Since the nutella cupcakes sold out in approximately five minutes, we decided that they were worthy of a fabulous blog post. First of all, its a bit of a lie to call them nutella cupcakes because technically they are vanilla cupcakes filled with nutella and topped with nutella cloud frosting. The vanilla cupcake recipe can be found below and I can safely say without a doubt that it is the best vanilla cupcake recipe in the universe (and this is coming from someone who does not love non-chocolate based desserts). So don’t modify it (although extra vanilla extract and salt is never a bad thing).
Once the vanilla cupcakes are baked and cooled individually cut a little circle out of the center of each one. Place about half a jar nutella into a lunch baggie, seal it, and cut a hole in one of the bottom corners. Or, if you are more prepared than we ever are, use an actual pastry icing bag. Fill the holes cut out of the middle of each cupcake with nutella.
Next, whip together the ingredients in the nutella frosting found below. We found that the recipe needed more nutella and salt than it called for, so taste the frosting before putting it on the cupcake. Also, as a random sidenote, to make about 12 cupcakes only one jar of nutella is needed.\
3 Vanilla Cupcakes
20 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven
3/4 cup (1-1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-2/3 cups vanilla sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2-2/3 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
1. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
3. Measure the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
5. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
6. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 2/3’s full. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake cupcakes for about 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Nutella Cloud Frosting
Yield: Enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter (227 grams/8 ounces/2 sticks), softened, but cool
1 1/2 cups (190 grams/7 ounces) icing sugar (confectioners’ or powdered)
2 teaspoons (10 mL) pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (125 grams/4 ounces) premium bittersweet chocolate chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1/3 cup (100 grams/3.5 ounces) Nutella
1 tablespoon (15 mL) milk
pinch of salt
lmnzest 