These cupcakes have a bright taste of mango paired with orange. Mango Jam Orange Cupcakes are easy to make and beautiful to look at.
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This cupcake recipe is tasty any time of the year, but I like to think of it as a perfect one for spring and summer. That's because Mango Jam Orange Cupcakes have a bright and cheery orange slice on top, and sweet fruit flavor throughout.
On second thought, maybe it's the perfect recipe for winter! After all, we need all the brightness and cheer we can get when we're knee-deep in snow.
Whenever you choose to make them, they'll make a beautiful centerpiece for a party, potluck, shower, or just to surprise your family!
Why you'll love these treats
They're not just cupcakes below the frosted tops: they're mango cupcakes! Mango-filled, to be exact, using my easy recipe for mango jam. It's a quick, stove-top jam that cooks up quickly, and you can even make it in advance. The sweet little cakes hold this jam like a hidden surprise.
A simple buttercream tops the cupcakes, and you can pipe this on or just spread it with a knife. As long as it's thick enough to hold a gleaming slice of fresh orange!
Though you can use any kind of orange slice to top these cupcakes, I love using Cara Cara oranges for their deep, orangey-red hue. If ruby-red blood oranges are in season, they'd also look stunning nestled in the vanilla buttercream.
🔪 How to make Mango Jam Orange Cupcakes
Ingredients:
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour, like King Arthur
- Cornstarch: This helps the cake have a light texture
- Baking Powder: Also for the cake texture
- Butter: Use unsalted butter like Cabot brand
- Sugar: Granulated for the cake and powdered for the frosting
- Eggs: Large eggs are the size called for
- Vanilla Extract: Use a good pure extract like Nielsen-Massey
- Milk: Whole milk goes into the cake and frosting
- Orange Zest: It adds lovely flavor to the cake
- Vegetable Shortening: Along with butter for the buttercream frosting
- Blood Oranges: Or Cara Cara, both of which have the best, dramatic color
- Mango Jam: My recipe comes together in a jiffy
Step 1: Make the cupcakes
Blend the dry ingredients together, then in a separate bowl beat together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs and flavorings, then stir in the milk and dry ingredients. Divide the batter between the cupcake wells, and bake.
Step 2: Make the frosting
Beat together butter, shortening, milk, and powdered sugar to make a buttercream frosting.
Step 3: Fill and frost the cupcakes
Cut a hold in the cupcakes and fill them with Mango Jam. Frost the cupcake tops with buttercream.
Step 4: Finish them with orange slices
Slice fresh oranges into half-circles and top each cupcake with one slice.
Tips:
Read the recipe through before starting. The ingredients are divided for each component of these cupcakes, and some ingredients are listed more than once.
The recipe for Mango Jam Orange Cupcakes is below! Here are more dessert recipes to try, too:
💬 How do you like these cheery cupcakes? Leave a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Mango Jam Orange Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 2½ cups plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, unbleached
- 6 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 4 egg yolks at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups milk, lukewarm
- 2 teaspoons orange zest (about two oranges worth)
For the buttercream frosting:
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening, like Crisco
- 6 cups confectioner's sugar
- ½ cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Filling & Decorations:
- ½ cup Mango Jam
- 2 Cara Cara oranges or blood oranges
Instructions
Make the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Prepare two 12-cup standard cupcake pans: grease and flour the cupcake wells or use paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer beat together the 1 cup plus two tablespoons of butter and the granulated sugar for 5 minutes: the mixture should be fluffy and pale yellow in color.
- Add in the two whole eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Slowly add in the egg yolks while the mixer is running on low. Mix in the vanilla extract and the orange zest.
- Add in about ⅓ of the flour mixture and mix the batter on low speed. Add in half of the milk and mix it into the batter. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture, the rest of the milk and then the last of the flour until the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth.
- Fill each cupcake well about ⅔ full with batter (2 ounces in each well.) Place the pans in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean or with only a few crumbs.
- Turn the cupcakes out onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.
Prepare the buttercream:
- Beat together the ¾ cup of butter and the ¼ cup of vegetable shortening in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Beat in 1 cup of the confectioner's sugar, followed by a little of the milk. Continue alternating the sugar and milk until all of the sugar has been mixed in. (You may not need all of the milk.)
- Add in the vanilla and beat the frosting until it is light and fluffy.
Fill the cupcakes:
- Cut out the centers of the cupcakes: use a sharp knife to cut out the center of the cupcakes, by inserting the tip of a knife ⅔ of the way into the top of the cupcake. Cut out a one-inch cylinder of cake from each cupcake and set them aside.
- Scrape out the well inside the cupcake just a bit so that there is room for the mango jam. Drop 1 teaspoon of Mango Jam into the well.
- Cut off most of the saved cake cylinders to just leave the tops: these will go back on the cupcakes. Place these cake caps over the jam-filled holes and press them in place gently to make the cap flush with the top.
Frost the cupcakes:
- Spread a thin layer of frosting on each cupcake as a crumb coating.
- Place the rest of the frosting in a piping bag with a 2D tip. Starting in the center of the cupcakes make a small mound of frosting and then pipe frosting out and around about two times to cover the top of the cupcakes. (Alternatively if you'd rather not pipe, just use a knife to spread frosting on each cupcake. Make the frosting thick enough to hold up slices of orange.)
Finish with orange slices:
- Wash the oranges well, dry them, and slice them into ½-inch thick slices. Cut the slices into semi-circles.
- Blot the excess juice off of the slices with a paper towel.
- Place one semi-circle slice onto each cupcake, cut side down. Push the slice in gently so that it stands up in the frosting.
- The cupcakes can be stored in a cupcake holder or covered in plastic wrap, and stored in the fridge for up to three days.
- Makes about 23 cupcakes.
Notes
- Read the recipe through before starting. The ingredients are divided for each component of these cupcakes, and some ingredients are listed more than once.
- The cake recipe is slightly adapted from the recipe in The Baker's Manual by Amendola/Rees. The buttercream is slightly adapted from the recipe in the King Arthur Baker's Companion.
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