I wanted both the cake and the frosting to have a gingerbread and a latte component. For the frostings, I made both a gingerbread and a latte frosting and I swirled them together.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt.
Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk.
Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the hot milk mixture.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full..
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes or until slightly springy to the touch.
Simple Sugar Instructions
Bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add 1 t coffee extract and let cool.
Frosting Instructions
Whip up whipping cream in mixer until soft peaks begin to form. Fold in mascarpone.
Split mixture in half. Do a better job than I at splitting it in half. For some reason my "half" ended up being 3/4 and 1/4 which ended up making the frosting not as evenly mixed as I would have hoped.
In the first half, 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.
In a separate bowl, mix the remaining spices. Add 2 teaspoons of the spice mix to the second half of the frosting. Then while mixing over low speed, slowly add the remaining confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time, being careful not to over whip frosting.
The Assembly
When the cake cools, poke holes in it and pour a few teaspoons of the coffee syrup into each cupcake. 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!