Nutella Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream

I've become a Pinterest addict over the past couple of weeks and I keep pinning recipes that I hope to make at some point.  Yesterday, I made two such recipes and I have to say, they turned out pretty well.  This first post is for Nutella cupcakes with a Nutella buttercream.  I adapted the recipe from Your Cup of Cake.

Nutella Cupcakes

Yield: 18-24 cupcakes

Nutella Cakes:

2/3 cup butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ¼ cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

¾ cup sour cream

½ cup Nutella

Nutella Buttercream:

¾ cup Nutella

¼ cup butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line muffin tins with cupcake liners. (I got 18 cupcakes from this recipe, but I am sure you can get 24)


Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  On slow, add eggs one at a time.  Waiting until each one is fully incorporated before adding the next.  Add vanilla.

Nutella & Cookie Dough Cupcakes

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder.


Add ½ of the flour mixture, then add sour cream, then the rest of the flour.  Again, waiting for the flour or sour cream to fully mix in before adding the next.  Finally, add ½ cup of Nutella and gently incorporate. (You kind of want a swirl effect going on)


Fill cupcake liners ¾ full  and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.


Nutella Buttercream: beat Nutella and butter.  Add powdered sugar, vanilla and whipping cream.  Adjust as needed using more powdered to thicken, or more whipping cream to loosen.  (Also, if the batter is too light in color, you can always add some unsweetened cocoa.)  Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and you can use chopped hazelnuts roasted in the oven to top, but I just left them plain on top.