4. Hazelnut and Chocolate Cupcakes

For the cupcakes
100g plain flour
2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
A pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter
120ml whole milk
1 egg
120g Nutella

1. Preheat the oven to 170C

2. Put the flour, cocoa powder, caster sugar, baking powder, salt and butter into a free-standing mixer with a paddle attachment or use a handheld electric whisk. Beat on a slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

3. Slowly pour the milk into the flour mixture, beating well until all ingredients are well mixed.

4. Add the egg and beat well, scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

5. Spoon the mixture into paper cases until two thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for about twenty minutes or until the cake bounces back when touched.

6. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

7. When the cupcakes are cold, hollow out a small hole in the centre of each one and fill with Nutella before frosting.

For the hazelnut and chocolate frosting
250g icing sugar, sifted
80g butter at room temperature
2 tablespoons of milk
80g Nutella

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter on a medium to slow speed until the mixture comes together.

2. Turn down to a slower speed and slowluy pour in the milk. Once incorporated turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until light and fluffy, at least five minutes.

3. Stir in the Nutella by hand until evenly mixed and ice the cupcakes.


This recipe comes courtesy of The Hummingbird Bakery's Cupcakes and Muffins cookbook. While making these cupcakes i had a few little alterations, mainly through being short on time or because of what i had to hand! I used semi-skimmed milk which is a marginally healthier change which i imagine didn't change the flavour outcome at all.

When it came to the cases and amount put in i used similar cases to these from Lakeland. To start with i filled them to roughly two thirds as instructed, which was about 64g of mixture. However, these rose far too much and required having their tops chopped off! For the following batches, i only used 40g of mixture which was just about perfect for getting a flat-topped and well-risen cupcake.

I also think i made the holes for the Nutella too big and, in turn, put too much Nutella in...they're quite rich and there only needs to be a bit of Nutella to get the flavour. I'd say a bit less than half a teaspoon is adequate.

Finally, when it came to the frosting i managed to spread out one batch of frosting across two batches of cupcakes. I found that they still had plenty on top, although i guess they lacked the impressive mountain of icing that seems to be the fashion with cupcakes at the moment.

Overall, these cupcakes were fun and quite easy to make. The cupcakes themselves are deliciously light and not too sweet or rich. Then the Nutella and frosting just takes it to the brink, but holds back enough to be a scrumptious treat.

I do need to practice my icing though, i'm a bit sloppy!