This blood orange cupcakes recipe is the perfect treat for Halloween or autumn birthday party. It’s easy to bake and taste delicious too!
I’ve used blood orange with this recipe, instead of ordinary orange or orange essence. It gives a deeper flavour and a much richer flavour. I’ve used fresh blood oranges, but if you want to you can use a blood orange essence if you have one, orange zest or orange zest substitutes and also any orange marmalade substitutes.
You can also use other citrus fruits such as cara oranges or pink grapefruit, which have slightly lighter flavour or citrus preserves such as my tangerine marmalade recipe.
I’ve based this recipe on my basic vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing recipe, that uses the same amount of flour, sugar and butter. It’s the same recipe I’ve used when I started my cake baking business. It’s a slightly firmer cupcake recipe because I would normally decorate the cupcakes with sugarcraft decorations and wanted to make sure that the cupcake will support the weight.
MORE ORANGE FLAVOURED CAKES & TREATS
These blood orange cupcakes also freeze well, so if you fancy making a double batch you can easily make them in advance of any party and freeze them. Make the frosting on the day that you need them, leave your pre-made cupcakes to defrost and pipe the frosting on top.
You can also make the frosting separately and any of the following flavour combinations work brilliantly together:
- Chocolate Cupcakes with Blood Orange Frosting
- Vanilla Cupcakes with Blood Orange Frosting
- Blood Orange Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
- Blood Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting
- Blood Orange Cupcakes with Lemon (or normal Orange) Frosting
- Blood Orange Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting
More cakes & sweet treats
- Plum & Pear Tart with Short Crust Pastry >>
- Cinnamon Star Bun >>
- Strawberry Shortcake (Microwave) >>
- Traditional Bohemian Apple Cakes >>
Blood Orange Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
- 120 g unsalted butter
- 120 g caster sugar
- 120 g self-raising flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp blood orange juice
- 1 tsp blood orange zest
- tiny pinch of salt
Blood Orange Frosting
- 150 g unsalted butter
- 300 g icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
- tiny pinch of salt
- 1-2 tbsp blood orange juice
- 1 tsp blood orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C (gas mark 4)
- Prepare your cupcake baking tray, either by lining a cupcake tray with greaseproof paper or using a stand-alone cupcake cases.
- In a large bowl cream together butter with sugar, until pale and fluffy. You can do this using wooden spoon, but it's much easier to use electric whisk.
- Add the eggs and carry on whisking on a medium to high speed. Don't worry if you see that the mixture has split at this stage. It will come back to normal once you add the flour.
- Add the blood orange zest and juice and gently whisk in
- Finally, add the flour, but don't over mix it at this stage. Only stir it in until it all come together.
- Fill your cupcake baking tray, each muffin case to about 3/4. The cupcake batter will raise during baking, so it needs a bit of a space to grow.
- Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until the cupcakes are golden and firm in the middle. Check that they are done by testing with a wooden skewer.
- Leave the cupcakes to cool down in the tin first before removing them to a wired cooling rack to cool down properly.
Blood Orange Frosting
- To make your blood orange frosting, cut up the butter into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the icing sugar.
- Start slowly mix both ingredients together using a handheld whisk or standing mixer
- Add the blood orange zest, tiny pinch of salt and 1-2 teaspoon of the blood orange juice.
- Carry on whisking on a medium to high speed for at least 5 minutes to make sure your frosting is light and fluffy.
- To make your frosting extra orange, add orange food colouring.
- Taste and add more blood orange juice if the frosting seem very thick.
- Use for decorating your cupcakes straightaway or keep in a sealed container for 3-4 days in the fridge.
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