Cupcakes have become my favorite venture lately. My kids are almost sick of them because they are my taste-testers, and I have been experimenting on at least 2 flavors a week. Some are not so good, but I do believe that today's venture were a definite winner! I am a huge fan of doctored box cake mix, but feel free to use your favorite chocolate cake recipe in its place.
Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcake Ingredients:
Devil's Food Cake Mix - Plus the eggs, oil, & water called for on the box.
Bake your cupcakes as per normal, and set out on a cooling rack to cool.
Ganache Filling:
12 oz. heavy cream
1/2 cup Nutella
3.5 ounces of high cocoa content chocolate - I used 90% cocoa for this recipe.
Finely chop chocolate with a serrated knife and set in a medium bowl. Place cream into a small saucepan and warm to ~90 degrees F, add Nutella and whisk until mixture comes to a light boil. Pour immediately over chopped chocolate and let set for one minute. Gently fold cream-chocolate mixture until all chocolate is melted. Do this as gently as possible, as to not incorporate any air into it. Set aside until room temperature, and then set, uncovered, in fridge until pudding consistency.
Once the ganache has cooled, fill your cupcakes. Some people prefer the coring method of removing a chunk of cupcake, filling, then replacing the chunk, but I am very lazy. I just throw the ganache into a piping bag with a small round tip and fill them that way.
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| A little extra ganache is ALWAYS a good thing! |
Hazelnut Buttercream:
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup of vegetable shortening
3 tbsp. Nutella
3 - 3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2 tsps. Hazelnut flavored syrup (like the kind you find in the coffee section)
Enough half and half to thin out your frosting. (Typically 1-3 tbsp.)
6-8 chopped Ferrero Rocher candies (the kind with the hazelnut center.)
Add butter, shortening, & Nutella into your mixing bowl and cream together for several minutes at low-medium speed. Stop every minute to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Once blended, add in sugar one cup at a time, blending completely each time & scraping down sides of the bowl. Keep adding sugar until mixture resembles a stiff buttercream, then add in hazelnut syrup and mix well. If the frosting is too thick to pipe with a piping bag, add a little half and half at a time until it is the right consistency. Frost your filled cupcakes a sprinkle some crushed candies on top. And walla! Chocolate Hazelnut cupcakes! Good luck keeping your family away from these, they are not as rich as you might think, but they are so tasty!!!
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| Finished cupcake. So yummy! |
