Orange Buttercream Frosting

This orange buttercream frosting is sweet fluffy perfection!

It’s actually close to Halloween, so of course we decided to have a Halloween cupcake party! I opted for boxed cake mix (which were actually yummy… it’d been awhile since I’d made a straight from mix cake, and both flavors were pretty damn tasty). It may sound like a cop out, but I can assure you that I only did it so that I could focus on the really important things… the frostings! I made a traditional buttercream, a Chocolate Buttercream, and the orange of course.

The orange frosting was by far my favorite. It was fantastic on both the vanilla and the chocolate cupcakes. That being said, I can only imagine how fabulous it would taste on an orange or lemon cake! The great thing about this frosting (well apart from the light citrus flavor and fluffy texture) is that it is an absolute cinch to make. If you have the forethought to soften butter and buy two oranges, then you’re halfway there!

I love this.

It’s officially my new favorite thing (besides my kids of course).

Make this today even if you don’t have a cake to put it on… or maybe tomorrow if you need to buy oranges.

Orange Buttercream Recipe

Print recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 stick softened unsalted butter (3/4 cup)
1 1/2 tablespoon orange zest (the zest of two oranges)
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 pinch fine salt

Directions

Step 1
Add the softened butter and orange zest into the bowl of your mixer and fluff on medium speed for about one minute using the paddle attachment.
Step 2
Slowly add the powdered sugar in two or three installments, scraping down the sides of the bowl in between additions.
Step 3
Add in the heavy cream and orange juice and mix in on low speed (to avoid a big splash out).
Step 4
Once the liquids are incorporated into the frosting, whip on high speed for around 2 1/2 minutes. The frosting should be light, fluffy, and smell incredible.
Step 5
Sprinkle over the salt and whip on high for another 30 seconds or so.
Step 6
Pile onto your favorite flavor cake or pipe onto cupcakes to take them out of this world!
Step 7
These are vanilla funfetti cupcakes (Halloween actually) and the orange flavor was such a great compliment to the vanilla!
Step 8
The only problem with this is peeling the liner off fast enough!