One of my favorite flavor combos is blood orange and cardamom! These blood orange cardamom cupcakes are topped with a tangy, naturally pink cream cheese frosting and make the perfect Valentine's Day treat!
You might also like this blood orange vodka sour or these peaches and cream cupcakes!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a few simple ingredients to make these cardamom blood orange cupcakes!
Cake Flour - I always use cake flour in my cupcakes because it makes them super soft and tender, but all purpose flour also works great!
Almond Flour - I love substituting a portion of the flour for almond flour in all my baked goods! It helps keep the cupcakes super moist and tender! It's totally optional, but if you keep almond flour on hand it's a must.
Yogurt - The yogurt keeps this cake super moist while also adding a bit of tang! You always want to use full fat yogurt in baking for the best results! You could also use full fat sour cream or whole milk!
Blood Oranges - I prefer to use blood oranges for their beautiful color! However, regular oranges will work just as well! I also used these pretty dried blood oranges as a garnish, but that's optional!
Cardamom - One of my favorite spices is cardamom! It's beautifully aromatic and has a warm, citrusy flavor that pairs just beautifully with blood oranges!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Whisk the cake flour, almond flour, cardamom, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk the butter, brown sugar, eggs, and orange zest together until combined. Then stir in the blood orange juice.
Stir in about half of the flour mixture.
Then stir in the yogurt and the remaining flour mixture.
Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.
Let the blood orange cardamom cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Cupcake Decorating Tips & Tricks
To decorate all of my cakes and cupcakes, I use this Wilton Decorating Kit and I love it! It’s super easy to use and has a ton of tips in different sizes. For these cardamom blood orange cupcakes, I used the 1A tip to pipe smooth circles.
Make sure to let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Garnish with dehydrated blood orange slices!
Recipe FAQ's
These cupcakes will last in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, they taste best when served at room temperature! I like to let them sit at room temperature for about an hour before serving.
No! You can use regular oranges or cara cara orages!
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
More Recipes You Might Like
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Recipe Card
Blood Orange Cardamom Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon blood orange zest
- 2 tablespoons blood orange juice
- 1 ¼ cups cake flour, substitute all purpose flour
- ¼ cup almond flour, substitute cake flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup plain full fat yogurt, substitute sour cream or whole milk
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- pinch kosher salt
- 1-2 tablespoons blood orange juice
- dehydrated blood oranges
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Whisk the cake flour, almond flour, cardamom, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the butter, brown sugar, eggs, and orange zest together until combined. Then stir in the blood orange juice.
- Stir in about half of the flour mixture.
- Then stir in the yogurt and the remaining flour mixture.
- Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
- Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.
- Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Blood Orange Frosting
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the room temperature butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
- Add in the powdered sugar and mix until fully incorporated.
- Mix in cardamom, salt, and blood orange juice until fully combined.
- Beat the frosting on high for 4-5 minutes until lightly and fluffy.
- Frost the cooled cupcakes and garnish with dehydrated blood orange slices.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Emily says
Delicious! Only change was had to use nonfat yogurt with a little heavy cream subbed in