nutella cupcake

Ingredients 
1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon coffee granules dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.   Line 24 muffin wells with paper liners.
Beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla and instant coffee mixture until well combined.
Distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells. (I like to use an ice cream scoop)
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched. Allow cupcakes to cool inside muffin tins for about 10 minutes.
Remove cupcakes from muffin tins and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare your frosting.

Nutella Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 13-ounce jar of Nutella
pinch of fine grain sea salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1.5 pounds confectioners’ sugar
6-8 tablespoons milk

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and shortening until well combined, thick and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Slowly add in confectioner’s sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.
Add salt, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 3-5 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Set aside 1/4 of the mixture to use as the vanilla buttercream.  Add the Nutella to the remaining mixture and beat for another 3 minutes.

How to Assemble:

Additional Ingredients:
24 Ferrero Rocher candies
melted chocolate for drizzling

1. Bake chocolate cupcakes and allow them to cool completely.
2. Hollow out each cupcake I used a cupcake corer, but an apple corer would work just as well.
3. Fill a piping bag with a 13 oz. jar of Nutella and pipe the Nutella into the center of each cupcake. 
4. Prepare the Nutella Buttercream, reserving 1/4 of the vanilla buttercream before adding the Nutella. 
5. Prepare a piping bag with a round tip, and fill with Nutella buttercream. 
6. Prepare a piping bag with a star tip, and fill with vanilla buttercream. 
7. Pipe a swirl of Nutella buttercream on each cupcake, and drizzle with melted chocolate.
8. Top with a swirl of vanilla buttercream and a Ferrero Rocher.