Mandarin Peel Mini Cupcakes Recipe & Flowers
I received compensation from Halos in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own.
We had so much fun coming up with this mini cupcakes recipe that uses the orange peels as your cupcake liners and fresh mandarin juice to add flavor! We topped off the oranges with cute cutouts from our leftover peels for an adorable themed mini cupcakes perfect for a birthday party or event!
You’ll start by picking up a box of Halos mandarin oranges. You can find them just about anywhere from Target, Walmart, Safeway, Kroger, Sam’s Club, and many more stores. They will be easy to spot, too, as they come in a fun blue box. In our house, we LOVE mandarin oranges so we often have them on hand.
Start by cutting each mandarin in half. You will be able to easily pull the oranges away from the peel but peel it away carefully in order to keep your peel intact to form a cup. We’ll use these later as our cupcake liners! You’ll squeeze the oranges to collect one cup of juice. The rest, you can go ahead and snack on and enjoy while you’re baking!
Grab a box of cake mix and mix up your cake mix following the directions on the box but substituting one cup of your fresh mandarin juice in place of the water that is called for. You will also add 1 tsp of orange extract to your batter as well for a stronger orange flavor.
Now, place your hollow orange halves into a mini cupcake pan as you normally would a liner. Add cake mix into the orange peels filling no more than halfway full. Pop your mini cupcakes recipe into the oven at 350 degrees and bake for about 16 minutes, or until done.
While cupcakes are baking, cut flowers from unused mandarin peel using very small flower cookie cutters. Once cupcakes have baked and cooled, top with butter cream frosting and the mandarin peel flowers.
Halo Mandarin Orange Mini Cupcakes Recipe
- 24 Halo mandarin oranges
- 1 dark chocolate cake mix (and ingredients from mix)
- 1 cup juice from mandarins
- 1 tsp orange extract
- Prepared butter cream frosting
- Cut each mandarin in half. The meat of the fruit separates easily from the peel. Carefully pull the peel away, keeping it intact as a cup. Set aside the meat of the fruit to squeeze for juice.
- Prepare the cake mix as directed, substituting the water that is called for with the fresh mandarin orange juice. Add 1 tsp of orange extract to the batter.
- Place each hollow orange half into a mini cupcake pan as you normally would a liner. Fill no more than halfway with your batter.
- Bake for approximately 16 minutes at 350 degrees.
- While cupcakes are baking, cut flowers from unused mandarin peel using very small flower cookie cutters.
- Once cupcakes have baked and cooled, top with the prepared butter cream frosting and the mandarin peel flowers.
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