When the holiday season rolls around, I’m guaranteed to find Ferrero Rochers under the Christmas tree each year. They are not for me. They are for everybody… or at least anybody who remembers that my mother always wraps a few containers of these delectable chocolate morsels for the usual holiday sweet tooth craving.
To me, Ferrero Rochers are a Christmas thing. Always have been.
But here’s the thing about Ferrero Rochers… they are made available all year round.
Which leads me to this cupcake recipe. I’ve been meaning to whip up a Ferrero Rocher inspired cupcake for so long but it was always pushed to the back of my mind because it wasn’t Christmas. However, when Christmas rolled around, I was too preoccupied with the usual “eating of actual Ferrero Rochers” that I ended up forgetting.
Until one unsuspecting day in June, I decided I wanted to experiment with cupcake flavours again. Ferrero Rocher was one of many tackled. As with most of my chocolate-based cupcakes, I start with a faithful foundation (the Hershey’s cake recipe). From there? Anarchy.
Did I say anarchy? I meant chocolate and hazelnutty goodness.
Ingredients
| Cake 2 cups sugar 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour ¾ cup cocoa powder 1½ tsp. baking powder 1½ tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 2 eggs ¾ cup Nutella 1 cup milk ½ cup vegetable oil 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 cup boiling water 36 whole hazelnuts |
Nutella Frosting 1 cup butter; softened 2 cups icing sugar ¾ cup Nutella 3-4 tbsp. heavy cream 2 tsp. vanilla |
Chocolate Coating 1 cup melted milk chocolate 1-2 tbsp. shortening ½ cup hazelnuts; chopped |
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 3 dozen mini cupcake tins which is what I ended up making).
- Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, Nutella, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat on medium speed, scraping sides of the bowl. Stir in boiling water (batter will thin).
- Divide batter among cupcake liners and place one whole hazelnut in the centre of each. Bake for 15-18 minutes.
- Prepare the frosting: Beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add icing sugar and continue to beat at medium speed. Beat in Nutella. Add heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time until you get a nice creamy, yet firm texture. You might not need all 4 tbsps.
- Once cupcakes are cooled, pipe a generous dollop of Nutella frosting on each so that it appears like a round bulb on top. Place in the fridge to firm up the frosting a bit.
- Make the chocolate coating: Place the milk chocolate in a heatproof bowl and microwave until melted (using 30-40 second interval, stirring each time). Stir in the shortening until smooth.
- ASSEMBLE!
Gently dip the top of the cupcake into the chocolate and immediately sprinkle cropped hazelnut on top.
Done!
sweetmivi.com 
Looks yummy