Vegan Orange Cupcakes

I had some clementines left over, so suddenly this idea sprung up - bake something with that. This recipe was perfect in all means. With an orange butter cream frosting, it tasted so yummy !

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients :

• AP flour : 2 1/4 cups
• Sugar : 1 cup
• Orange juice : 1 cup
• Vegetable oil : 1/3 cup
• Peeled and diced clementines/oranges : 1 cup
• Pure Vanilla extract : 1 tsp
• Baking powder : 1 tsp
• Baking soda : 1/2 tsp
• Salt : 3/4 tsp

For Orange Butter cream frosting : 

• Unsalted Butter : 1/2 cup/1 stick
• Powdered sugar : 3 cups
• Orange juice : 2 tbsp
• Grated orange zest : 1/2 tsp

Method : 

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease muffin tray with some butter and line with paper cups.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the AP flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar without any lumps.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the orange juice, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. 
4. Fold in the dry ingredients to this mixture. The batter may seem to appear a little thick at this time. But keep whisking and it will be fine.
5. Add in the diced clementines and give a stir. 
6. Pour spoonfuls to the prepared muffin trays, filling 3/4th of each tray.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Insert a skewer to check for doneness. 
8. Cool on a cooling rack.

Frosting :

• Place the butter in a mixing bowl, add 2 cups of sugar, orange juice and zest. Cream together using an electric mixer. Slowly add in 1 cup of sugar and beat till the frosting reaches a smooth consistency. dd more sugar/orange juice to thicken/smoothen the frosting.

Notes : 

1. Do not over mix the cupcake batter, mixing using a whisk is enough; no need of an electric mixer.
2. The batter is slightly thicker than the usual cupcake batters, but that is totally fine. The cakes are moist inside.
3. The cupcakes will not brown when done, so skewer test is a must after 15 minutes.
4. Mine got done in exactly 18 minutes.
5. A pinch of orange gel food color can be added to the frosting if desired.