“The icing on the cake” is in my opinion the best part of any baked good! This Orange Buttercream Icing is so tasty and bursting with fresh orange flavor! You won’t believe how easy it is to make.
There are so many variations for this icing recipe too! You can use lemons, limes, grapefruits as well as vanilla bean paste. The possibilities truly are endless! I’m thinking peanut butter, cinnamon, coconut, maple syrup, cocoa, ginger….wow I could just keep going. This will be your go to recipe for icing no matter what your baked good is!
It all starts with a good base!
Powdered sugar, unsalted butter, a liquid (milk or a juice) and a flavoring! That could be an extract, a spice or a zest from your favorite citrus fruit! Once you know this basic formula you can get creative with how you flavor your icing!
That is it! So easy, minimal ingredients and you can frost ANYTHING! I hope you found this post for Orange Buttercream Icing inspirational. Share with me your craziest combinations! I can’t wait to hear what flavors you’ve come up with!
Orange Butter Cream Icing
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups confectioners sugar
- zest from one large orange (or two small oranges, you want a good tablespoon of zest)
- 1 tsp orange extract
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice, plus more if needed
Mix all ingredients together adding the orange juice 2 tablespoons at a time. Add additional orange juice 2 teaspoons at a time until your icing is the consistency you are looking for.
*This quantity frosted 20 cupcakes using a large decorating tip. If you were spreading with a knife you could probable ice closer to 24 cupcakes. If you are frosting a cake I would double this recipe!
**Variations
- If you are using any other citrus fruit just swap out the same amounts for the orange ingredients. If there is not an extract in the citrus flavor available then just use vanilla extract.
- If your flavor is any thing other than a citrus or fruit then use 1/4 cup milk as your liquid, vanilla for your extract, start with a teaspoon of any spice flavoring (like cinnamon, ginger etc.) and test for flavor. Adjust according to taste.
- If you are going for a peanut butter or chocolate flavor, use 1/4 cup milk as your liquid, vanilla or almond for your extract and 1/4 cup of cocoa or peanut butter for your flavor.
- If you are going for coconut, 1/4 cup milk for liquid, coconut extract, 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes. coconut milk would also work if you had that on hand!
