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!
Meera
A very Happy New year, dear Vaishali, to you and yours...Meant to stop by but am still in the process of getting back on track after a hectic India trip. As always, enjoyed your write up.
Indhu
I think I will make the frosting alone and slowly devour it 🙂
love citrus flavored desserts !
Vaishali
Soma, happy new year, and yes, is there anything a little booze can't improve? 🙂
Trinity, Manasi, Binwii, Pavani, Ms. Chitchat, Jaya, Priya, Thanks, all, and a very happy new year to you! Here's hoping this will be a much better year for all of us and the rest of the world.
Tom, welcome and thanks. I agree with a lot of what you say about change, and I definitely believe that change is both inevitable and usually for the better. What I am concerned about is not so much the death of the "paper" version of a newspaper but in the death of thoughtful, in-depth reporting that pretty much has no hopes of surviving in the fast-paced, 24/7 news cycle that the Internet and television demand, by their very nature. When reporters have to provide news reports every 30 minutes, they end up speculating on rumors rather than coming up with facts, or analyzing -- and that doesn't help anyone except the television/web company's ratings.
Maya, Parita, Thanks
Tiffany, thanks, and yes, I agree with you on newspaper-style journalism.
Cham, Dershana, Uma, Thanks, all!
Charanya, a very happy new year to you. I've been thinking of veganizing tiramisu for a long time but haven't gotten to it yet. Now that you've asked, I'll try to put it near the top of my list. Thanks!
Jay, welcome, and thanks for your kind words.
Jay
You write very well. It is always a pleasure to read your blog.
Charanya
Looks delish!!! 🙂
Vaishali - do you have a good vegan Tiramisu recipe by any chance??
Happy New Yr! I look forward to trying more of your recipes this year! 🙂
Uma
lovely cupcakes!! Yum!!
Belated wishes for the happy new year 2010 🙂
Dershana
Hi Vaishali, loved reading your write up. Hope 2010 will be a good year for all. good looking cupcakes.
have a happy 2010
Cham
Frosting is the killer one- Hope 2010 will bring Hope and Bright future.
Tiffany C.
That is truly an enlightening reflection about 2009. I also hope that with online sources increasingly replacing newspapers, we are still able to preserve respectable, newspaper-style journalism. While sensational and celebrity-centric stories might provide temporary relief from the chaotic world for some people, readers need true journalism to help us to stay informed about our local and global communities.
On a lighter note: the recipe sounds wonderful and the cupcakes look delicious! I do so love cupcakes and citrus-flavored treats in general.
Parita
Delicious cupcakes..loved the frosting!
Maya Varadan
Great Looking Cupcakes and Great hopes to a better 2010.
Tom Bailey
I am a vegan - but more for economic and enviromental reasons - I love that you are sharing cooking ideas - vegans esp. men like me can never find too many vegan ideas - you are doing a great thing through your sharing.
What I heard through the rest of your post were things about Newspapers - the thing that I see as possible for the newspaper challenge is TONS of entreprenuers popping up on the internet that can offer massive value to readers. I for one embrace the change of saving paper - IE trees. Does change hurt? Yes. Does change cause people to force to change? Yes. Is it easy to say when you are not the one having to go through drastic change? Yes.
The spirit of this country was founded on being able to adapt to change and the strong spirit will adapt and grow and offer value - look at what you are offering by sharing vegan ideas. Is making a living from sharing tough? Yes. Is it possible? Yes.
Kindest regards,
I love what you are doing here.
Tom Bailey
Priya
Beautiful cupcakes..looks fantastic..
Happy 2010 to u & ur family Vaishali..
Jaya Wagle
Cheers to a happy 2010 and your wonderful vegan recipes. My resolution for this year was to steer away from booze but I will break it for those yummy cupcakes. 🙂
Ms.Chitchat
Orange cupcakes looks awesome and tempting. Pic looks very nice. Enjoyed the write up too :):)
Chitchat
Pavani
Yummy Orange cupcakes.. Frosting looks creamy & delicious.
Binwii
Happy New Year Vaishali!! Like you've said hope the new year brings more happiness and peace.
Manasi
Happy new year Vaishali!
I to am glad 2009 is over, hopefully 2010 will be better!
Let's raise those awesome cupcakes to a better year!
Trinity (of haiku tofu)
Those cupcakes look great- I love orange-flavored desserts. Happy New Year lady!
Soma
Booze in a cupcake? Now that is the kind of cupcake which I would crave!
Happy New Year dear Vaishalli.. wishing you a sweet, healthy year ahead.