Fluffy, moist and light orange cupcake recipe with sweet orange scent topped with fresh orange frosting. And the taste? 10527x better than gulping a tall glass of orange juice. No, I am serious!

It is raining oranges on my blog lately. And does this surprise you??? You are so aware of my love for bright and citrusy flavors by now. This orange cake is one of the most loved recipes on my blog. We are so alike when it comes to flavoring our cakes.

The orange cupcakes today are bursting with sweet and tangy orange flavors.So light and buttery; soft and springy.  And the fresh orange frosting over them will make the fluffiest clouds in the sky a little jealous!

Ingredients for orange cupcake recipe

We will begin by sifting our usual dry ingredients. Creaming our room temperature butter and sugar, to yield soft, buttery and fluffy cupcakes.

To make our moist orange cupcakes even more fluffier and more moist than ever, we are using sour cream. It is known to lighten up the crumb of the cake considerably. You may substitute sour cream with yogurt. But I recommend sour cream for best results.

And I can’t stress this one enough. We will beat our egg whites separately (till soft peaks stage) to give that springy texture to our bake. You can’t afford to skip this step. We will fold egg whites in the batter, alternating them with our dry ingredients.

I baked 12 slightly larger cupcakes with this recipe. I liked them this way as they came out with super flat tops. You can bake 14-15 good sized cupcakes instead if you desire.

Texture of these fresh orange cupcakes

I will let this picture speak for itself first!

And for this light and cotton soft texture, the major credit goes to our egg whites (whipped separately). Second close, in producing a soft and a moist orange cupcake is our sour cream.

You add them both as mentioned in the recipe and these cupcakes with orange frosting will be the talk of the town!

Oh and I almost forgot to sing the praises of my orange frosting. 😉 This is one light, fluffy and smooth orange buttercream frosting with citrus undertones you will love! I have used both orange zest and just enough orange juice in the frosting. This will intensify the flavor in our orange buttercream without liquefying it. Sweet and orange-y,  flavor packed and Perfectly pipeable. Uh uh! Get your fingers off of that mixing bowl.

Love my orange flavored cupcakes? Then you must try my super high rising muffins infused with orange flavor!

This orange cupcake recipe is adapted from lovelifeandsugar.com with some changes in the process.

5 from 3 votes

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Orange cupcake recipe with orange frosting

Prep Time

20 mins

Bake Time

17 mins

Total Time

37 mins

 

Fluffy, moist and light orange cupcake recipe with sweet orange scent topped with fresh orange frosting.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 14 Cupcakes

Calories: 472 kcal

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups (163g) All purpose flour
• 3/4 cups (155g) Sugar
• 2 tsp Baking powder
• 3 (large) Egg whites
• 1/4 cup (57g) Sour cream
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 6 Tbsp (84 gms) Butter (unsalted, at Room temperature)
• 1/4 cup Milk
• 1 Tbsp Water
• 3 Tbsp Orange juice
• 1 Tbsp Orange zest
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Orange Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup (224g) unsalted butter
• 4 cups (460g) powdered sugar
• 3-4 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/2 Tbsp Finely grated orange zest

Instructions

1. 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) and line your muffin pans with liners. You will need two pans if you are baking 14 cupcakes. Sift the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) together and set aside.
   

   2. Add egg whites in a clean mixing bowl. Beat for about a minute until frothy using a handheld or stand mixture and the balloon whisk attachment. Add half of the sugar, pouring a tablespoon at a time and whisking till the whites reach soft peak stage.

   3. In a handheld or stand mixer (fitted with a paddle attachment) beat butter for about a minute. Add sugar and beat on high for about 3 minutes. The mixture will be light and creamy. Add half of the dry ingredients and  pour in sour cream, milk, vanilla extract, water, orange juice and zest and mix well to combine.

   4. Now fold in half of the meringue using a spatula. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients and fold in the rest of meringue. Take care not to over mix the batter at this stage.

   5. Pour batter in the cupcake liners and bake for about 15-17 minutes. Or until they pass the toothpick test. Let the cupcakes cool completely at room temperature before frosting.

   For the orange frosting-

   1. Beat the room temperature butter on high with a whisk attachment for about two minutes. Add a cup of sugar and beat well until creamy and combined. Add another cup of sugar and beat well.

   2. Now add the orange zest, a tbsp of juice and another cup of sugar and whisk to incorporate well.

   3. Add in the last batch of sugar and the remaining amount of orange juice as required for the right consistency. Continue to beat well till the buttercream gets a smooth, silky and pipeable .

   4. Pipe on the cooled cupcakes and decorate with raspberries and a mint sprig or as you please.

Recipe Notes

1. You may replace sour cream with greek yogurt if you wish. But this affects the soft texture of this cupcakes to some extent. Greek yogurt makes them a little dense.
2. I recommend using freshly squeezed orange juice for that real orange flavor in these cupcakes.
3. If you wish to bake a little large cupcakes then bake this recipe in 12 cupcake liners.