Nutella Cupcakes

Author: original recipe from cannella-vita.blogspot.com

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: cupcakes

Prep time:  30 mins

Cook time:  20 mins

Total time:  50 mins

Serves: 16

 

Decadent Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon coffee granules dissolved in ½ cup warm water or 1 esspresso shot dissolved in warm water (amounting to ½ cup of liquid)

Nutella Buttercream Frosting

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup vegetable shortening
• 1 13-ounce jar of Nutella
• pinch of fine grain sea salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1.5 pounds confectioners’ sugar
• 6-8 tablespoons milk

Additional Ingredients:

• 24 Ferrero Rocher candies
• melted chocolate for drizzling

Instructions

Cupcake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffin wells with paper liners.
2. Beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla and instant coffee mixture until well combined.
3. Distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells. (I like to use an ice cream scoop)
4. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched.
5. Allow cupcakes to cool inside muffin tins for about 10 minutes.
6. Remove cupcakes from muffin tins and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare your frosting.

Nutella Buttercream Frosting

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and shortening until well combined, thick and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
2. Slowly add in confectioner’s sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.
3. Add salt, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Blend on low speed until moistened.
4. Add an additional 3-5 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk until you reach the desired consistency.
5. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
6. Set aside ¼ of the mixture to use as the vanilla buttercream.
7. Add the Nutella to the remaining mixture and beat for another 3 minutes.

Cupcake Assembly:

1. Bake chocolate cupcakes and allow them to cool completely.
2. Pipe Nutella into the center of each cupcake, you can also, hollow out the center with apple corer if you don’t have the appropriate piping tip.
3. Prepare the Nutella Buttercream, reserving ¼ of the vanilla buttercream before adding the Nutella.
4. Prepare a piping bag with a round tip, and fill with Nutella buttercream.
5. Prepare a piping bag with a star tip, and fill with vanilla buttercream.
6. Pipe a swirl of Nutella buttercream on each cupcake, and drizzle with melted chocolate.
7. Top with a swirl of vanilla buttercream and a Ferrero Rocher.

I got this recipe from www.thepreppedchef.com

Lemon Cupcake Recipe - Style at home

Cupcakes
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk

Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

Glazed lemon peel
(OPTIONAL)
1 large lemon, washed
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Make the cupcakes. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl and using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter and it looks creamy, about 1 minute. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes. If the eggs are cold, the mixture may look slightly curdled. On low speed and in 3 additions (3 flour, 2 milk), add the flour mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix just until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill each paper liner with 1/4 cup of batter (an ice-cream scoop works well), to about 1/2 inch below the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 23 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove the cupcakes from the pan onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Make the frosting. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter, cream cheese, grated lemon peel, and vanilla until smooth and thoroughly blended, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the powdered sugar, mixing until smooth, about 1 minute, then beat on medium speed for 1 minute to lighten the frosting further. Use a small spatula to spread about 3 tablespoons of frosting over the top of each cupcake.

Make the glazed lemon peel, if desired. Using a vegetable peeler and a slight sawing motion, remove the lemon rind from the lemon in large strips. Trim off any white pith that remains on the rind and cut the rind into matchstick- size strips. Put the strips in a small saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Strain, then rinse the lemon strips with cold water. Heat the water, sugar, and vinegar in the saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the lemon strips. Simmer for 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the strips from the syrup to a small bowl. Cool thoroughly. Arrange several pieces of the glazed peel over the top of each cupcake. The peel can be left in its cooking syrup and stored in the refrigerator for up to one week. The cupcakes can be covered and stored in refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Recipe from: http://www.styleathome.com/food-and-entertaining/recipes/recipe-lemon-cupcakes-with-lemon-cream-cheese-frosting/a/21330/2
Photo: http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/lemon-cupcakes/