FERRERO ROCHER CUPCAKES!!

Happy Sunday everyone, I hope you have had a lovely weekend! I woke up this morning in a baking mood...I think its the weather, dull days are great for baking. I absolutely love baking, I would bake everyday if I had the time and loads of people to bake for! So I thought today I would share with you one of my signature recipes. Ferrero Rocher cupcakes! I came up with recipe on a whim really, as I wanted to make something ferrero rocher themed for for my boyfs 21st birthday a couple of years ago and this is what I came up with. Since then, everyone I have shared them with, or made them for have ABSOLUTELY loved them and they have become one of my classics. 

This recipe makes 12 medium sized cupcakes, but you can make less bigger ones or more smaller ones if you fancy. You will need:

125g baking butter

125g caster sugar

100g self-raising flour

30g coco powder

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon of milk

100g chopped hazelnuts

12 Ferrero Rocher chocolate

1 jar of Nutella

Gold decorations - maybe Dr Oetker gold balls or gold dust (optional)

Step 1: Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius and put your cupcake cases into a cupcake tin. Here I am using a silicone cupcake case which I would massively recommend as its easy to pop them out at the end. 

Step 2: Measure out your butter and caster sugar and beat them together until they are light and fluffy, I usually use an electric mixer but you can just beat together with a wooden spoon.

Step 3: Crack the 2 eggs into the butter/sugar mixture and whisk together lightly. 

Step 4: Measure out the self-raising flour and sieve it into the mixture. It is optional to sieve, but I feel that it makes the mixture lighter and more creamy. Then measure out the coco powder and sieve that into the mixture also. Mix together with your electric mixer on medium or your wooden spoon until it is completely brown and creamy (make sure there are no lumps). Add in a tablespoon of milk and mix through thoroughly.

Step 5: Add in 100g of your hazelnuts and fold them through the mixture until they are spread evenly throughout. At this point it is completely up to you how many grams of hazelnuts you use, I like to be able to taste the hazelnuts and I like it to give the cake a crunch so I add in a whole bag but you can add more or less. 

Step 6: Spoon one tablespoon of your cake mixture into the cupcake cases. Using a teaspoon flatten the cake mixture evenly through the cupcake case. Add one Ferrero Rocher chocolate into the centre of your cake mixture. After this is complete, add another tablespoon of cake mixture on top of the Ferrero Rocher and spread evenly using the back of a teaspoon so that you can't see any of the Ferrero Rocher.

Step 7: Once you have your cupcakes covered evenly (so they look like a normal cupcake and the Ferrero Rocher inside is a surprise), bake in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes. When the time is up, lightly touch the top of the cake to check that its springy. DO NOT USE A KNIFE OR CAKE TESTER AS YOU WILL CUT INTO THE FERRERO ROCHER INSIDE. 

Step 8: Take them out of the cupcake tin and put onto a wire rack to cool. Leave them for a minimum of 30 mins but if you can leave them for longer - preferably an hour or so, so the Nutella frosting doesn't melt when you put it onto the cupcake. 

Step 9: Once cooled its time for the topping. Now you can make a Nutella frosting by adding butter, icing sugar and a bit of cream...but I am absolutely obsessed with Nutella and love it just how it is, so I don't actually do anything to it. I just pipe it on how it is, as it is stiff enough to make a great topping on its own. But its completely up to you. Now you can either pipe the topping on or you can just spread it on with a knife and the back of a teaspoon. 

Step 10: When you've done this, it is completely up to you how you decorate them. I usually like to cover them with some chopped hazelnuts and either some edible gold dust or gold balls but I couldn't get hold of them today so I've just gone with chopped hazelnuts. But do whatever you want, maybe even add some crushed wafer to give it that extra Ferrero Rocher feel!

Step 11: Gobble them down with family and friends with a lovely cup of tea and enjoy!

Much love