The best quick and easy orange cupcakes recipe from scratch, homemade with simple ingredients. Light, fluffy and super soft and moist with a hint of coconut flavor. Topped off with whipped cream. So much better than Hostess orange cupcakes! Also known as orange creamsicle cupcakes.
*Thanks Silk for sponsoring this post so that I could share this recipe with you. As always, all opinions are mine.*
These cupcakes are perfect for Summer parties, just like my Easy Orange Cake and these delicious Orange Cookies (With Cake Mix).
Today's cupcakes have a fantastic fresh fruity flavor. To really enhance the citrus flavor, I used a combination of orange juice, orange extract and orange zest. That's three sources of orange deliciousness!
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How to make orange cupcakes?
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Mix in eggs, yogurt, orange juice, zest, extracts, food coloring.
- Separately, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, coconut.
- Dump dry mixture to wet mixture and mix.
- Pour batter in cupcake liners.
- Bake
- Let cupcakes cool.
- Ice them.
- Toss sprinkles.
- Enjoy!
Variations
- Cranberry orange cupcakes- Fill baked cupcakes with cranberry jam or preserves and top it off with cranberry frosting.
- Orange crush cupcakes- This is a doctored cake mix recipe that uses orange soda instead of water but the rest of the ingredients from the box instructions remain the same.
- Add poppy seeds- Mix in 1 tablespoon poppy seeds.
- Use a combination of various zests- Such as lemon, lime, grapefruit.
- Pair with different frostings- Such as tangy Cream Cheese Frosting or Easy Orange Frosting (Buttercream Icing)
- Add a filling- Such as orange marmalade or this Easy Homemade Strawberry Jam or any other fruit preserves you like. You can also fill with American Buttercream Frosting.
- Make mini cupcakes- Use a mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake liners.
In this picture below, I did not use food coloring in the batter and I paired them with Coconut Cream Chocolate Frosting to make chocolate orange cupcakes. Such a divine flavor combination! I decorated with shredded coconut and a red candy ball.
Also, I used Silk vanilla yogurt today and it has no cholesterol and is low in saturated fats! Both, the almond milk and yogurt are made with the goodness of plants instead of dairy and taste so good that you can't even tell the difference!
Tips and Techniques
- All ingredients must be at room temperature- Because they blend together smoothly and evenly.
- Desiccated coconut substitute- Use a sharp knife to finely chop up shredded coconut and that will work well too. Don't use shredded coconut because it adds a chewy texture and you don't want that in a cupcake.
- Can I omit coconut? Yes. I am quite fond of the coconut orange combination but it would not affect the recipe, if you don't use it.
- Butter substitute- Coconut oil at room temperature is great and also adds a lovely yet subtle coconut flavor.
- Yogurt substitute- Sour cream in the same quantity works very well too.
- Orange food coloring- I am a big fan of using gel coloring instead of liquid coloring since the color is more concentrated. However, if you don't have that, you can also mix yellow and red liquid food coloring to make orange color. You can also omit food coloring altogether and it's won't affect the flavor in any way.
- Can orange extract be omitted? I highly recommend it since it enhances the overall citrus flavor but you can use orange emulsion oil, if you have that or add ½ teaspoon extra zest.
- Use full fat ingredients- For maximum flavor and richness.
- Don’t over-mix cupcake batter– Because that can yield tough cupcakes. It’s okay if there are some lumps in the batter.
More Orange Desserts
Recipe
Coconut Orange Cupcakes
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Ingredients
- ½ cup Butter Unsalted, Room temperature
- ¾ cups Granulated sugar
- 2 Eggs Large
- ½ cup Vanilla yogurt Full fat, Can also use sour cream
- ¼ cup Orange juice
- 2 tablespoon Orange zest
- 1 teaspoon Orange extract Optional
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- Orange gel coloring
- 1.5 cups All-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- 2 tablespoon Coconut Desiccated, Unsweetened
- 4 cups Whipped cream
- 2 tablespoon White sprinkles For decoration
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, yogurt, orange juice, orange zest, orange extract, vanilla extract, orange gel coloring and mix until smooth. Keep aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, coconut.
- Dump this dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix until just combined.
- Pour batter in cupcake liners.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean.
- Allow cupcakes to cool down completely.
- Then, attach a big round tip (Tip # 1A) to a piping bag and fill with whipped cream and pipe on top of each cupcake.
- Toss some sprinkles. Enjoy!
Notes
- Read all my tips above.
- Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
An automated tool is used to calculate the nutritional information. As such, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information provided for any recipe on this site.
Until next time, tata my lovelies!
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