A soft, moist chocolate cupcake topped with a mountain of fluffy, chocolate Nutella buttercream. Chocolate lovers, this cupcake is made for you!
Store-bought frosting?!
Let me just tell you the magical transformation store bought frosting can make! I have a whole blog post linked here for you to check out! But if you're short on time, store-bought frosting is a great alternative!
I wanted to use it in this recipe so you can see that with a few store-bought shortcuts, you can have an incredible looking cupcake with no stress and in basically 30 minutes!
Never be afraid to use a store-bought shortcut!
Why add hot water?
I know the hot water seems like a weird thing to add. Why would hot water be any different from cold water?
I will tell you exactly why! The reason for the hot water is because it helps "shock" the cocoa powder which causes a more chocolatey cake!
Even though the hot water is crucial for these Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes, you can substitute it with coffee to really help the chocolate shine!
Tips for this recipe
- The water doesn't need to be boiling for this recipe. I recommend getting your water to boil before you start making this recipe so the water has time to cool slightly. You don't want to accidentally splash hot, boiling water on you.
- If you don't have a piping bag, you can also use a regular plastic sandwich baggie! OR you could just use a knife to spread the frosting on top!
- If you wanted to make this a SUPER easy recipe, you could use boxed cake mix too! This recipe would come together in a *snap*.
Nutella Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup Flour
- 1 cup Sugar
- 6 tablespoons Cocoa Powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 Egg
- ½ cup Buttermilk
- ¼ cup Oil
- ½ cup Hot Water
Frosting:
- 1 tub Store-Bought Frosting
- ¼ cup Nutella
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Whisk together to fully combine the ingredients and break up any lumps.
- Add in eggs, oil, and buttermilk. Stir until almost combined. There should still be some clumps of flour throughout.
- Then stir in the cup of boiling water. Gently, stir in the water. Be careful! Some water may splash out on you while stirring!
- Line a cupcake dish with liners and fill about ⅔’s of the way full.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Frosting:
- Add Nutella, frosting, and vanilla extract to a bowl
- Whip on high speed for about 2 minutes.
- Place a closed star tip into a piping bag and add in the frosting.
- I think this works best by holding the piping back more vertical versus at a 45-degree angle. Squeeze enough pressure to make a star in the center of the cupcake. Then using the same amount of pressure continue to pull the frosting around the center part swirling upwards to make a mountain.
- Add a pinch of flakey salt and serve!
Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes
I mean, honestly , I think the name sounds tempting enough. But seeing these chocolatey, delicious cupcakes with swirled high with Nutella frosting? It's almost too much for me to handle!
I did say almost though.
Cheers!
-Holly Michelle
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