Orange Crunch Cupcakes

Close up of cupcake on plate with blueberries

A super moist vanilla orange cupcake with a surprisingly nutty, crunchy bottom, and a sweet, creamy and luscious cream cheese frosting. Make these once and they'll be your forever go-to recipe when you need to make cupcakes!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 20

Icing Time 10

Servings

Calories 415kcal

Author Teri

Cost $24.00

Ingredients

Crunchy Bottom

¼ cup almonds sliced
5 graham crackers
¾ cup dark brown sugar

Cupcakes

1 box white or yellow cake mix
1 tablespoon orange extract
1 cup orange juice
⅓ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

6 cups powdered sugar
16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature
1 tablespoon orange extract
½ teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

Prepare Crunchy Bottom

Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Toast sliced almonds in a dry skillet until light brown, stirring constantly. Remove from the skillet immediately when browned. Finely chop the almonds.
Place graham crackers in a ziploc bag and crush into a fine crumb. Mix in a small bowl with the chopped, toasted almonds and brown sugar.

Prepare Cupcakes

Prepare cupcake pan (either with cooking spray or liners). Add 1 tablespoon of the crunchy mixture to the bottom of each cupcake well.
Mix cupcake batter according to the package directions, replacing the water with orange juice. Add the orange extract.
Fill the cupcake wells ⅔ full with the cupcake batter, on top of the crunchy mixture.
Bake cupcakes according to the package instructions. Let cupcakes cool completely.

Prepare Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

In a large mixing bowl, mix the powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, orange extract and salt with a hand mixer until frosting is completely blended and smooth. If the frosting is too thin, you can add more powdered sugar until desired consistency is achieved. If the frosting is too thin, add milk a teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

Frost Cupcakes

Top the cupcakes with the frosting either with a spatula or piping bag.

Nutrition