A tasty holiday treat these Cranberry Orange Cupcakes are a delicious combination of flavors baked up and frosted then topped with a sugared cranberry!
I love cupcakes, they are single serving cakes! Everyone knows cake is my favorite desserts of all time so cupcakes pretty much just being hand held cakes are a second win.
These Cranberry Orange Cupcakes are a fun and flavorful dessert that you will not be able to get enough of! They have orange and cranberry in the batter then more orange in the frosting.
These two flavors really go well together and have always been one of my favorite flavor combinations! I just hate that we can’t get cranberries all year long or I would make them more often.
Making a large batch these are great to have at home to munch on, bring to gatherings or to set out on your dessert table for your holiday dinner!
Whatever the reason you have to make these and see for yourself the amazingness of the cranberry and orange flavor, it is literally to die for!
I may be biased, but I swear if you have never had it together you will absolutely love it. We include in various recipes such as cakes, bars and more!
Some of our other favorite cranberry recipes include: Cranberry Orange Rum Punch, Cranberry White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies and Cranberry Overnight French Toast.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- This makes a nice large batch but you can double if you’d like.
- The flavors can both be tasted very well!
- Easy ingredients helps these come together quickly.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE AT BOTTOM):
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Salt
Granulated sugar
Vegetable oil
Eggs
Vanilla extract
Whole milk
Orange zest
Cranberries
Unsalted butter
Powdered sugar
Orange juice
Water
HOW TO MAKE CRANBERRY ORANGE CUPCAKES, STEP BY STEP:
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Line two muffin trays with 18 muffin liners. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and oil until light and fully combined, about 2 minutes.
- Beat in eggs, vanilla extract and milk.
- Add the flour in gradually until well-combined and no lumps remain.
- Add orange zest and cranberries and stir to distribute.
- Portion the cupcake batter into the prepared liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full.
- Bake cupcakes for 18-22 minutes, until lightly golden and an inserted toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
- While the cupcakes cool, prepare your frosting. Beat together the butter, powdered sugar and orange juice for 2 minutes until light and forming stiff peaks. Adjust flavor with additional orange juice or zest. Adjust consistency with more powdered sugar for a stiffer frosting, or more juice for a softer frosting.
- Scoop the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large open star tip. Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes, starting in the center, working your way out to the edges and then back towards the center and up.
- Dip each cranberry in the water then roll in the white sugar. Garnish each cupcake with a cranberry, if desired.
CAN I USE FROZEN CRANBERRIES?
Absolutely, the cranberries will quickly defrost when they are baking within the cupcake. So you can use fresh or frozen, without incident.
We like to keep frozen on hand or buy fresh and freeze for later when we want to make something with cranberries. If you ARE worried, you can get frozen and just let them defrost as well.
CAN I ADD MORE ORANGE FLAVOR TO THE CUPCAKE?
Since we only use orange zest in the cupcake itself and you love orange you can actually use some orange extract, usually this is found by the vanilla, but depends on the store.
You can find it here on Amazon as well. You will want to use 1 teaspoon vanilla and then 1 teaspoon orange extract to give it an extra orange punch!
OTHER TASTY CRANBERRY ORANGE DESSERTS:
We love this flavor so much that I wanted to share some of my favorite recipes that combine the two!
- Cranberry Orange Bread
- Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake
- The Best Cranberry Orange Cake
- Cranberry Orange Cider
- Cranberry Orange Custard Pie
- White Chocolate Cranberry Orange Cookies
- Cranberry Orange Braid
HOW TO STORE:
These Cranberry Orange Cupcakes can be kept on the countertop at room temperature for a few hours, since they are frosted with cream cheese they do need to be refrigerated.
If you are not going to eat them all on the same day, place in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator where they should keep for 4-5 days, then let come to room temperature before eating.
You can also freeze these cupcakes, cool your cupcakes completely then place them either a freezer bag or airtight container and they should keep for about 3 months. You can do this frosted or unfrosted.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- This recipe makes around 18, you can halve or double this recipe if you’d like.
- If you want more orange flavor in the cupcakes add orange extract, see my tips above.
- These can be frozen for up to 3 months, see above.
- You can use fresh or frozen cranberries for this recipe.
- We frost these with a wilton 1M large open star tip.
- The sugared cranberries are optional but a pretty decoration!
If you want a fun and tasty holiday cupcake recipe that you can enjoy at home or family gatherings then you need to make these Cranberry Orange Cupcakes!
If you like this recipe you might also like:
Cranberry Orange Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract*
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 ½ Tablespoon orange zest
- 1 cup cranberries
Frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 5-6 cups powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons orange juice
- Orange zest as desired
Sugared Cranberries:
- 18 cranberries
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line two muffin trays with 18 muffin liners. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and oil until light and fully combined, about 2 minutes.
- Beat in eggs, vanilla extract and milk.
- Add the flour in gradually until well-combined and no lumps remain.
- Add orange zest and cranberries and stir to distribute.
- Portion the cupcake batter into the prepared liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full.
- Bake cupcakes for 18-22 minutes, until lightly golden and an inserted toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
- While the cupcakes cool, prepare your frosting. Beat together the butter, powdered sugar and orange juice for 2 minutes until light and forming stiff peaks. Adjust flavor with additional orange juice or zest. Adjust consistency with more powdered sugar for a stiffer frosting, or more juice for a softer frosting.
- Scoop the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large open star tip. Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes, starting in the center, working your way out to the edges and then back towards the center and up.
- Dip each cranberry in the water then roll in the white sugar. Garnish each cupcake with a cranberry, if desired.
Notes
- This recipe makes around 18, you can halve or double this recipe if you'd like.
- If you want more orange flavor in the cupcakes add orange extract, see my tips above.
- These can be frozen for up to 3 months, see above.
- You can use fresh or frozen cranberries for this recipe.
- We frost these with a wilton 1M large open star tip.
- The sugared cranberries are optional but a pretty decoration!
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