Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Nutella Buttercream Frosting

TGIF!  I've got the weekend off of work and I'm ready for it!  I'm not so ready to wake up super early tomorrow morning and fun 3.1 miles at 8am.  In the cold.  But, it's my own doing.  I freely signed up for the race knowing what I was getting myself into.  And so if I'm to be punished, so be it.

Bold statements are usually made in our house.  Usually those involving death threats (in a loving manner, of course.  like I tell everyone who looks seemingly shocked after I threaten to kill Andy - this is how we talk, hehe) or, heaven forbid, threats to take away chocolate cupcakes to one's co-workers instead of leaving them at home.  Yes.  Andy looked at me with disgust as I loaded these up last week to take to work.  Hey.  I left him 3.  And he had already eaten 3 the night before too.  So seriously.  He had his fill, it was time to give them to a more deserving crowd. 

I know it took me a while to post these, but hey, I wanted to save the best for the end of the week.  And there's a new poll at the end of this post, so don't forget to vote for my next little treat (I promise it won't take me as long to post this time!).

Obviously, they were still a tad warm when I frosted them - but it's hard to resist =)

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:


1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons espresso powder
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white/clear vanilla extract
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
chopped hazelnuts (optional)

Nutella Buttercream:

Adapted from My Baking Addiction's recipe

1 & 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 13-ounce jar of Nutella
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon white/clear vanilla extract
2-3 cups powdered sugar (original recipe called for a full lb., and by all means, go ahead with that if you'd like, but I just couldn't see using that much sugar)
6-8 tablespoons heavy cream

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line muffin pans with paper liners.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well and set aside.

In a separate, medium-sized bowl, combine the milk, vegetable oil, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar, and mix well.

Slowly add wet mixture to dry ingredients and stir until just incorporated.

Fill muffin liners about halfway to 3/4 full.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove cupcakes from oven and let cool in tin for about 10 minutes.  Remove cupcakes from tin and transfer to a wire rack to let cool to room temperature before frosting.

For the frosting:

This makes a TON of frosting, so you could definitely save some for later or half the recipe if you're not doing too many cupcakes. (I made about 18 cupcakes, and still had a bunch leftover)

In a large bowl, beat butter and Nutella until well combined. 

Slowly add in powdered sugar and continue beating until incorporated.

Add salt, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. Beat on low speed until moistened.  Add heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time, until you reach your preferred consistency. 

Beat frosting on high until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

Fill a piping bag with a little bit of frosting and pierce the cooled cupcakes in the center to fill and then decoratively frost the tops.  Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts, if desired.

Remember those bold statements I was talking about earlier?  Well, Andy mocked me when I told him I was buying Nutella.  He's somewhat sheltered in the Nutella area, and jokingly made faces at me as I put it in our cart at the grocery.  

So to his surprise, he actually loved these cupcakes.  So much so, that he made the boldest statement ever, saying that these were the best cupcakes I'd ever made.  Ever.  So seriously, if Andy can make such a statement, I think these are definitely worth a go.  And as for my coworkers, they loved them too.  So they're definitely a crowd pleaser. =)

And to the poll!  I'm in a vague and random sort of mood, so I'll leave it somewhat open.  I'll definitely need something to replenish me after I'm done with my race tomorrow morning!  Enjoy your weekend guys!

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Okay, big news.  Well.  Many big bits of news.

#1.  We went to check out the Green Building this morning and we love it!  They're internet was offline so Stephanie, their event coordinator, couldn't tell us for sure if they were booked for April 28, 2012, but she was pretty for certain they were open.  So hopefully I'll get an e-mail either later on today or sometime this week saying that it's a-go!  Then it'll be wedding planning madness from there on out!  Well, maybe not.  We're going for a simple, but elegant affair, so I'm trying to tell myself it'll all be fine.

The Green Building - Practically the entire first floor of this building will be our space!  With the white building (their courtyard) reserved for our ceremony!  We are uber excited!

#2.  I'm running a race.  Yup, it's been 2 years since I ran my last race (the Run for the Knobs 4 miler - which I did AWFUL in, let's not even talk about my time), and I know a few people doing the entire Louisville Triple Crown (it sort of marks the start of Derby season, with a 5k, a 10k, and 10 miler in successive weekends).  While I'm not crazy enough to do the entire 3 races, I'm willing to bust out a 5k.  And turns out... I'm extremely out of shape.  My sad pathetic one mile run this past Saturday proved it.  Usually, when I go to the gym, I focus more on strength training and toning up, but apparently I need to focus on my endurance.  I mapped out a 1.15 mile run through my neighborhood on Saturday (the weather was beautiful, it was in the upper 50's) and I thought it was going to be an easy and brisk task.  Nope.  I was dead wrong.  I couldn't even make it to the half way point without stopping to take a walking break.  Although it was in the 50's, it was still cold to me, and I couldn't get my breathing down.  Pathetic, huh?  Well, I have until the 26th to get my butt in gear, so any helpful running tips would be of great appreciation!  My goal is just to finish, without stopping to walk.  Kind of sad that I used to run cross country in high school, but can't even do a half a mile now?!

Gettin' ready that last race - I've noticed I was a lot more in shape then!

I made a bunch of bread dough this past Sunday to use throughout the week, it's definitely more helpful and quicker!  So the two loaves I made this morning kinda came out funny looking, so I thought I'd share! 

I love the "rustic" look

And it's rainy and gray outside today, so the dogs are being kind of lazy.  Little Zappa has been posted up under Andy's desk all morning!  Must be the life, eh?!

Have a great Tuesday guys!