Back in May I had the pleasure of meeting my friend Amy from One Artsy Mama. An occasion like this naturally calls for cupcakes, so I whipped up a batch of Nutella Cupcakes with French Buttercream. 😉
In almost every interaction Amy and I have had prior to meeting, she always talked about my Nutella cupcakes and that when we meet I HAD to make them. Of course I couldn’t refuse. Only when I made them this time, I made them with a French buttercream. Wait! Where ya going? Don’t worry… it’s totally doable if you use the Swiss method.
All that means is that you use a double boiler to heat the eggs yolks up while you whisk them. Another bonus is that this process pasteurizes the egg yolks too. In the traditional way you heat up sugar, making a syrup basically. Heating sugar can be tricky… you can burn it fairly easily, if you mix it it can form crystals. It also doesn’t get quite hot enough to pasteurize the eggs so you have to spend extra money on pasteurized eggs (if you’re a stickler for that kind of stuff).
“The best cupcake EVER!’
Sure this type of buttercream does take extra effort, but it is SO. Worth. It! You don’t have to take my word for it… Amy said it was “the best cupcake EVER!” Seriously, she made me blush. LOL
One of the great things about blogging is that you make many great connections with other bloggers. It was so wonderful to have the opportunity to hang out with Amy! The only bummer was that it rained and it was just for half a day. I definitely look forward to our next encounter and perhaps next time she won’t have to give over a dozen cupcakes away to the hotel staff. 😉
Grab your favorite people and enjoy some Nutella Cupcakes with French Buttercream this weekend!
xox- Roxana
BTW How cute are these pics?!! Amy took them for me (Thanks Amy!!) and she also did the hand lettering. She is a hand lettering goddess! It’s mesmerizing to watch. Check out her blog for some tutorials.
- 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)
- 6 egg yolks
- ½ c sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 sticks (1½ c) butter, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- remainder of Nutella
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pans with liners.
- In a large bowl, combine the eggs, oil, milk, coffee, vanilla, and sour cream whisking until well combined.
- 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.)
- Add the dry mixture to the wet and mix until just combined and no lumps remain. Do not overmix.
- 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.
- Bake for 14 – 16 minutes. To test for doneness, be sure to check them off center so as to avoid the Nutella centers.
- 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.
- In a double boiler combine the egg yolks, sugar, and salt using a whisk.
- 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.
- 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.
- Switch to the paddle attachment and cut in the butter one stick at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the Nutella, then add the vanilla and mix on high until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Pipe buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
- 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.
[…] If you would like to try making traditional French buttercream, check out this post and for Swiss meringue buttercream check out this post (see the mint chocolate chip buttercream […]