Nutella Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

I love nutella. I don't know if i love it because in my mind it is the chocolate version of peanut butter or because it is just so good. Nutella goes good with anything.. toast, fruit, peanut butter, the possibilities are endless. 

I was home for memorial day weekend and wanted to bake something. It also happened to be the same weekend that all of the local high schools were graduating. Since I was searching for an excuse to bake something, I made these as graduation cupcakes.

I put marshmallows in the batter of some of the cupcakes just because I was curious to see how they would bake. 

Unfrosted cupcakes always look so sad... unless they're funfetti. 

They were cheered up soon. I stuffed the cupcakes with the frosting as well. Just because you can never have too much good frosting.

This was the first time I attempted to make buttermilk to use in my recipe. Its really easy to do, all you need is a cup of milk and some vinegar or lemon juice.

I found this beginner cake decorating kit in my house. I attempted to use it to frost the cupcakes. Key word: attempted. The decorating tips worked really well to help stuff the cupcakes with frosting. Once I changed tips and tried the use it to decorate the tops of the cupcakes, the frosting bag sprung a leak and everything went down hill from there. So I resorted to the never fail plan of just using a knife.

I tried to get fancy and decorate some with mini chocolate chips. I definitely need to work on my decorating skills...

But I figure if it is tasty enough, people won't care what it looks like and will just want to eat another.

This would be my best friend enjoying the cupcakes. They were actually made for her boyfriend.

Recipe:

For the cupcakes:

1 box chocolate cake mix

1 C milk ( equal to amount of water on box)

1/3 C vegetable oil ( or amount on box)

3 eggs ( or amount on box)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp cocoa powder

For the frosting:

1 C nutella
2-3 tbsp milk
2 1/4 C powdered sugar
1 C butter (softened)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 350. Line a cupcake pan. 

1. Make the cupcakes. Add the lemon juice to the milk and let it sit for 5 minutes. This is a way to make buttermilk. 

2. Add the milk, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, and cake mix to a bowl and combine. Stir until their are no lumps.

3. Pour the batter into cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean

4. Make the frosting. Combine the softened butter and nutella. 

5. Add the vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of milk to the nutella mixture. 

6. Add the powdered sugar next, the amount you add will depend on how thick you want your frosting. I would start by adding 1 1/2 cups, then 1/4 a cup at a time after that until the desired consistency is met.  

7. Add more milk to thin out the frosting. The milk will also help the frosting get the creamy taste. 

8. Once the cupcakes are cool, frost and decorate away! 

Makes 24 cupcakes

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Chocolate Cinnamon S'mores Cupcakes

Chocolate Cinnamon S'mores Cupcakes

All the fun of a s'mores wrapped up in a cupcake. The base is a chocolate cinnamon batter, topped with a marshmallow frosting and sprinkled with graham crackers.

The idea for these came when I was sitting in the kitchen with two of my friends. One of them, Caila, really wanted to bake something that night. After going through a list of about a million possibilities, we decided on these. 

The process of making these started at her house. Half of the ingredients were there, while the other half was at my house. I put all of the necessary dry ingredients in a plastic bag to bring to my house. I'm not sure what inspired me to put cinnamon in the batter but for some reason I was compelled it. Im glad I did. I almost want to call these random cupcakes, because the process of baking them was very, well, random. 

To really get the graham cracker taste, we put graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of the cupcake liners and on top of the batter before baking. They were pretty enough at this point to just dig in, but you can't forget the frosting!

  

                                      

At first we weren't sure how to go about making the frosting. This isn't one of those light airy frostings because it is supposed to resemble a melted marshmallow. So of course the base of the frosting is melted marshmallows. 

Im not usually a cupcake kind of girl. If I'm craving sweets I'd rather grab a cookie or brownie instead. However the added cinnamon in the chocolate cupcake really makes these good. At first I was only going to eat half of one... but it was so good I couldn't stop. 

Here is Caila enjoying the creation..

Since there was a bunch of people at the house hovering around like vultures, we shared with them. 

I think they liked them.

Recipe:

Cupcakes:

1 1/4 C flour 

1/2 C granulated sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 C water

1/4 C oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg 

1 package graham crackers or graham cracker crumbs

Frosting:

2 C powdered sugar

1 C marshmallows

4-5 tablespoons milk

1/4 C butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cupcake sheet with cupcake liners. 

1. Mix all of the cupcakes ingredients together in a bowl except for the graham crackers 

2. Place the graham cracker crumbs at the bottom of the cupcake liners then fill them 1/2-3/4 of the wall full. Add more crumbs to the top of the batter

3. Bake for 20 min. 

5. Prepare the frosting. Microwave the butter and the marshmallows together until melted. Watch carefully so the marshmallows do not explode.

6. Add in the vanilla extract

7. Gradually add in the powdered sugar until the frosting is at the desired consistency. If it gets to thick add milk, too thin add more powdered sugar. 

8. Once the cupcakes are cool, frost and sprinkle more graham cracker crumbs on top to garnish. 

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Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

These cupcakes are so easy to make and oh so good. The frosting is fluffy and peanut buttery and the cupcakes stayed incredibly moist and delicious. The cupcake itself is light and far from that dense consistency you find with muffins. You can tell the difference between the homemade cupcake and a box mix. Lets be honest, the cupcake recipe is so easy there is no excuse to use a box mix anyways. 

They only take 20 min to bake and don't require butter!

Bake them, let them cool, then its time to frost!

The frosting is easy to whip up, just a few ingredients and a quick mix. 

They looked so naked with just the peanut butter frosting on them...

So of course I added some chocolate chips. I will say I need to work on my decorating skills...

The frosting is creamy and light and made with just the right amount of peanut butter. It is perfect and as a bonus it only takes 2 minutes to make.  

These cupcakes are definitely a crowd pleaser. They got taken to the urgent care where my mom works and were gone very quickly. If a group of doctors loved them, then you will too. 

If you don't believe me how good these are, you can just ask these people...

My favorite doctor got to try one too! 

Recipe:

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 C flour

1 C sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 C cocoa powder

1 C water 1/2 C vegetable oil 

1 tsp vinegar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Frosting:

1/4 C butter (softened)

1/2 C smooth peanut butter

1 1/4 C powdered sugar (or more)

1-3 tbsp milk (only if needed to thin frosting)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Mix all of the cupcake ingredients together in a bowl until smooth. No need to worry about order or using multiple bowls. Fill lined cupcake pan 1/2-3/4 of the way full. 

Bake for 20 min. Makes 20 cupcakes. 

While cupcakes cool, make the frosting. Beat together the butter and peanut butter then add the sugar. If the frosting is to thick add in milk. Once the cupcakes are cool (it is important that they are completely cool otherwise the frosting turns into a runny mess) just spread on the frosting and garnish with peanut butter chips and mini chocolate chips! 

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