Orange Cupcakes with Swiss Orange Buttercream

These orange cupcakes with a fluffy orange buttercream are sure to be a hit at your next party! The cupcakes are full of real orange flavor and they are tender and moist. 

These cupcakes are perfect for any spring or summer party, bridal showers, weddings, kids' birthdays, and so much more! They are elegant and a little fancy, but easy to make! 

I like to fill mine with orange curd and then top them with a delicious orange swiss buttercream. If you really want to get fancy, add a candied orange slice on top! 

You can also turn them into an Orange Mimosa Cupcake by substituting the club soda with champagne or prosecco!

Suggested Kitchen Tools for Orange Cupcakes

• Stand Mixer or Electric Hand Mixer
• (affiliate link)Large 3 Tablespoon Scoop
• Standard-size muffin tin
• Piping bag and tip for decorating (optional)

Ingredients & Substitutions

You can use a white cake mix as a substitution for making the cupcake batter from scratch, but for the best outcome, I recommend following the recipe as written.

If you do decide to use box mix, you will want to replace the ¾ cup of water on the package directions with the orange flesh and juice and either club soda or champagne, for a total of ¾ cup of liquid.

Dry Ingredients

Flour

I use cake flour in this recipe and recommend it for a super tender cupcake, however all purpose flour can be used instead. I would substitute 1 cup of all purpose flour for the 1 ¼ cup of cake flour. 

I have not tested this recipe with other types of flour such as gluten free or low carb alternatives and, therefore, cannot give any recommendations on how much to use. 

Baking Powder & Salt

You can subsittute the baking powder with baking soda because there is enough acid in the recipe to neutralize the baking soda. Baking soda is 3-4 times stronger than baking powder, so you would only need to use ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to replace the baking powder in this recipe. 

The salt is optional, but does help boost all the other flavors. I use kosher or sea salt. If you use table salt, cut the amount in half. 

Wet Ingredients

Sugar

This recipe uses the creaming technique to make the cupcake batter and it is best to use room temperature butter. You can use salted or unsalted butter, I use salted. 

The sugar used is granulated white sugar, but you could use caster sugar instead. Since caster sugar is finer, you will need less of it. The recipe calls for ⅔ cup of granulated white sugar, so you would use ½ cup PLUS 2 Tablespoons of caster sugar as a replacement for granulated sugar. This amount is just slightly less than ⅔ cup. 

Butter

You can substitute vegetable oil or avocado oil for the butter in this recipe, but the mixing method would change and this could affect the outcome of the cupcake. I have not tested the recipe with anything but real butter. 

Eggs 

​Egg whites are used in this recipe and I use the egg yolks to make the orange curd, so nothing is wasted.

Whole eggs can be used, but decrease the amount to 3 whole large eggs.

If you use whole eggs, your cupcakes will be more of a yellow color than white color.

Club Soda

The club soda in this recipe can be substituted with champagne or Prosecco if you want to make a mimosa cupcake.

You can also use extra orange juice or even milk to replace the 3 Tablespoons of club soda in the recipe.

Orange Flavor

You may be surprised that I don't use any orange extract in this recipe.

When testing the recipe, I wanted to use fresh oranges as much as possible, but even with the zest and juice of an orange it wasn't as pronounced as I wanted. So, I also used the flesh of the orange and that did the trick!

You will need one large orange or several small oranges and you can use any variety you like.

If you want to skip the fresh orange, you can either use a small amount of orange extract (½ teaspoon or so) or you can substitute the orange juice and flesh for a small cup of mandarin oranges in water.

Cupcake Fillings & Toppings

Orange Curd

I use homemade orange curd to fill the center of the orange cupcakes and the flavor and texture is absolutely perfect!

Here is the recipe to make it: Homemade Orange Curd

You can also use orange marmalade or even some of the orange buttercream to fill them if desired.

The orange cupcakes are wonderful even if you don't fill them with anything.

Swiss Buttercream

These cupcakes start off with a basic vanilla Swiss buttercream frosting and then I add some orange curd to give a hint of orange flavor.

Here is the recipe to make the buttercream: Swiss Buttercream

You will need approximately ½ batch of the buttercream for a dozen cupcakes

You can use any type of frosting that you like and either add some orange extract, orange marmalade, or homemade orange curd if you want it to have a hint of orange flavor.

Candied Orange Slices

I top these beautiful cupcakes with a candied orange slice that is cut in half or into thirds depending on how large the orange slice is.

If you want to add this edible and delicious decoration to your cupcakes, I recommend making them several hours in advance.

Here is the recipe: Candied Orange Slices

These candied oranges are really easy to make with my shortcut technique!

Sanding Sugar & Cupcake Wrapper

I also sprinkled a little silver sanding sugar over the top and wrapped the cupcakes in a fancy wrap to give a bit of glitz. This is completely optional, but here are the links to what I used.

Silver Sanding Sugar

Cupcake Wrappers

How to Make Orange Cupcakes

In order to keep things simple, I have broken the recipe into easy to follow steps. I encourage you to read through each of the steps before starting, so you have an understanding of how each step of the process goes.

I have also included the optional steps for making the orange curd, the candied oranges, and the Swiss buttercream.

Mise En Place (prep for the recipe)

You can make these cupcakes with the filling and candied oranges all in one day, but I find it easier to break it up into 2 days. If you plan on making the candied orange peels and the orange curd, make sure to allow enough time for the curd to chill and the orange slices to dry.

Day One

• Make the Orange Curd by following this recipe: Homemade Orange Curd *Save the egg whites and put them in an airtight container to use in the cupcakes and buttercream.
• Make the Candied Orange Slices by following this recipe: Candied Orange Slices

Day Two

• Take the eggs and butter out of the refrigerator a few hours before making the cupcakes.
• Line your cupcake trays with cupcake liners and set aside
• Just before you start making the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350℉/175℃.

Cupcake Batter

Whipped Egg Whites: Place two egg whites in a clean mixing bowl and, using a hand mixer, begin to beat them on low speed until they become frothy, then increase to high speed and whip them until soft peaks form.

Set the bowl aside for later.

Creaming the Butter & Sugar: The goal with creaming the butter and sugar in this recipe is to get it to a very light and fluffy consistency.

The best way to do this is to begin whipping the butter in the bowl of stand mixer with the paddle attachment.

With the mixer on medium speed, stream in the granulated sugar slowly as it mixes into the butter. Once it is all incorporated, scrape the sides of the mixing bowl.

Continue to mix on medium speed until the butter and sugar is light and fluffy. It will have the feel of whipped cream and look like the picture below.

Turn the mixer off while you prepare the remaining parts of the batter.

Dry Ingredients: In a small to medium size mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.

Liquid ingredients: In a liquid measuring cup or a medium size bowl, zest one orange.

Cut the orange in half and section one half using a sharp knife. A small paring knife will work best, unless you have a grapefruit knife and that will work perfectly.

Remove the flesh from the sectioned orange and squeeze out the juice.

Measure out 3 Tablespoons of club soda, champagne, or prosecco into the measuring cup. You want to have a total of ½ cup of the zest, juice from the orange, the flesh of the orange, and any of the above liquids that you want to use. Use the juice from the other half of the orange as needed if you need to add more to get to the correct measurment.

Mixing the Batter: The creamed butter and sugar should still be in the bowl of the stand mixer. Add half of the wet ingredients and mix on low speed using the paddle attachment until incorporated.

Add half of the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Add the remaining wet ingredients and mix on low until incorporated. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low just until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, scrape off as much batter as possible from the paddle attachment and put it into the bowl.

Add half of the whipped egg whites and fold them into the cupcake batter using a spatula. Once incorporated, fold in the remaining half of the egg whites.

Baking the Cupcakes

Place 3 Tablespoons of batter into each well of the lined cupcake pans. I like to use my Pampered Chef large scoop, but any scoop will work fine as long as it is 3 Tablespoons.

You want to be careful when adding the batter to pan because there is just enough batter for 12 cupcakes and if you overfill one of the wells you could run out of batter.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350℉/175 for 15 minutes.

When the time is up, remove from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan on a cooking rack.

Cool completely before filling the cupcakes or decorating with frosting.

Making the Orange Swiss Buttercream

You will need ½ batch of my recipe for Vanilla Swiss Buttercream or you can use 2 cups of any buttercream frosting you like.

In a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer combine the 2 cups of vanilla butter cream with 2 Tablespoons of orange curd or 2 Tablespoons of orange marmalade.

Using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed until incorporated. You can add more orange curd or orange marmalade, but be careful not to add too much or your buttercream will become too runny.

You can also use ¼-½ teaspoon of orange extract and add that to the vanilla buttercream instead of the curd or marmalade.

Decorating the Cupcakes

Filling the Cupcakes with Orange Curd

First, you need to remove a small amount of the center of the cupcake. I use a small biscuit cutter to do this, but a large piping tip will also work.

Press the cutter or tip into the center of the cupcake and twist and pull it out. Then push the removed part of the cupcake out of the cutter or piping tip and repeat for all of the cupcakes.

Using a disposable piping bag or a ziplock bag, fill it ½-¾ of the way with orange curd and cut the tip off about ¼-½" in size.

Fill each of the cupcake centers with the orange curd or whatever filling you want to use.

Piping a Basic Swirl on Top

If you are new to decorating using a piping bag and tip, this is one of the easiest cupcake designs you can do.

I recommend using a closed star tip that is comparable to a Wilton 2D tip. I use disposable piping bags, but if you are using one that is washable, you will also need a coupler that fits your bag opening and the tip.

Fill the piping bag fitted with the tip about ½-¾ of the way full. I don't go much more than halfway when using larger piping bags or it can become stressful on your hands to pipe the design.

Squeeze out the air and twist the top of the bag closed. Squeeze out some of the icing into the bowl to make sure all the air bubbles are out of the bag.

Hold the tip close to the cupcake in the center where the orange curd is and squeeze the bag until the icing starts to come out. Swirl around the cupcake and then back to the center to make swirl that is about 1½".

Optional Final Touches

I absolutely love adding a small candied orange slice to the top! If you want to fancy them up a little more, use a cupcake wrapper and a little silver sanding sugar to finish them off.

Serving the Orange Cupcakes

I recommend refrigerating the decorated cupcakes so the buttercream will harden. This will make placing them on the tray or cupcake stand much easier.

Remove them from the refrigerator and place onto your platter or stand about 30 minutes before serving. This will allow them to come to the perfect eating temperature.

You can see how moist the cupcakes are in the picture below, but this one was not refrigerated and the buttercream was a little too soft. It was still delicious!

Storage Instructions

How to Store Cupcakes

Cupcakes can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days. They can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a week. For longer storage, you will want to freeze them.

These storage instructions are the same if they are undecorated or decorated.