Vegan Orange Cupcakes with the addictive flavor of orange and a soft, cloud-like orange buttercream.

These vegan orange cupcakes with orange buttercream are so delicious, you might want to devour them all at one setting. Better still, once the optional booze inside of them gets to work, you probably won't even feel any guilt. 😉
The buttercream is soft and fluffy and perfectly flavored with even more orange.
I added some Triple Sec, an orange-flavored liqueur, to these orange cupcakes because they give it just that tiny bit of je ne sais quoi...that hint of tantalizing mystery any cook loves in a recipe. You can just as easily leave it out, though, and use more orange juice instead.
I added the Triple Sec to the vegan buttercream frosting as well, and it was wonderful.
Here's the recipe. Enjoy, all!
Make these vegan desserts next:
- Vegan Mango Cupcakes with Mango Buttercream Frosting
- Lemony Vegan Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Vegan Carrot Cupcakes
- Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Hearts
- Vegan Lemon Rolls with Sticky Lemon Glaze


Vegan Orange Cupcakes With Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
For orange cupcakes
Dry ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients
- 1 cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoon orange liqueur like Cointreau or Triple Sec
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the orange buttercream frosting
- 12 tablespoon vegan butter (at room temperature)
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 1 tablespoon orange liqueur
- 1 tablespoon orange zest (optional)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (use more or less depending on how thick you want your frosting, and how sweet).
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the orange cupcakes
- Sift all the ingredients into a bowl and set aside.
- In another bowl, beat all of the wet ingredients together until well-mixed.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk just until you have a smooth batter. Do not overmix or overbeat.
- Divide the batter equally among 12 cups of a standard-sized muffin pan lined with cupcake liners.
- Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven about 30-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Make the orange buttercream frosting
- Cream the butter until fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Now add the orange juice, zest, liqueur and vanilla and half the sugar. Beat until mixed, then add the remaining sugar and beat until mixed. This should take no more than 2 minutes altogether.
- Frost the cupcakes after they've cooled completely. I sifted some cocoa powder on the cupcakes after I was done, to get a really pretty look. It's completely optional, of course,
Nutrition
Love these vegan orange cupcakes? Check out more vegan dessert recipes on Holy Cow Vegan!
Franziska Edwards
My youngest and I just made these cupcakes for a family dinner and they are a definite keeper! Extremely orange, both the frosting and the cake, and I loved the addition of Cointreau, a favorite of mine! Thank you!
sameera
Pls help me..how grams will be 1 1/2cups of all purpose flour?
Vaishali Honawar
I believe 1 cup is 128 grams.
http://veganslaughterer.com
Just made those!!!! OMG. So good! love the texture and the right amount of sweetness. Thanks so much for posting this one 🙂
Vaishali
So glad you liked them! Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
magpie
I am not a vegan but totally admire those who are, I tried for a couple of months but just couldn't do it 🙁 Recently due to my son's dairy and egg allergies I have been looking for vegan recipes. Just took out your orange cupcakes from the oven and they taste simply divine!
Would like to post this along with the pictures of my cuppycakes on my blog magpiesrecipes.blogspot.com Hope you don't mind. Will link back to you of course 🙂
I used grand mariner though am sure the orange liqueur would be fantastic. I also added some orange zest which I really liked. The funniest part was that I used minutemaid instead of fresh orange juice and it still came out great!
Made them in mini cupcake molds and they look so cute too!
Thank you so much for your vegan recipes that make it so easy and which help us to not feel deprived in any way!
Oh and have you tried this with lemon juice as well? I love citrus-y cakes so really want to try it with lemon juice too though wondering if it might be too tart with 1 cup of lemon juice. Also if I'm doubling the recipe do I just double everything including the baking powder? Thanks!
Miri
Love the orange cupcakes - and the Triple Sec is a definite must try!
Usha
Belated New Year Wishes Vaishali ! Have a wonderful 2010 ! Loved the orange cupcakes they look perfect:-)
Usha
Belated New Year Wishes Vaishali ! Have a wonderful 2010 ! Loved the orange cupcakes they look perfect:-)
Aparna
I guess I'm also happy, in some sense, that 2009 is gone.
Wishing you a rather belated Happy New Year full of all you've hoped for and more.
Jagruti
Hi Vaishali
Really nice blog to read, lots of info as well and ofcourse those yammy food pics.... love it all
please can you visit my blog if u can
Thanks
Mihl
These will finally give me a good excuse to buy a bottle of triple sec.
Happy New Year Vaishali!