Double Chocolate Chunk Cupcake Recipe with Nutella Swirl Frosting

I had a friend coming over for dinner, probably one of my biggest baking fans, so I couldn’t not make cupcakes for the evening, in fact it is practically implied with the dinner invitation. I always like to test out a new recipe when I can so from the content of ‘what I had left in the cupboard’ I bring you Milk and White Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes with Nutella Swirl Frosting:

Ingredients

• 100g of Sugar
• 150g of Butter
• 1tsp of Baking Powder
• 1/2tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda
• 100g of Flour
• 2 Eggs
• 50g of White Chocolate Chunks
• 50g of Milk Chocolate Chunks
• 100g of Icing Sugar
• 3tbsp of Nutella

Milk and White Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes with Nutella Swirl Frosting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan) and put your cupcake cases into the tin for later
2. Start by creaming the sugar and 100g of the butter together in a bowl
3. Once smooth sieve in the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and flour and mix until crumbly
4. Then add the eggs and whisk until your batter is smooth
5. Finally add the chocolate chunks and fold so they are distributed through the batter
6. Evenly pour the cake mix into your cupcake cases
7. Place into the oven and bake for 11-13 minutes (you will know when they are ready by lightly pushing the top and it springing back)
8. Allow to cool
9. Once cool you can start on the icing, cream the icing sugar and remaining butter into a bowl until smooth
10. Then add the nutella but do not stir
11. Use the frosting to decorate the tops of your cupcakes and the nutella will swirl in (as in the picture)
12. Then enjoy!

Note: This recipe makes 12 cupcakes

These Milk and White Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes with Nutella Swirl Frosting were basically as yummy as they sound, I mean there isn’t anything not to like right? I especially loved how they looked in my new cupcakes cases, however, I found a downside…. you cannot get into them to eat the cake easily, annoying but a challenge we had no problem beating!

My chocolate chunks had also sunk a little so they were mostly towards the bottom, does anyone have tips for preventing this?

Banana Cupcake Recipe

So TGBBO Week 5: Free From, quite a challenge as I have never really experimented with substitute ingredients before, but my first thought when watching was ‘why is nobody using banana’ so I thought this is what I would do. I have made

Free From Sugar Banana Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

and here is how:

Ingredients

• 150g of Sugar
• 4tbsp of Honey
• 1tsp of Baking Powder
• 1/2tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda
• 150g of Flour
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Banana
• 2tbsp of Nutella

Picture

Method

1. Start by preheating the oven to 180C (fan) and putting your cupcakes cases into the tin
2. Then mix the sugar and the honey together
3. Sieve in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in to the mixture and combine thoroughly
4. Add the eggs and mix until your cake batter is smooth
5. Finally mash your banana and stir in
6. The pour evenly into your cupcake cases
7. Bake in the oven for 14-15 minutes (I found that the cakes went a little darker than normal)
8. Allow to cool
9. Once cool you can prepare the frosting by combining the remaining butter and nutella
10. Whisk until smooth and use a palette knife or icing bag to decorate your cupcakes
11. Then enjoy!

Note: This recipe makes 12 cupcakes

They actually came out really well and I feel like I proved to myself that I am actually a good baker and can experiment without completely screwing things up, they tasted pretty much similar to normal banana cupcakes with a honey aroma so I take  TGBBO Week 5: Free From as a success!

Do you have any ‘free from’ recipes, if so, please share them below!

So next weeks task is Pastry probably the one I am dreading most, wish me luck…

Nutella Cupcakes

That’s right, another cupcake recipe! I really did bake a lot of cupcakes that weekend, this recipe was inspired by looking around my kitchen thinking ‘what else could be a good frosting flavour?’ and I am so glad that I had the inspiration for these! So here is my recipe for Nutella Cupcakes;

Ingredients

• 100g of Plain Flour
• 100g of Sugar
• 1tsp of Baking Powder
• 1/2tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda
• Pinch of Salt
• 200g of Butter
• 2 Eggs
• 2tsp of Vanilla Extract
• 125g of Icing Sugar
• 2 tbsp of Nutella
• 12 Whole Walnuts

Nutella Cupcakes (right of the picture)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Prepare your bun tin with your paper cake cases for later
3. Sift the sugar into a bowl and add 100g of the butter then cream together until smooth
4. In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt together
5. Then slowly add the dry mixture to the creamed butter mix until crumbly
6. Add the 2 eggs and whisk until smooth
7. Finally add the vanilla extract and mix in thoroughly
8. Pour the mixture evenly into the cake cases
9. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes
10. Once cooked allow to cool thoroughly
11. Once cool sift the icing sugar into a bowl
12. Then add the final 100g of butter and cream until smooth
13. Spoon in the nutella and combine thoroughly
14. Use a pallet knife to decorate the top of the cupcakes with the frosting
15. Finally add a walnut to each to decorate
16. Then enjoy!

These Nutella Cupcakes really were so yummy, if not a little bit sickly (a lot sickly) but for all the right reasons, you only need to ask my friend who made the most inappropriate noises whilst eating.  For me, anything with a walnut on top tastes great too!

Sometimes the best ideas come from a little bit of improvisation, what are your best improvised recipes?