Nutella Cupcakes with French Buttercream
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Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 24
 
Delicious chocolate cupcakes with a gooey Nutella center, topped with custardy, rich, smooth Nutella buttercream. It's hard to eat just one!
Ingredients
NUTELLA CUPCAKES
  • 3 eggs, room temperature
  • ½ c oil
  • ¼ c milk
  • ½ c brewed coffee
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 c sour cream
  • 2 c flour
  • 2 c sugar
  • ¾ c unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 13oz/368g jar of Nutella (1 tsp per cupcake, reserve remainder for buttercream)
NUTELLA FRENCH BUTTERCREAM
  • 6 egg yolks
  • ½ c sugar
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 3 sticks (1½ c) butter, room temperature
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • remainder of Nutella
Instructions
NUTELLA CUPCAKES
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pans with liners.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, oil, milk, coffee, vanilla, and sour cream whisking until well combined.
  3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. (If you have a large enough sifter, you can sift directly into the wet ingredients and save yourself some dishes.)
  4. Add the dry mixture to the wet and mix until just combined and no lumps remain. Do not overmix.
  5. Scoop batter into the prepared pans and gently drop a teaspoon of Nutella into the center of each cupcake. You want it to rest on the top, don’t submerge it in the batter.
  6. Bake for 14 – 16 minutes. To test for doneness, be sure to check them off center so as to avoid the Nutella centers.
  7. Cool cupcakes in the pan for about a minute and move them to a covered container. This helps to keep the cupcakes moist or if you prefer, you can move them to a cooling rack.
NUTELLA FRENCH BUTTERCREAM
  1. In a double boiler combine the egg yolks, sugar, and salt using a whisk.
  2. Place the double boiler over a pot of simmering water and continue whisking the egg yolks until all the sugar is dissolved, continue whisking for 10 minutes.
  3. Transfer the egg yolk mixture to a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat on high until the egg yolk mixtures cools and is a very pale yellow color.
  4. Switch to the paddle attachment and cut in the butter one stick at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  5. Add the Nutella, then add the vanilla and mix on high until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  6. Pipe buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
  7. Cupcakes may be kept in a covered container for a couple days, longer if refrigerated. If they are refrigerated be sure to bring to room temperature before serving.
Recipe by The Red Eye Baker at https://www.theredeyebaker.com/2016/07/nutella-cupcakes-french-buttercream/