Soft Gingerbread Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting

These Gingerbread Whoopie Pies are built from tender, moist gingerbread cakes with a simple, delicious cream cheese frosting in between. They're a classic, easy holiday bake that's perfect for sharing with the people you love!

Traditional Gingerbread Whoopie Pies

Whoopie pies have been a favorite of mine since childhood, so I'm glad to keep adding whoopie pie recipes here. Let's start with these gingerbread ones!

This recipe is based on my small batch gingerbread cupcakes recipe. I swapped the buttermilk for vegetable oil and added dark brown sugar for a moist texture.

The cream cheese frosting is borrowed from my single layer red velvet cake recipe. It's simple to make and goes beautifully with gingerbread!

This recipe yields 12 fully assembled whoopie pies. They keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or you can freeze them for up to 3 months, which is my favorite way to save them for later.

Gingerbread Whoopie Pie Ingredient List

Here's everything you'll need to bake these homemade gingerbread whoopie pies.

• All-Purpose Flour. I went with King Arthur, though any brand you like will do. I didn't try this recipe with any other flour.
• Baking Soda and Baking Powder. You need both leavening agents here, so check that neither one has expired.
• Spices. Gather ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, ground ginger, and salt.
• Vegetable Oil. Canola or coconut oil can stand in for it if needed.
• Sugars. Use granulated sugar (or organic pure cane sugar) along with dark brown sugar. Light brown sugar works in place of the dark if that's what you have.
• Egg. One is all you need, and it should come to room temperature first. I haven't tested any egg substitutes.
• Full Flavored Molasses. I used the Brer Rabbit brand. A light molasses works as a swap. Skip blackstrap molasses, since it's bitter and isn't meant for baking.
• Cream Cheese. This goes only into the frosting. Let it soften to room temperature first.
• Water. You'll stir 1/4 cup of warm water into the wet ingredients.
• Unsalted Butter. This is for the frosting only, and it should be at room temperature.
• Vanilla Extract. It goes into both the gingerbread cakes and the cream cheese frosting.
• Powdered Sugar. Used only in the frosting. Sift it before adding it to the mixture.

I haven't tested this recipe with alternative flours, egg substitutes, or dairy-free butter.

Recommended Baking Tools

These are the baking tools I recommend for this recipe.

How to Make Gingerbread Whoopie Pies From Scratch

Making these from scratch is fairly simple. You won't need a mixer, at least for the gingerbread cakes.

Whisk the dry ingredients. This step gets skipped sometimes, but combining all the dry ingredients first makes blending everything together much easier.

You'll need a medium mixing bowl and a whisk.

Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugars, oil, warm water, molasses, egg, and vanilla extract.

Combine the dry and wet ingredients. Add the whisked dry mixture to the wet and stir until just combined, meaning the flour disappears into the batter. Overmixing can make the whoopie pie cakes denser.

Scoop and bake. I used a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop, large rimmed baking sheets, and parchment paper.

Scoop the batter onto parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cake. I fit 6-9 gingerbread whoopie pie cakes on each sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 350ºF.

Wait 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack, or they'll stick to the parchment. Once they're on the rack, they cool off fairly quickly.

Frost, then enjoy! Mix up the cream cheese frosting. Room-temperature butter and cream cheese blend best. Sifting the powdered sugar is strongly recommended for the smoothest frosting.

You can spread the frosting on with an offset spatula, or fill a large piping bag fitted with a (recommended) 1A decorating tip.

Start in the center and swirl outward, stopping short of the edge. Top with another gingerbread whoopie pie cake, and that's it!

Common Questions

Wrap the whoopie pies tightly in plastic wrap and store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. For longer storage, wrap them the same way, place them in a sealed freezer bag, and freeze for about 3 months.

To scoop out the batter, I used my 1 ½ tablespoon-size cookie scoop, which gave me roughly 3-inch diameter gingerbread cakes. This should give you relatively round cakes.

You can shape them quickly with a round cookie cutter if they come out wonky. This will only work when they have immediately come out of the oven.

Yes. The gingerbread cakes and the cream cheese frosting can both be made 2-3 days in advance. You can also assemble the whoopie pies on the same day and save them for later.

This recipe leaves about 1 cup of frosting over, which keeps in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Use the leftovers to frost small batch cinnamon rolls!

Want More Whoopie Pie Recipes?