Orange Coconut Cupcakes

These delicious and easy orange coconut cupcakes are topped with a silky orange cream cheese frosting.  They're baked from scratch and ready in under 30 minutes, so it's the perfect afternoon treat!

My Orange Coconut Cupcakes are soft and fluffy, with deliciously moist coconut flakes for texture and orange zest for an amazing, fresh flavour.  A quick and easy frosting is made with cream cheese and orange juice, for a double hit of                  Vitamin C  (ok, that's a stretch!)

I love a zesty orange cake baked from scratch, but if you add coconut flakes to the batter, it takes a simple orange cake recipe to the next level.  This recipe is based on a recipe in Monday Morning Cooking Club's new book Now For Something Sweet .  I wanted to turn it into a cupcake, so I made a few changes to create these Orange Coconut Cupcakes!  Already a delicious orange cake (and me being a huge fan of buttermilk), I substituted regular milk with buttermilk.  The tang from the buttermilk really works well with the orange cake and gives it such a light, fluffy crumb!  And being Orange Coconut Cupcakes, they need the perfect cupcake frosting, so I've topped them with an easy orange cream cheese frosting to really bring home that zesty orange flavour.

WHAT MAKES THE PERFECT ORANGE COCONUT CUPCAKE?

Flavour

Natural flavours come from the orange zest and juice, making it fresh and delicious.  The buttermilk gives the Orange Coconut Cupcakes their delicious tang.

Texture

The acidity of the buttermilk helps to tenderise the gluten in the cupcake batter, which results in a softer, fluffier cake.  It's essential for creating one of the best cupcake recipes!

Tips

• as always, I like to weigh most of my ingredients.  Some people scoop their cup of flour and some people spoon it in.  It could measure differently each time, but if you weigh it, it will always weigh the same.
• use an ice cream scoop to scoop the cupcake batter  from the bowl -that way your cupcakes will be the same size.  Plus it's less mess!
• for an easy cream cheese frosting, I throw all of my ingredients into the bowl (I'm not an icing sugar sifter!) and beat it for about 5 minutes.  This will give you a lovely, fluffy frosting that pipes beautifully.

Substitutions

Of course, you can always mix up my Orange Coconut Cupcakes by using other citrus fruits.  Lemon would be delicious!

You can also check out my other fruity favourites, such as  Vanilla Lemon Madeleines or my Lemon Puddings

Orange Coconut Cupcakes

Simple and delicious orange coconut cupcakes, topped with fluffy orange cream cheese frosting.  Ready in under 30 minutes, so they're the perfect afternoon treat.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Afternoon Tea, Dessert

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

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Orange Coconut Cupcakes

• 125 g unsalted butter room temperature
• 175 g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 225 g self-raising flour sifted
• 45 g moist coconut flakes or shredded coconut
• 250 ml buttermilk room temperature

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

• 125 g cream cheese room temperature
• 60 g unsalted butter room temperature
• 300 g pure icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 tablespoon coconut flakes for sprinkling

Instructions

 

• Orange Coconut Cupcakes
• Preheat oven to 180° celsius
• Line a cupcake tray with 12 papers
• In the bowl of an electric stand miser, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy
• Add eggs, one at a time and beat well between each addition. Scrape bowl if needed
• Add the vanilla extract and orange zest and mix until combined
• In a seperate bowl, combine the flour and coconut
• with the mixer on low speed, add the flour mix to the stand mixer in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat ONLY until just combined
• Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the cupcake papers. I have my ice cream scoop just slightly heaped (or you could make 16 level scoops, giving you smaller cupcakes)
• Bake at 180° for 15 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean
• Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

• While cakes are cooling, prepare the frosting
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and orange juice
• Turn the mixer on low, until ingredients have combined, then increase the speed to medium-high
• Beat for 5 minutes, until fluffy and light.
• Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes, then sprinkle with extra coconut flakes

Keyword afternoon tea, coconut cake, cream cheese frosting, easy cupcakes, orange cake

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