙂
Lily coverdale says
Charlotte, this recipe is magical! I used the icing on my Halloween persimmon and ginger cake, and it was brilliant.
Ellen says
What cupcake vase would you put this buttercream on? X
Charlotte Oates says
Whatever you fancy really. It goes particularly well with coffee or chocolate.
Shelly says
Where a buttercream recipe calls for butter, what do you use please? Salted or unsalted butter? Im looking to make your gingerbread buttercream recipe.
Thanks so much!
Charlotte Oates says
I always use unsalted.
Janice says
Can you break the ingredients into cups other than grams please
Charlotte Oates says
Done 🙂
Just click the big green button just above the recipe and you’ll see the ingredients listed in cups and ounces.
If there are any other recipes you’d like to see cups measures for then please let me know. I’m slowly working my way through them, but I’ll prioritise ones I’ve got requests for. You might also find my grams to cups calculator useful. You simply enter the measurement you have and what you want to convert it to and it’ll work out the conversion for you for many popular ingredients (if there’s an ingredient missing let me know and I’ll try my best to add it).
Ramona says
have you made a lot of gluten free cupcakes? have you tested it on people with gluten free allergies? I want to try to start making gluten free cupcakes so my grandson can enjoy them but I’m so hesitant because his reactions are so severe
can you give me any tips or suggestion? I would appreciate any help greatly! 🙂
Charlotte Oates says
I haven’t, but I know several fantastic bloggers who do. Either they or their children have allergies or intolerance which mean they take ensuring there are no allergens sneaking in very seriously. If you take a look at my Halloween Meringues recipe there’s a list of the bloggers in there (the links go to their Halloween recipes so have a click around). No all of them are specifically gluten-free, but many are and they’re also very helpful if you have any questions. The Free From Fairy (who’s on that list) also sells her own brand of gluten-free flour which gets fantastic reviews compared to the brands available in the supermarkets.
Chicara says
What piping tip do you use for these amazing swirls….love your technique 🙂
Charlotte Oates says
It’s a JEM1B
Sandy says
Sorry but what is black treacle?
Charlotte Oates says
It’s molasses. I used this one https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/257090354
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
Gingerbread buttercream? I’m in!! x