Nutella

Have you ever had Nutella? It's a dreamy, chocolate, hazelnut spread. You can put it on anything you want or just get a spoon and eat it by itself, by the spoonful.  When I saw cupcakes being made with Nutella you know what I had to do. Shall we get started?

Place your dry ingredients together in a bowl.

In your mix begin by mixing your eggs and sugar together until well blended.

It should be creamy and smooth.

Next you will add the ever wonderful Nutella, buttermilk, and dry ingredients.

Try to keep your hands out of the batter. It will be difficult, but I know you can do it. Okay, maybe one little taste won't hurt, so go ahead. Just a small little taste couldn't hurt right?

Get your trusty scoop out and fill your cupcake liners. Then bake them in the oven for about 22 minutes.

If you did everything right, you'll have cupcakes that look perfect.

Now we're going to make two different frostings. It's more fun and challenging that way. It'll also make your cupcakes a little prettier. ;) Cream butter and cream cheese together.

Then you're going to add Nutella to the Nutella frosting and powdered sugar. Next you'll make vanilla frosting. I forgot photos of that, so you'll just have imagine what it would look like.

Now you can frost your cooled cupcakes. 

Add some mini chocolate chips for fun!

Nutella Cupcakes

Cupcakes:
2/3 cup Nutella
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups buttermilk

Line 3 dozen muffin cups with cupcake liners or grease using non-stick spray. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar for 5 minutes, until it is pale and thick. Add in the butter. Mix until combined. Add in the Nutella. Now, add in the buttermilk. Beat until well incorporated.

Add the flour mixture in 3 increments and beat until smooth. Divide batter into the cupcake tins. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
5 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
Cream the butter and cream cheese in the large mixing bowl of a stand mixture. Add the vanilla. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar as you continue to cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, adding milk or additional sugar (if needed) to reach desired consistency.

Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature

2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 oz Nutella

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Sift the powdered sugar over the bowl and whisk for a few seconds. Add the Nutella and mix until completely incorporated. That is plenty for 12 cupcakes by the way. 

To make the fun swirl, put vanilla frosting in one frosting bag. Then put Nutella frosting in another bag. Grab a third bag cut the end and stick a tip on the end of the bag. Then insert the two other frosting bags into the third bag. The two frostings should come out simultaneously. Maybe someday, I'll photograph this for you. Somehow I forgot to do it this time around. Frost it pretty.

I had more vanilla frosting than Nutella frosting, so in the end some of the cupcakes had just vanilla frosting. I ended up with 30 regular sized cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes. It makes quite large batch! Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Good Life Eats and Tartelette.