birthday cupcakes: chocolate Nutella cupcakes

Both my brother-in-law, Dave, and my sister-in-law, Alex, answered with an emphatic "chocolate" when I asked them what flavour they wanted their birthday cupcakes to be.

After a little more thought, Alex added that she wouldn't mind Nutella cupcakes either. Since I was delivering the cupcakes to both of them on the same weekend, I decided to cheat a little and bake them both chocolate Nutella cupcakes. 

I never ended up eating any of these cupcakes, although I did have a few mini bites made with the leftover batter. I did, however, get lots of comments from the ones that did get to eat the cupcakes so I have a fairly good idea of how they turned out.

cupcakes: moist and lighter than the last batch of chocolate cupcakes I made.

frosting: The frosting was amazing - very light, not too sweet, and full of Nutella flavour.

overall: The cupcakes were a huge hit. I think the combination of a light, chocolate cupcake with a Nutella frosting and a hidden dollop of Nutella inside the cupcakewould be popular with any chocolate or Nutella lovers.

final verdict: Would I make these again? Definitely. From all the compliments I received, this recipe is definitely a keeper and I'll be making these again soon

chocolate Nutella cupcakes
source: adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction's Chocolate Cupcakes with Creamy Nutella Frosting
printer-friendly version

ingredients:

chocolate cupcakes:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Nutella frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup Nutella
3-4 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
salt to taste

also need:
12 teaspoons Nutella

directions:

cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Line standard-sized cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. In a small saucepan, bring the water and milk to a boil, stirring constantly. As soon as it starts to boil, remove from heat.
3. Slowly pour the unsweetened cocoa powder into the milk and whisk until smooth. Pour the chocolate milk mixture into a large bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature (you can speed this up by placing the chocolate milk mixture into the refrigerator as you prepare the other ingredients.)
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat only until just combined. 
6. In a steady stream, add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.
7. Fill each muffin tin 3/4 of the way full with batter. 
8. Bake for 16-19 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle came out clean (watch the cupcakes to make sure they don't burn). Remove cupcakes from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack. 
9. Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing the cupcakes from the pan and placing them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Cool completely before frosting.

frosting:

1. With a stand mixer, beat softened butter on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until smooth and very creamy. 
2. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and continue to beat on medium speed. 
3. Add the Nutella and continue to beat on medium speed. 
4. Add the heavy cream and vanilla extract and beat until everything is well integrated.
5. If the frosting is too thick, add more heavy cream (1 tablespoon measurements at a time). If the frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar (1/4 cup measurements at a time).

to assemble cupcakes:

1. Make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled.
2. Fill a pastry bag with Nutella and fit it with an injector tip (if you don't have an injector tip, you can use a medium, rounded tip)
3. Insert the tip into the top centre of each cupcake and slowly pipe in approximately 1 teaspoon of Nutella (do this very slowly to avoid piping in too much Nutella and bursting the cupcake - it's okay if it cracks a little as you can cover the crack with frosting)
4. Finish by frosting the cupcakes.

Yields: 1 dozen cupcakes