Orange Cranberry Cupcakes

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These orange cranberry cupcakes are made with a sponge that’s lightly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest (optional to add diced fresh cranberries to the batter as well). They’re frosted with a cranberry meringue made with reduced cranberry juice.

frosted cranberry cupcakes topped with sugared rosemary

I’ve never been the biggest fan of oranges or cranberries… until now. Slowly over the years I’ve been baking more with cranberries and orange and have come to appreciate their beautiful harmony in desserts. Last year, I can say I LOVED my cranberry orange cake but now this cupcake?! I dare say…it may be my favorite cupcake I’ve ever made?!

Why I love these cranberry cupcakes

It’s all in the detail – the orange zest rubbed with the sugar and the tiny hint of cinnamon and nutmeg is so beautiful and pair perfectly with cranberry meringue.
They’re SO LIGHT and make you feel like you could eat 3 in one sitting.
It’s like taking a bite out of Christmas but it’s not your basic peppermint or gingerbread.
There are few things in life better than a flavored STABLE meringue.
Recipe is versatile – can be made with dairy free and gluten-free ingredients.

If you like these cupcakes, I think you’ll also like my orange cranberry cake, my apple cranberry crisp and these glorious cranberry cinnamon rolls.

Make sure to check out all my festive cupcakes too! I have hot chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow frosting, chocolate peppermint cupcakes, eggnog cupcakes with spiced rum caramel, the best gingerbread cupcakes with toasted marshmallows, sugar plum fairy cupcakes and a fun Christmasy way to decorate cupcakes.

cranberry cupcakes showing the inside with and without cranberry chunks

Ingredients & Substitutions

Butter: I prefer salted butter here but you can also use unsalted butter. Make sure it’s softened to room temperature so it creams well with the dry ingredients.
Flour: I use all purpose flour in most of my recipes BUT you cannot beat the texture of cake flour in cupcakes so I highly recommend King Arthur’s Cake Flour. It is far superior to some alternatives in the grocery stores.
- I have used the “homemade cake flour” trick by replacing 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour with cornstarch. The cupcakes will work if you make them this way but they won’t be quite as soft and tender.
- I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as flour is so often over measured.
Baking Powder: to leaven the cupcakes.
Sugar: I used granulated sugar and I don’t recommend swapping it or cutting any out.
Oil: I almost always use a combination of butter and oil in my cakes because I like the texture from both. I recommend a neutral oil like vegetable oil, canola oil or sunflower oil here.
Eggs: I just use one large egg and make sure it’s at room temperature. Place it in hot water for 5-10 minutes if it’s cold.
- The meringue will require two additional egg whites so you’ll be left with two egg yolks (which I have plenty of recipe recommendations for down in the FAQ section).
Sour Cream: I’ve used greek yogurt and sour cream in this recipe and they both work well. You can also use plain yogurt. However, if you sub the sour cream for extra milk, the cupcakes might shrivel up a little when cooling.
Milk: I use whole milk or two percent but any milk will work here, even dairy free.
Vanilla: I just use vanilla extract in this recipe but vanilla bean paste also works.
Orange: I flavored the cupcake with orange by rubbing the sugar with the zest of 1 orange. It gave it the most incredible flavor that’s very present but not overpowering.
Spices: I used just a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg for a little christmas spice.
Cranberries: I couldn’t decide if I wanted the cranberries in the cupcake or just in the meringue. It’s phenomenal both ways but I think I like the chunks better. I used fresh cranberries for the cupcakes and just chopped them up real tiny so you don’t get a really bitter chunk.
- For the meringue, I used 100% cranberry juice and reduced it a little on the stove with the sugar before adding it to the egg whites.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Frosted Cranberries and Rosemary

Step 1: Bring the water and sugar to a boil, just until the sugar is all dissolved.

Step 2: Dunk the rosemary and cranberries in the sugar water for just a few seconds – don’t leave them in there or they’ll get soggy.

Step 3: Place the cranberries and rosemary on a wire rack to strain off excess liquid.

Step 4: Roll them in granulated sugar just until they’re fully coated. If you don’t strain them for a few minutes before rolling in sugar, the liquid will make the sugar clumpy and it won’t stick to the cranberries and rosemary well. Let them dry for a couple of hours.

Cupcakes

Step 1: Zest the orange on top of the sugar and use your fingers to rub them together well, until they’re well combined.

Step 2: Whisk together the flour, sugar, spices, baking powder and salt until they’re evenly distributed.

Step 3: Add the room temperature butter and the oil and use an electric mixer to beat them at medium, until they’re crumbly like a streusel.

Step 4: Add the egg and vanilla and mix just until it’s well combined and the batter looks like paste.

Step 5: Add the sour cream and turn the mixer to low speed while streaming in the milk. If you’re adding cranberry chunks, fold them in at the end, just until they’re evenly dispersed.

Step 6: Scrape the edge of the bowl and give it a good mix. Fill the cupcake liners about ⅔-¾ full. I recommend weighing them so each cupcake has 50-55 grams of batter.

Step 7: Bake for 18ish minutes, until the tallest part of the cupcake, in the center, springs back when you press on it. If you’re hesitant, give it another minute or so.

Step 8: Let the cupcakes rest for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove them from the pan.

Meringue

Step 1: Place the cranberry juice, honey and sugar in a small pot on the stove, over medium-low heat. Allow the mixture to reach 245F (118C). This will take a little while as some of the water from the cranberry juice needs to evaporate in order for the temperature to increase that high.

Step 2: Meanwhile, clean your mixing bowl, whisk attachment and all other tools well and wipe them down with a little vinegar to make sure there’s no grease residue.

Step 3: Once the sugar is getting to around 230F, begin whipping your egg whites in the mixer at medium-high speed. They should get foamy and once the cranberry sugar syrup reaches temperature, turn the mixer down to medium and stream in the sugar along the edge of the mixing bowl. Try to avoid touching the whisk attachment with the stream of sugar as it will splatter it everywhere, just stream it along the edge of the bowl into the egg whites slowly.

Step 4: Turn the mixer up to full speed and beat for 3-5 minutes, until it’s thick and fluffy.

Step 5: Bloom your gelatin and then microwave it for 5 seconds. Let it cool for a few seconds and then mix into the meringue at medium speed for just a few seconds, until it’s combined.

Step 6: Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and decorate with sugared cranberries and rosemary (or orange peel).

cranberry juice and sugar before it gets reduced

finished cranberry meringue — cranberry juice and sugar before it gets reduced

How to make your meringue stable

I have A. LOT. OF. EXPERIENCE. with meringue. In the past, when I was a beginner, I made meringue all the time with no issues. I’m telling you I made it on my s’morse cake and my gingerbread cake (these were in like 2018) without stabilizing it and it was fine. I froze those cakes and defrosted them without them every weeping.

Then I moved from my first house and I never made a meringue the same way again. I don’t know what happened but I’ve since been a part of the weeping meringue club. So what does Bernice do when things aren’t turning out perfectly? Study them. I study it all.

Here are my cliff notes on stabilizing meringue:

Use a stand mixer with a metal bowl and the whisk attachment. Clean them all well and then wipe them down with vinegar.
Use room temperature egg whites, they’ll whip up much better.
Use the Italian Method because cooking the sugar to a higher temperature definitely makes it more stable.
Add a little bit of honey (like just a teaspoon or so) to my sugar and water because it’s an inverted sugar which prevents the sugar syrup from crystallizing. The flavor is VERY subtle but if you’re sensitive to honey you may notice it (I don’t love honey in general but I love it in meringue). If you don’t want any flavor, you can use corn syrup or glucose syrup.
I normally add a tablespoon of lemon juice, a tsp of vinegar or 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar to my traditional meringue because the acidity also helps stabilize it. For this recipe you don’t have to because cranberry juice is very acidic.
Whip just until you get stiff peaks, no more no less.
Add 1/8 tsp of gelatin per two egg whites. This is not traditional and it doesn’t alter the consistency slightly by “setting” it but 1/8 tsp is soooo little that it’s hardly noticeable and all it does it gelatinize the water that’s trying to “weep” out.
The last thing is toasting it. The meringue will hold it’s shape much better if it’s toasted but the inside of it may still soften over time.

This is what I do when I want a meringue to stay put for an unlimited amount of time. If I do this, I can freeze and unfreeze a meringue several time without any weeping!

You don’t HAVE to do all of these steps but I would say the main one that stabilizes the meringue is the gelatin. Just don’t add more than I did or you may get an actual marshmallow LOL.

Expert tips on getting perfect cupcakes

There’s a few things that can make it or break it with these cupcakes.

Don’t swap ingredients unless I mentioned them in the ingredient section above.
Don’t reduce the sugar. I know a lot of people do that for some recipes but not this one.
Weigh your ingredients with a digital scale
Weigh the batter for each cupcake with a digital scale. I just place the cupcake pan on the scale with the liners and measure out 50-55 grams for each cupcake. You will have enough batter for about half a cupcake leftover. DO NOT BE TEMPTED to distribute that among the cupcakes, they will sink if they’re overfilled.
- If you’re adding the diced cranberries to the batter, you will get 14 good cupcakes by doing the 50-55g grams in each tin.
Use a light colored stainless steel muffin tin.

cranberry cupcakes with frosted cranberries

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use all-purpose flour?

I have used the “homemade cake flour” trick by replacing 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour with cornstarch. The cupcakes will work if you make them this way but they won’t be quite as soft and tender.
I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as flour is so often over measured.

Can I make this ahead of time?

This cake holds on to moisture really well so you can make it 1-2 days in advance before serving and store in the fridge. Or you could make it well in advance and freeze. See the storing section.

What if I only have one pan?

If you only have one muffin pan, the batter for the 13th cupcake can just wait on the counter until the first 12 are done baking.

How do I know when it’s done baking?

Just like all the rest of my cakes, I test if it’s done baking by pressing gently on the tallest part of the cake. The cake will spring back if it’s done baking. If it stays indented, give it a few minutes in the oven, before testing again.

Can I frost these with a buttercream instead?

You definitely could. You technically could double the meringue (follow instructions exactly but skip the gelatin) and add 1¼ cup of butter to it and it would be a cranberry Swiss meringue buttercream. Unfortunately the flavor is very subtle so to combat that, you could add some cranberry jam/preserves, etc. to the finish frosting. OR you could start with double the cranberry juice and let it reduce on the stove for longer and it will have more flavor.

Can I use this as a cake recipe?

I have not tested this cupcake recipe as a cake recipe but I don’t imagine it would be bad. It would probably make about 1 layer 8 or 9 inch cake. If you double the recipe it should make a 9×13″ cake.

What to do with leftover egg yolks

I intentionally developed recipes to use up egg yolks. My favorite ways to use them up are:
1. Since there are only 2, my favorite way to use them up is just to make my egg yolk chocolate chip cookies. They can be baked right away, store baked cookies in the freezer or store cookie dough in the freezer. You can also play around with this recipe and use white chocolate, nuts, dried fruit, etc.
2. You could also make a half batch of French buttercream and put it in the freezer for later.
3. Pastry cream uses just egg yolks and can be sized down to a two egg pastry cream by adjusting everything to 2/3 of the recipe. For example, 2 egg yolks, 2 Tbsp (20g) cornstarch, 15g sugar, etc.
I would use this up right away or use it to make a diplomat cream (also use right away) OR make a creme mousseline and store that in the freezer.

close up texture of inside of cranberry cupcakes

How to store these cranberry cupcakes

I usually just cover them with a cake dome or place them in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for 1-2 days. You can store them in the refrigerator for an additional 2-3 days but if it’s any longer, I recommend freezing them.

To freeze the cupcakes, place them in an airtight container and then place the container in a freezer bag, squeezing out all the excess air. Bring them back to room temperature by thawing at room temperature for a few hours before serving.

Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below.

If you make these orange cranberry cupcakes, I’d love it if you left me a review or a star rating. 🙂

As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!

Love, B

Cranberry Cupcakes

Bernice Baran

These orange cranberry cupcakes are made with a vanilla sponge that’s lightly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest (optional to add diced fresh cranberries to the batter as well). They’re frosted with a cranberry meringue made with reduced cranberry juice.

5 from 4 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 15

Cook Time 18

Additional Time 1

Total Time 2 33

Course Cupcakes

Cuisine American

Servings cupcakes

Calories 283 kcal

Equipment