Nutella Cupcakes!

I have a bit of a love affair with Nutella! How could you not love this chocolaty-hazelnutty goodness?! So needless to say when I saw a recipe for Hazelnut and Chocolate cupcakes in a cookbook my Mom gave me I knew right then and there what my next baking expedition would be!

Speaking of my Mom, she will be in town tomorrow afternoon and will finally be able to try so of the cupcakes I have been talking so much about!

First I want to give you the recipe and then I can talk to you about some tricks that might save you some time on these bad boys!!


Hazelnut and Chocolate Cupcakes (NUTELLA!!)
(recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
a scant 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
a pinch of salt
3 tbsp. butter, at room temp.
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1/2 cup Nutella
about 36 whole, shelled hazelnuts, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Put the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter in a bowl and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

Slowly pour the milk into the flour mixture, beating well until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add the egg and beat well. (Scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).

Spoon the batter into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cake bounces back when touched.

When the cupcakes are cold, hollow out a small section in the center of each one and fill with a dollop of Nutella.

Frosting:
2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temp.
2 tbsp. whole milk
1/3 cup Nutella

Beat the confectioners sugar and butter together in a bowl on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.

Turn the mixer to a slower speed. Slowly pour in the milk, then when it is all incorporated, turn the mixer up to a high speed.

Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter is becomes.

Stir in the Nutella by hand until evenly mixed into the frosting. When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the frosting on top and finish with about 3 hazelnuts per cupcake.

YIELD: This recipe is for 12 cupcakes only!! I doubled the recipe!!



Alright! Like I said above, the recipe straight from the book and the one I copied to my blog is only for 12 cupcakes! I doubled to make 24 cupcakes! I also doubled the frosting recipe which I do not recommend unless you are making jumbo cupcakes! I have so much leftover that I can make 12 more and still have enough! The great thing about frosting is that it is so easy to make! If you need a little more then make a little more by cutting the frosting recipe in half!

To hollow out a section in the center, I used a little trick of the trade that I got from watching Cupcake Wars on Food Network, a corer, much like this one:

The key is to twist in and then lift! I am not gonna lie, it is not particularly easy to do and what's a little trickier is putting the Nutella into that hole. So my genius of a cousin came up with the idea to use a frosting piper! SO SMART! I have yet to own one of those, but I suggest that if you make these use a piper! If you you do not want to buy one, then you can use a ziplock and cut the corner off and pipe it in! Looking back I wish I would have thought of that earlier!

So as you can kind of see in the photo, there is Nutella in the center of the cupcake as well as incorporated in the frosting. Yes, that is a lot of Nutella, (a WHOLE jar!) but the cupcake recipe calls for a "scant" amount of sugar and no vanilla extract which usually gives chocolate cupcakes their sweetness. So the cake itself is not that sweet. That's where Nutella comes in! Trusty old friend!

As for this cookbook: The Hummingbird Bakery is apparently a London based bakery so the wording is a little different! I actually looked up the word scant! haha! But after trying these, I have to say that the Brits know how to make one bloody delicious cupcake!!



Have a great Labor Day!

Until next time,
Perna Cakes