Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcake

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

• ¼ cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips
• ¼ cup dark cocoa powder
• ¾ cup boiling water
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
• ½ cup chocolate hazelnut spread Nutella
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp heavy cream

Additional Ingredients

• ¾ cup chocolate hazelnut spread Nutella, for filling the cupcakes
• 12 Ferrero Rocher candies

Instruction

Chocolate Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 cupcake liners.
2. In a small bowl or a glass liquid measuring cup, stir together chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and boiling water until the cocoa powder is dissolved. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt.
4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until combined. Add the vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk until combined and smooth.
5. Use a large cookie scoop to portion the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners, approximately ¾ full. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops of the cupcakes bounce back slightly when touched.
6. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream Frosting

1. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add in room temperature butter. Whip the butter for 5 minutes on medium-high speed, scraping down the sides occasionally.
2. Add the powdered sugar and mix on the lowest speed setting until fully combined.
3. Add in chocolate hazelnut spread and continue to mix on low until combined.
4. Continue to mix on low speed and add in vanilla extract and salt. Drizzle in heavy cream. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
5. Turn the mixer to medium speed and whip for an additional 2-3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally to ensure the frosting is well mixed.

Assembling the Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes

1. Core the center of the cooled chocolate cupcakes with an apple corer. Plunge the corer ⅔ of the way into the cupcakes, twist, and remove. Use a piping bag filled with chocolate hazelnut spread to fill the center of the cupcakes.
2. Use a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M piping tip to pipe the chocolate hazelnut buttercream frosting onto the cupcakes. Top each cupcake with a Ferrero Rocher candy.