Can you control yourself around Nutella? If you can, Go you! High five! And, um, could you tell me how you do that? Nutella addiction is a real thing (of this I have no doubt -I mean, how you could resist this stuff?) and the only cure for me is keeping the dangerously delicious substance out of my house.
Of course, every now and again, being a sensible grown up who eats a balanced diet gets a bit boring, and you need to let your inner child go crazy and basically eat a whole jar of nutella.
Or, make some homemade Nutella. Have I mentioned how mind-blowingly good it is?
Or, make Ferrero Rocher and Nutella Chocolate Cupcakes! Intensely chocolatey Nutella-filled cupcakes are topped with a heavenly Nutella frosting. Just when you think things can’t get any more decadent, it’s all finished off with a whole Ferrero Rocher!
So, there’s nutella in the cupcake batter, filling the cupcakes, in the frosting and in the Ferrero Rocher on top – a quadruple Nutella whammy!
Realistically, the cost of the recipes I post here is something I think about (why I always recommend value plain chocolate for baking rather than expensive dark chocolate or chips!), so you can leave the Ferrero Rocher off these cupcakes to make them far less expensive. I bought a box of 16 for £3.50. I find My Supermarket to be invaluable when scouting the prices of things like this for baking projects – you can see where what you want is currently on sale at the cheapest price, and if there are any special offers on! I also do this with Quorn as it can be expensive when not on offer, especially in the quantities we buy it!
Ferrero Rocher and Nutella Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 1 2/3 cup / 300g golden caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 50 ml sour cream
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- 1/2 cup plus 1tbsp / 75g cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp / 105ml hot water
- 75 g melted plain chocolate
- 2 1/4 cup / 300g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- pinch salt
- 200 g nutella
For the cupcake filling
- 50 g nutella softened by warming in the microwave
For the frosting
- 125 g unsalted butter soft
- 250 g cream cheese
- 400-500 g icing sugar
- 40 g cocoa powder
- 100 g plain chocolate
- 200 g nutella softened
To decorate
- Ferrero Rocher optional
Instructions
For the cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 180C/gas mark 4/350F – you’ll need two cupcake tins lined with cases as this recipe makes around 18 cupcakes.
- Melt your butter and sugar in a saucepan on a low heat, until the sugar is dissolved. Transfer to a stand mixer (or large bowl) and mix for 4 – 5 minutes until the mixture is completely cool. Meanwhile, combine your cocoa powder with recently boiled water and stir until all the lumps are dissolved, and get your other dry ingredients ready. Melt your plain chocolate in the microwave in a heat proof bowl in 30 second bursts and set it aside to cool.
- Add the eggs to your butter-sugar mixture along with the vanilla, and then, with the mixer running, add your flour, bicarb of soda and baking powder, before adding in the cocoa mixture, salt, and finally, the sour cream, cooled melted chocolate and 150g of the Nutella (it helps to microwave it in the jar so that it's runny). Once everything is incorporated, spoon two heaped tablespoons of mixture into each case.
- Bake in the middle and top shelves of your oven, rotating halfway through, and remove from the oven once a toothpick in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean (around 18 minutes).
- Once the cupcakes are cool, use a teaspoon or melon-baller to scoop out a small round piece from the top of the cake (bonus snack for you!) and fill the hole with a teaspoon of Nutella. Mmm!
For the frosting
- It's best to make this frosting while your cupcakes are in the oven, and then pop it into the fridge to cool (especially important on a warm day).
- Melt your chocolate in the microwave and set aside to cool, and the combine your butter and cream cheese in your mixer. Mix together until thoroughly combined, which will take a couple of minutes. Next, sieve in your icing sugar and cocoa powder with the salt, and combine, before finally adding the nutella and mixing briefly.
- To decorate, I used a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, but you could also swirl the frosting on with an offset spatula or the back of a tablespoon. Leave the cupcakes to set (they'll need to be in the fridge on a warm day).
For the decoration
- Top with unwrapped Ferrero Rocher. If you're anything like me, you'll inevitably pop a few into your mouth, so you may want to buy more Ferrero Rocher than you have cupcakes.
