Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes

These cupcakes have been on my radar for a while now, and when I found myself with half a jar of Nutella in the pantry and no immediate use for it (aside from eating it by the spoonful), I decided it was time to make them. I’m only sorry I waited so long, because these cupcakes are delicious – every bit as good as you’d expect a yellow cupcake swirled with Nutella to be.

The idea is that the Nutella is swirled into the batter before baking, creating a “frosting” for the cupcakes. But I gotta admit that a cupcake without frosting on top of it is a muffin to me, so I spread some additional Nutella on top of mine. It made it taste that much more delicious.

Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes
from Baking Bites

10 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Approximately 1/3 cup Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

3. Fill each muffin liner with batter about 3/4 full. Top each cake with 1 1/2 teaspoons Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the Nutella.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

One year ago: Fruit and yogurt muffins, still an oft-requested recipe in our house.