These marbled cupcakes are sure to impress — no mixer required! Make the separate orange and espresso batters then swirl in the cupcake tins to create the gorgeous marbled effect. Top with the orange espresso buttercream for the perfect treat for the adventurous dessert fanatic in your life — or you know, just to have around as a quick snack!
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Making it Marbled
To best preserve the individual flavors, I’ve created two separate cake batters for these cupcakes; the orange and the espresso. The two are then playfully layered into cupcake tins and baked.
In order to keep this as simple as possible, no mixer is involved for the creation of the cake. Get two large bowls side by side and make your batter at the same time.
The recipe may look intimidating but I promise you can do it! As always, feel free to contact me with any questions.
The cake recipe is DAIRY FREE! No milk or butter used in the making of the cake. For a simple dairy-free swap in the buttercream, follow these replacements:
- Use dairy-free or vegan butter.
- Instead of heavy cream, use 2 tablespoons of your favorite dairy free milk, vanilla coffee creamer, or coconut cream.
Orange and Espresso: Delicious Flavor Combination
Initially, perhaps, this flavor combination seems counterintuitive. After all, chasing orange juice with espresso is a bitter experience. However, when layered with sugar in fluffy cupcake form, these flavors complement each other beautifully.
After much recipe testing, I perfected the amount of orange and espresso in each batter so that their true flavors come through but do not overpower one another. Additionally, these cupcakes are sweet which helps blend the two flavors together in a delicious way!
The espresso batter includes a dash of cocoa powder. This helps to round out the deep, bitter flavor of the espresso and complements the fresh orange zest and juice in the orange batter.
The buttercream frosting is a key component of this dessert, really tying the orange and espresso together in a smooth, creamy finish. I highly recommend taking the time to make the buttercream.
If you MUST skip the process of making the frosting, go for a vanilla store-bought, and mix in the orange zest, orange flavor and instant espresso as directed in the buttercream recipe.
Orange and Espresso: Special Ingredients
To truly bring out the orange and espresso flavor in these cupcakes, we enlist the help of some special ingredients.
For the orange batter, use fresh, ripe oranges. You’ll zest and juice these oranges to use in the batter, and reserve some zest for use in the buttercream frosting.
In the espresso cupcakes, I chose to use instant espresso. It’s a great ingredient to have on hand for baking, as you can use it in the plain powdered form to incorporate into other cakes, frosting, ice cream or cookies or use the powder to brew just as much espresso as you need for your recipe. Here’s a link to my favorite brand of instant espresso, pictured below.
Marbled Cupcake Technique
What makes these cupcakes so fun and pretty to look at is the marbling technique. The natural colors of the orange and espresso come through in each batter, so you wind up with one light orange batter and a nice tan batter for the espresso. By making the batters separately and marbling them in the cupcake tin, it results in a gorgeous marbled cupcake!
How you marble and layer the separate cake batters is entirely up to you. There truly is no wrong way to do this. Use small spoons to scoop different layers into the cupcake tin, then use a toothpick to swirl the colors together. For a more hands-on tutorial, check out this video from Wilton. The recipe they use utilizes food coloring, which you don’t need when using this recipe. However, its a good video of how the marbling process actually looks and may help if you are feeling unsure about the process.
Equipment
- Clean bowls
- Coffee mug
- Zester
- Cupcake tin
- Cupcake liners
- Two small spoons
- Stand or hand mixer for the buttercream frosting
Ingredients
Espresso Batter
- ¼ cup water with 2 teaspoons espresso Or instant coffee
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- ½ tsp instant espresso ¾
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 TB canola or grapeseed oil
Orange Batter
- 1 tsp orange emulsion (optional)
- 1½ tsp orange zest
- ¼ cup orange juice
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 TB canola or grapeseed oil
Orange Espresso Buttercream
- 1½ cup unsalted, softened butter
- 2¾ cup + 1 TB powdered sugar
- 2 TB mylk
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp instant espresso OR instant coffee
- 1 tsp orange zest
Instructions
Espresso Cake Batter
- Stir 2 teaspoons instant espresso into warm water until fully dissolved. Set aside.
- In a clean bowl, sift flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Add in the salt and sugar and ½ teaspoon instant espresso. Whisk gently to combine.
- In a different clean bowl, add the egg, oil, vanilla and espresso. Whisk to combine.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Whisk well to combine. Set aside until ready to use. If you prefer, you can pop this bowl into the fridge while you prepare the orange cake batter.
Orange Cake Batter
- Zest two oranges into a small bowl, avoiding the white pith. In a separate small bowl or cup, juice both oranges.
- In a clean bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Whisk gently to combine.
- In a separate clean bowl, add the egg, oil, vanilla, orange juice, orange zest and orange emulsion. Whisk to combine.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk well to combine.
Marbling the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Using paper or silicone liners, line one full-size cupcake pan.
- Using two small spoons, scoop a bit of orange batter into the bottom of the cupcake tins, then add some espresso, alternating however you'd like. This is the fun part! Get creative and layer however you'd like. Stop filling the cups when it reaches halfway.
- TO MAKE CAKE: line a 9" cake pan with parchment and add batter as you would for cupcakes.
- Using a toothpick, swirl the batters together in fun and interesting patterns. There's really no wrong way to do this, so have fun with it and experiment freely.
- Bake at 325°F for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are firm and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. (Same baking time for cake)
Prepare the Buttercream
- Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the butter until it is soft and fluffy about 5-7 minutes. Using room temperature butter will help speed up this process.
- Incorporate powdered sugar ½ cup at a time, waiting until fully combined before adding more.
- Once all the powdered sugar is mixed in, add the salt and vanilla extract. At this point, scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is fully combined.
- Pour the whipping cream in a slow, steady stream while beating the buttercream.
- If you prefer your buttercream to be plain vanilla flavor, you can skip this step. To get the full orange espresso flavor, add the espresso powder, orange zest and orange emulsions, mixing until fully combined.
- If you don't have a piping bag, you can cut one corner off a Ziploc bag and use it to pipe, or simply spread the frosting onto the cupcakes with a butter knife.
- Once the cupcakes have cooled fully, frost your cupcakes however you'd like. Incorporate some food dye into the buttercream for an extra burst of color!
Notes
- Use Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting and add 1 tsp instant espresso (or coffee) and 1 tsp orange zest. Mix to combine and enjoy!
Have you tried this recipe? Curious about the flavor combination? Let me know in the comments below!
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