NUtella Cupcakes

Angie Lelyukh

May Blog: Choclate Cupcakes Frosted with Whipped Nutella Frosting

Often times when I crave cookies, by the time I actually make the cookies, Im so you are so full of the cookie dough I dont want the cookie itself anymore. Like wise, when making the Nutella cupcakes I ate so much Nutella I could even push myself to eat one cupcake and had to leave it for the next day.
 The recipe I used for the homemade butter cream frosting included the following:

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• ⅔ cup Nutella or other chocolate-hazelnut spread
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch kosher salt (up to ¼ teaspoon, to taste)
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Instructions

1. In a stand mixer a fixed with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and powdered sugar on low until well-blended. Add the Nutella and increase the speed to medium. Beat for two minutes.
2. Add the vanilla extract and salt and whip for an additional 30 seconds.
3. Add the whipping cream and beat for about one minute, until the frosting lightens slightly in both color and texture.
   
   

I did not like the frosting as much as I though I would because you could barely taste the Nutella, but you could taste the powdered sugar and the butter very strongly.
The appearance was a light brown color, like a soft creamy tan and very fluffy

The texture of the butter cream was very fluffy and smooth

The aroma consisted of a strong butter and confectioners sugar with a hint of the chocolate hazelnut smell,

Something I forgot to do before making my frosting was read through the recipe so I completely forgot about timing the stuff and accidently beat step 2 for 2 minutes instead of 30 seconds, I do not think that it made too much of an impact on my frosting because it still had the right texture / volume at the end. Based on what I know, The most important step that would have caused me overcream my buttercream would have been step one

For the actual cupcakes I used the following recipe:

Ingredients
Cupcakes:
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Frosting:
8 cups confectioners' sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
Food coloring, for decorating
Sprinkles, for decorating

Directions
For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a measuring cup, mix together the milk and vinegar to make sour milk. In a large bowl, add the cocoa powder and hot water and mix together with an electric hand mixer. Add the soured milk, granulated sugar, shortening, vanilla extract and eggs, and mix together. Next, add the flour and baking soda and mix until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Place cupcake liners into a cupcake pan and fill each halfway with batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes.

For the frosting: Whip 4 cups of the confectioners' sugar, the butter and vanilla extract with an electric hand mixer until smooth, while slowly adding the milk.

Add food coloring to achieve desired color and the remaining 4 cups confectioners' sugar.

Frost the cupcakes and top with sprinkles

 

They looked like normal cupcakes with a little bump, and brown. As for the texture they were soft, airy and fluffy, but according to myself, the cupcakes were kind of dry to taste. I was going for moist, crumbly, sticker cupcakes but they ended up being a bit more dry than I wanted to. I am not sure if it was the recipe or not but I think that i left them in the oven for a minute too long because every time I stuck the toothpick in a cupcake it came out with batter so I kept adding on time until I think I overcooked them and let out too much moisture from the batter. To me, they also had a funky after taste, almost like there was too much baking soda but i measured it out correctly so i am wondering if it was the effect of the vinegar with milk. Other than that, the coca flavor was just right and pleasantly melted in the mouth
After I topped them with frosting and added colorful sprinkles they were very appealing to the eye because of the bright colors of the sprinkles.

Overall my friends thought they tasted great, but I felt like the frosting was a little over-powering for the cupcake itself. If i were to make these again I would add in more Nutella for a stronger taste in the frosting and try out a different recipe for the batter to find something more moist.