Orange Buttercream Frosting – Sweet and Tangy

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

This orange frosting is irresistibly sweet and tangy. It’s an easy buttercream recipe with a bold orange flavor from fresh orange zest.

Orange frosting on vanilla cupcakes

Ingredients

Like all of my American buttercreams, this one requires unsalted butter, powdered sugar, and salt. The key ingredient that makes this frosting stand out is orange zest.

I’ve tried making orange frosting using orange marmalade, orange juice, and orange extract. But, I’ve found that using zest is by far the best method for flavoring the frosting.

Marmalade and juice make the frosting too wet. It will be difficult to pipe and won’t hold its shape. Orange extract works well, but it isn’t sold in most grocery stores and can sometimes have an artificial taste.

Orange zest is fresh and bursting with natural flavor. It only takes the zest of a single large orange to flavor a whole batch of buttercream. Adding zest is the same method that I use to flavor my favorite lemon frosting.

Adding orange zest to frosting batter

Expert Tips and FAQs

To ensure that your orange buttercream comes out perfectly each time, follow these tips:

  • Start with butter that is room temperature.
  • Beat the butter on high speed with an electric mixer for three minutes so it gets nice and light and airy.
  • Add more powdered sugar if you like a really stiff frosting and less if you are OK with it being a little looser.
Orange buttercream in the mixing bowl

Variations

  • Try adding orange zest to sour cream frosting or cream cheese frosting for extra tang.
  • Try using a mix of orange and grapefruit zest.
  • Add a few drops of orange food coloring and mix thoroughly if it’s important to you that the frosting be orange-colored.
  • Add spices like anise, cardamom, and/or ginger to make the frosting even more interesting. Pipe it on top of gingerbread cupcakes or another spiced cupcake where it’ll pair perfectly!

This recipe is so versatile as cupcake frosting or on cakes. Some of my favorite recipes to use it on are:

cupcake frosted with orange buttercream
Did you make this recipe? Leave a review!
Orange frosting on vanilla cupcakes
Print Pin
4.87 from 23 votes

Orange Frosting

This orange frosting is sweet and tangy. It's an easy buttercream recipe with a bold orange flavor from fresh orange zest.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 6 minutes
Total Time 6 minutes
Servings 16 servings
Calories 190kcal
Author Stefani

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • 3 cups powdered sugar add more until it reaches your preferred consistency
  • 2 tablespoons orange zest zest of 1 large orange
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Beat butter on high speed with an electric mixer for about three minutes until light and airy.
  • Mix in powdered sugar a little bit at a time.
  • Add zest and salt and continue to beat for another minute.
  • If desired, add more powdered sugar to make the buttercream frosting stiffer.

Notes

  • If you plan to make a large swirl of frosting, this recipe will only cover about 8 cupcakes. Double as needed.
  • The frosting will cover one 8″ cake.
  • If you want to pipe it on cupcakes, the easiest way to achieve the perfect cupcake swirl is to use a 1M tip [paid link].
  • While there are many frosting recipes that you can mix by hand, the best buttercream frostings require lots of air to be incorporated into the butter. To really get this job done right, I highly recommend that you use an electric mixer. A hand mixer or a stand mixer will both work well.
  • You will need to stop and scrape down the side of the bowl every minute or so while you are mixing as butter will stick to the edges of the bowl. The easiest way to do this is with a silicone spatula. One way to avoid scraping down the bowl is to use a mixer that has a scraping paddle. Many mixers now come with scraping paddles, but you may be able to purchase one if yours doesn’t (e.g. the beater blade [paid link]).
  • Sift the powdered sugar if needed. Take a look at the actual sugar to see if it has clumps (some brands are clumpier than others). Clumps of powdered sugar will not get integrated into the frosting and may end up getting stuck in your piping tip. Measure before sifting.
  • The frosting lasts for up to a week at room temperature or months in the freezer. You will need to bring it to room temperature and mix it again for a minute or two before you start piping.

Nutrition

Calories: 190kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 75mg | Potassium: 3mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 358IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 1mg
Have you tried this recipe?Click here to leave a comment and rating!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




17 comments:

  1. Annesays:

    AFTER 10TRIES IT WORKED ! I PUT IT ON PINTREST !

  2. Annesays:

    I CANNOT SEND THIS TO PINTREST !

  3. Dianasays:

    This frosting is just a little bit of Heaven! I used 2% milk instead of cream, because I didn’t have any. Turned our so yummy! It takes like an orange dreamsicle! Thanks for sharing!

  4. Lisa Montalvasays:

    Fabulous and delicious Buttercream/Orange frosting. Using it tonight on my chocolate cake. Just makes it pop. Thank you!

  5. Anonymoussays:

    looks great!

  6. Alansays:

    I’ve been looking for a lemon butter cream for about a week now, and did a sample batch using 1/3 cup (plus 2 heaping tablespoons) of lemon curd and subbing out the orange extract for lemon and it was awesome. I can’t wait to try recipe as is. Thanks, Stef!

  7. julieAsays:

    This frosting is delicious! I doubled the recipe and used it to frost a 2 layer gingerbread cake…will be repeated for our Christmas Eve dinner this year! mmm

  8. AmandaLPsays:

    I know this is old, but I made this today, with a little extra powdered sugar, and some melted chocolate, for a chocolate orange marmalade frosting :) It was delicious!

  9. Stefsays:

    Viviane – Thanks so much! I’m so glad to hear that you loved it! Orange-champagne marmalade sounds incredible!

  10. Anonymoussays:

    You’ve got to be kidding me…! This frosting is absolutely delicious!!!! I had to come back and give you a standing ovation. Oh my God delicious. It uses almost half of the sugar I normally use for buttercream so I thought is was going to be runny, but it was perfect and stayed in the cake. I also used a mermelade I found in Harris Teeter of Orange-Champagne…. I felt I was in an island eating cake. Awesome girl. Thanks. I can’t wait to try other mermelade flavors. THANK YOU!
    Viviane

  11. Stefsays:

    Anon – Bummer. Maybe you’ll be able to give it a try next time.

  12. Anonymoussays:

    i’m baking with my friend right now lol i am looking for a cup cake icing that can be quick – i was hoping to be able to do this but as im only 14 im unable to get the ingrediants in time .. the icing looks extremely yummy however.

  13. Katie Psays:

    My son loves oraange and cupcakes – I will have to make some!!

  14. Paper Girl Productionssays:

    oo this looks delicious! I must try this!

  15. Lisasays:

    Lovely summer frosting! I can just taste the tangy citrus. And on Clove Cupcakes? That sounds like a wonderfully exotic combination.

  16. vivsays:

    This frosting looks and sounds yummy. Will give it a try.

  17. Wheeler's Frozen Dessertsays:

    That frosting looks awesome!

Show All Comments