It took me a while to think of the perfect cupcake recipe to use for my first entry, so when I stumbled upon a nutella cream cheese cupcake recipe on Pinterest (follow me! http://pinterest.com/cmn617/) I knew what I had to do...
For many of my posts you'll notice that I'm cheating and using Betty Crocker's Gluten Free box mixes. I'm choosing to do this so that novice bakers as well as any non-GF bakers, can easily follow along and adapt their own versions of my cupcakes. Also I LOVE the Betty Crocker mixes. I usually don't like the texture of most GF flours, but Betty got this one right. Also, the company uses a special dedicated factory to produce these mixes and I'm totally happy to support them.
Another thing you'll notice is that almost all of my cupcake recipes will use Jello Instant Fat-Free/Sugar-Free pudding in a flavor that compliments the cupcake. I do this because I've found through trial and error that adding this ingredient gives the cupcakes a moister texture that more closely resembles wheat-based mixes. My parents, who can be quite picky, don't even notice the difference in my baking when I use the pudding.
Ok! So now that all of that is out of the way it's time for my first experience baking for you guys! This first time was a little rough... so don't expect that it's a sign of things to come! I had to do my shopping at home (in Louisa; I'm used to shopping for supplies in Richmond now so I wasn't prepared for the lack of options). Betty Crocker's GF line wasn't available at the grocery store so I went to Walmart, which only had the Betty Crocker brownie mix. I decided you really can't go wrong with brownies, so I went with this mix. Mom also assured me that there were plenty of eggs at home. She was right, but they were all just past their expiration date... so I had to substitute unsweetened applesause (1 small "lunchbox" container) for the eggs. With those tiny substitutions aside, I was ready to bake!
After mixing everything together, I allowed the mixture to sit for an hour to allow the brown sugar to completely disolve before baking. If you don't completely disolve the sugar, your cupcakes will come out crunchy. If you use honey, which I would advise, you can skip this step.
As they were baking, I was so surprised to see the cupcakes looked like cupcakes! But, as soon as I took them out of the oven, the middles fell (as brownies are want to do...) so I had to think of a fast way to "fill" the middles.
My solution was to use the chocolate bar I had intended for decoration to fill the dips in the cupcakes while they were still warm. The chocolate bars melted then cooled with the cupcakes. The end result was a hardned chocolate center. Yum!
Once the cupcakes had cooled completely (I allowed them to sit on the serving plate for 1 hour) I piped the icing through a sandwich bag (another minor quickie substitution). The icing didn't look gourmet, but it still tasted just as great! The final result was AMAZING!
I'm lucky I was able to get a quick picture of these before they disappeared! Using the brownie batter turned out to be uniquely yummy in its own way. The way that I baked the brownies (by the cupcake directions) caused them to be perfect brownies on the outside, but made a warm fudgey center (not raw or uncooked, just super moist and gooey). They were VERYYYYY good. I had promised some cupcakes to a few friends but, sadly, those poor cupcakes never stood a shot. They were gone by breakfast the next morning.
Nutella Cream Cheese Cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup honey or light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground coffee (Chocolate Hazelnut flavor)
2 tablespoons milk (or more depending on how dry the mix looks)
1/4 cup Nutella
2 large eggs
1package Betty Crocker GF Chocolate cake mix
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup honey or light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground coffee (Chocolate Hazelnut flavor)
2 tablespoons milk (or more depending on how dry the mix looks)
1/4 cup Nutella
2 large eggs
1package Betty Crocker GF Chocolate cake mix
1 package Fat-Free/Sugar-Free Jello Instant Pudding (Cheesecake flavor)
1 package/bar chocolate hazelnut candy (your preference)
Prepare the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Place 12 muffin liners inside a muffin pan and lightly brush with melted butter (or cooking spray).
In an electric mixer, whip the butter and honey (brown sugar) until fluffy at medium speed, 2-3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the coffee, milk and Nutella. Still on low, add the eggs, one at time, scraping the bowl after each addition. In a separate bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes (both dry/powdered) and slowly fold this in with the butter - Nutella mixture until the mixture is smooth. Divide evenly among the muffin liners and bake 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting or enjoy warm without.
Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 oz Nutella
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Sift the powdered sugar over the bowl and whisk for a few seconds. Add the Nutella and mix until completely incorporated.
For plain cream cheese frosting:
Remove the Nutella and add 2 tablespoons butter to make it 1/4 cup total and 1/4 cup powdered sugar to make it 1/2 cup total. Same process.
Remove the Nutella and add 2 tablespoons butter to make it 1/4 cup total and 1/4 cup powdered sugar to make it 1/2 cup total. Same process.
For decoration:
Depending on the chocolate candy/bar you chose, either place the candy pieces on top of the cupcake for decoration, or crush the candy and sprinkle on top of the icing.
(Recipe adapted from http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2011/02/recipe-gluten-free-nutella-cupcakes.html)
