My mom recently gave me a bottle of hazelnut creamer which I find every excuse to use. The other morning, while pouring some of the creamer into my coffee, I had a thought. What if I could make a Nutella-like frosting by making a chocolate ganache with hazelnut creamer instead of heavy cream?
I haven’t had much success frosting with regular Nutella because of the consistency. The closest I’ve done is a Nutella whipped cream frosting. It’s really good, but I loved the idea of a chocolate hazelnut ganache idea even better.
I made the chocolate hazelnut ganache using the hazelnut creamer, but the hazelnut taste was too light and was overwhelmed by the chocolate. Then I got my hands on hazelnut extract. And it provided the extra oomph I needed. A few drops and it made the frosting taste much more Nutella-like.
I love the way ganache frosting pipes out, so smooth and glossy. The Nutella cupcakes are based on the Nutella bundt cake I previously made. The cakes came out light and Nutella-y. The frosting made it even better. You can check out all my Nutella recipes here.
If you like cupcakes, you might like my Cookies and Cream Cupcakes, Chocolate Cupcakes and Ice Cream Cupcakes, too.
Nutella Cupcakes with Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup Nutella
Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache Frosting
- 4 cups chopped chocolate
- 1 cup minus 4 tbsp of hazelnut creamer use dry rather than liquid measuring cup
- 2 tsp hazelnut extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cupcake trays with cupcake liners.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with paddle attachment on medium-high speed until smooth about 2 minutes. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the Nutella and mix until Nutella is thoroughly mixed. Add half the flour mixture and half the milk and mix. Add in remaining flour mixture and milk and mix until batter is smooth.
- Pour batter into cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes.
- While cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. Place chopped chocolate in a glass bowl. Heat hazelnut cream in the microwave for about 50-60 seconds so it is piping hot/boiling and pour onto chocolate. Stir with a whisk until smooth. Add in hazelnut extract and mix.
- Place ganache into the fridge for about 10-15 minutes so that it cools, but has not yet hardened. Place ganache into a piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes.
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
The recipe looked promising but the cupcakes bake-up strangely. Either their not done enough (still super gooey inside) or their super well-done (hard-on-top, etc.). I tried several baking times and could never get a happy medium. :/
hmm, that is a strange result you are having. could it be the position in the oven they are in? I usually recommend baking on the top rack, with the rack places near the middle of the oven. if you bake too close to the top, they tend to overcook fast and if you bake on the bottom level, they tend not to cook enough
Sadly I will have to agree with Marissa. Cupcakes where very disappointing 🙁 all we could taste was sugar (even tho I added some of the extract to the batter too) and the texture was not my favorite either, kind of dry and crumbly 🙁 I have to say, I’ve tried tons of Nutella recepies and I cant ever taste the nutella!! So frustrating. The ganache in the other hand turned out pretty good, I added 8oz of cream chesse to help with the texture and the color and taste was great! Thanks for the creamer idea! Works great 🙂
Sorry to hear that. I agree a lot of Nutella recipes it’s hard to taste the Nutella. But I’ve always felt that you can definitely taste the Nutella in this.
I refrigerated the ganache frosting because I’m waiting to pipe it on for a wedding in a couple days. It solidified…. will it go back to normal at room temp?
ps: the recipe is awesome 🙂
Yes it should! If yo let I sit out and you stir it around I should be back to normal again
Can’t wait to make these and bring them to my friends for the first day of school. c: Hopefully they will turn out! Thanks for the recipe.
Good luck!
I read this recipe, and was super excited to try them out. I did the recipe exactly how you said, and when i tried the cupcake, i was VERY disappointed. I tasted nothing but sugar. Not even a hint of Nutella, chocolate, or any other flavor, even though i used almost an entire $6.99 jar of Nutella. What a waste! This makes me sad 🙁
I’m sorry you feel that way. I’ve made this recipe a few times and love it. I actually think it’s not that sweet. And with a whole entire cup of Nutella, I’m not sure how you can not taste any hint of chocolate at all.
What kind of chocolate do you use for the frosting?
Semisweet. Though I’m sure you can play around and use dark or other types.
Isn’t 4 tablespoons the same as 1/4 cup?
Well, I wanted to be clear here because I didn’t use a liquid measuring cup for measuring the liquid creamer, whereas I normally do. And so the amount will be a little different and I just took out four tablespoons of liquid out of the dry measuring cup after it was measured out.
Thank you so much!!! Ill put special atention next time im baking!! your blog rocks btw!!!
Thank you!
Hey i just tried this cupcakes and they looked beautifull while they where in the oven, but when i took them out they just collapsed im soo sad. Can you give me any idea of what could i made wrong? or maybe any suggestions for next time i try this?
Even collapsed they tasded sooo good!!
It sounds like either the batter was too wet or perhaps wasn’t done baking. I would suggest maybe a little less Nutella, or baking them a little longer, and also making sure you whip the butter sugar mixture long enough before adding the rest of the ingredients.
A Ganache using coffee creamer! OMG that’s genius! I never try frosting recipes because I don’t want to buy heavy cream or whipping cream. But this, I can’t wait to try! 🙂
Yeah I didn’t know if it would work, but it did!
This is such a great idea! I definitely wish I had one in front of me right now =)
Yummy!! You could publish an entire book with Nutella recipes!! 😛
I love this, have a nice colour, soooo dark. And they looks irressistible 😉
Haha, I wish! maybe one day
That was a great idea, it looks amazing too! can’t wait to try this out 🙂
I hope you like it!
You are one serious chocolate/hazelnut fan 🙂 Your readers benefit greatly from this fact!
Hehe. It’s a sickness. =)