Nutella Cupcakes

Today is my nephew’s birthday. He is all the way across the ocean in India. We decided to make some cupcakes and celebrate his birthday from far off J

When he visited us in Dubai, he went gaga over Nutella! That inspired me to bake Nutella Cupcakes and maybe try and honour his hero Ben 10.

To a person who is new to decorating cakes and with a creative handicap, this proved to be the greatest challenge of all. Not baking, but getting it to say Ben 10 – somehow…

Thanks to +Jose Pratheesh they did not come out looking like I microwaved a Martian on my cupcakes J Now I’m waiting for the little guy’s verdict after he looks at the photos (Sad that he cannot taste it though)

What I used:

2 Tablespoons Unsalted butter

1/2 cup Nutella spread

2 Eggs

1cup Self raising flour

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla bean paste

¼ teaspoon almond essence (if using hazelnuts)

1/8 cup sugar (Use half brown and half white for extra chewiness but I didn’t care much for it)

What I did:

1.       Line cupcake tray with paper or liners and set aside.

2.       Pre-heat oven to 180C or 350 F. Beat the butter until creamy.

3.       Add Vanilla and Almond essences and mix well.

4.       Whisk in the sugar until well combined.

5.       Throw in the eggs and whisk away!.

6.       Work up a sweat and mix the nutella in - remember the calories coming at you!

7.       Now, just fold the flour and nuts in. DO NOT over mix at this stage

8.       Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and bake till tooth pick comes out wet but with gooey crumbs (15 mins in my oven, but start checking after 12 mins)

9.       Cool completely on a wire rack

10.   Spread a sinfully delicious Nutella Ganache (Recipe coming up next) and enjoy!

It is best paired with Coffee sans sugar and thoughts of hitting the treadmill for an extra 30mins this week!

P.S: I left my cupcakes in too long because I was on the phone, so some of them came out with a slightly tough crust. But with the ganache and the chewy soft inside, I hardly noticed the crust J