This week, I'm into my second week of solo parenting with my hubby the other side of the world so I didn't need much of an excuse to whip up a batch of cupcakes. Then I found out it was National Cupcake Week and it was just like kizmet!! Hello, Nutella and Almond Cupcakes with Whipped Chocolate Cream Frosting :) Where have you been all my life?!
These lovely cupcakes are light with quite a delicate crumb. I've previously made them in mini cake tins without the wrappers and it would also work well as a larger cake (if the quantities of this recipe were doubled). The cakes themselves are delicious and I made a batch recently for the boys who loved them. They love Nutella. Me, I'm not Nutella's No 1 fan but there are recipes which work so well with the luscious chocolate spread and this is one of them. You can't even really tell that it's Nutella in them, but together with the dark chocolate it's just a winning combo. The addition of almonds and exclusion of flour makes them gluten free and I love building up my collection of free from recipes as you never know when you might need them!
I love that I can make the cupcake batter in a saucepan (it just gives me a childish delight that I don't need to wash up my standing mixer bowl and implements -- must be the amount of washing up I do daily in my kitchen!!) although you do need a second bowl to whip up your egg whites before adding them to the batter.
I decided to top the cupcakes with a rich chocolate cream frosting. I usually make chocolate buttercream with melted chocolate, butter, icing sugar and a little milk. Here, I replaced the melted chocolate with cocoa and added some double cream to give a more whipped consistency. The frosting holds it shape beautifully and you can pipe with a nozzle or spread the frosting with a palette knife (I used the Jem 1M nozzle and a piping bag to create the effect on mine).
I really hope you love these cupcakes as much as we do. Honestly, National Cupcake Week just gave me an excuse to make them to share with you, but once you try them, you won't need much of an excuse to make them time and again :)
Nutella & Almond Cupcakes with Whipped Chocolate Cream Frosting
makes 8 cupcakes
Ingredients
- 90G UNSALTED BUTTER (for the cupcakes) + 220G UNSALTED BUTTER (for the frosting)
- 75G DARK CHOCOLATE (chips or broken into pieces)
- 110G NUTELLA
- 75G LIGHT BROWN SUGAR
- 60G GROUND ALMONDS
- 3 EGGS, SEPARATED
- 280G ICING SUGAR
- 65G COCOA
- 1 TSP VANILLA EXTRACT
- 4 TBSP DOUBLE CREAM
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (fan)
- Line a cupcake tray with 8 cupcake wrappers
- Separate your eggs -- the yolks can go in a cup but put the egg whites in a medium sized bowl ready to beat them later
- Place the butter (90g), dark chocolate, nutella and light brown sugar into a small saucepan and place over a medium heat, stirring until they're all melted and mixed together
- Remove from the heat and stir through the ground almonds
- Add the egg yolks one at a time, stirring after each addition
- Beat the egg whites until they're at stiff peak stage
- Add one third of the egg whites to the chocolate batter and mix well until fully incorporated -- this is to loosen the mixture
- Then with a metal spoon, add the the next third of the egg whites to the chocolate batter and fold in gently
- Repeat with the final third of the egg whites
- Then fill each cupcake paper until it's 3/4 full
- Bake in the oven for around 18 minutes -- you want the top to be set but a slight wobble underneath
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then remove gently to a cooling rack to cool -- NOTE: the cupcakes must be completely cool before you add the frosting otherwise the frosting will melt
- Place the butter (220g, at room temperature) in a standing mixer and beat for around 3-5 minutes
- Sieve in the icing sugar and cocoa powder and add the double cream, then beat together until light and fluffy
- If you find your frosting is too stiff, you can add a little milk to loosen it
- If you add too much and the frosting separates a little, you can rescue it with a little more icing sugar
- Top the cupcakes with the frosting -- I used a piping bag and Jem 1M nozzle but if you don't have this, use whichever nozzle you have or a knife as you prefer
- And enjoy :)