Moist red velvet cake piled high with rich and creamy Nutella buttercream make these Red Velvet Nutella Cupcakes!
This week is an interesting one in my house because I have a house guest. We’re hosting a recently-turned-20-year-old college student who is traveling Europe for the summer between his two semesters of NYU in Paris and Prague. Jack is the son of a friend of mine from college. A growing boy. A boy with a bottomless pit of a stomach.
I have a teenage girl, a baby and a soldier who watches his diet. Jack has given me a bit of Culture. Shock.
Jack is 6’3″ and about a buck twenty… wet. And he can eat! The first night he was here we went out for ice cream and he put away a double scoop on a cone and then a 3 scoop sundae of ice cream. Yeah – I don’t know where he puts it all. And I’m totally jealous. haha
I promised his Mom I would bake for him while he’s here. Of course. hehe He requested red velvet… but since I had just made red velvet cupcakes I asked him for another flavor. Chocolate he says.
Hmmmm…
What could I possibly do different with red velvet or chocolate?
OH! Jack loves Nutella too!
Done! Red Velvet Nutella Cupcakes is what I’ll make! Moist red velvet cake topped with a rich Nutella buttercream. YES!
To make these cupcakes extra special, I used my brand-new not-even-on-the-market-yet grease proof liners from Sweets & Treats Boutique! Only myself and one other blogger have these polka dot liners! So a big thanks to Shannon for letting me have an exclusive first look at these sweet liners!
Don’t you just love the red velvet cupcakes in the Sweets & Treats Boutique liners? Polka dots just make everything more fun!
Shannon sent me the polka dot liners in 4 c0lors – black, red, green and blue. And I can’t wait for them to be available in a rainbow of colors! LOVE them!
Enjoy!
Red Velvet Nutella Cupcakes
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cupcakes
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 Tbsp dark chocolate cocoa powder (I used HERSHEYS)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup milk mixed with 2 tsp white vinegar - let stand for 5 minutes before using
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp liquid red food coloring
Nutella Buttercream
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 13oz jar of Nutella
- 1lb powdered sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with polka dot liners from Sweets & Treats Boutique .
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and oil. Mix in the eggs one at a time. Add the milk/vinegar, food coloring and vanilla and whisk to combine.
- Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the wet. Using a whisk, stir until combined and there are no more lumps of flour... about 10 strokes.
- Fill each liner at least 2/3 full with batter.
- Bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Nutella Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and Nutella.
- Add the sugar and mix on high until incorporated.
- Add the vanilla, salt and milk and beat for 3-4 minutes on high.
Assembly
- Using a Wilton 1M tip, pipe swirls of frosting onto each cupcake.
- Top with a chocolate chip.
Looks so delicious! anyway, why did you add vinegar in the batter? what’s it for?
Red Velvet cupcakes always have an addition of vinegar for acidity. š
What can you substitute for nutella?
Any hazelnut spread!
I love your combo of r Nutella frosting and red velvet cake,it sounds very delicious.I’ve featured this recipe on my blog, hoping that you don’t mind, but if you do, please contact me and I’ll remove it. All the best.
For the Nutella Buttercream, what kind of milk do we use and is vanilla extract the same as vanilla essence?
Java Cupcakes, i’m an enthusiastic baker and really enjoyed reading your Red Velvet and Nutella cupcake blog. I was looking for new ideas and cakes that are more challenging to make for my brothers birthday last week and when i came across your blog i got really excited. You cleaver combination of my two favourite things Red Velvet cake and Nutella frosting was delightful and enjoyed by everyone. Overall i really loved your site and recipe however the actual cupcake itself wasn’t as fluffy as i had hoped for. I followed the recipe closely but is there anything that you could recommend doing differently to help me out?
Thank you š
Hi Jesse – Since I wasn’t there when you made the cupcakes… I’m not sure what went wrong. Possibly your baking powder wasn’t fresh? Or may you over worked the batter? Or maybe the oven temperature wasn’t correct? There are just so many things that could go wrong… it’s hard to say! Please, try again and check the things I mentioned above! š
Dear Betsy,
Love the Red Velvet Nutella Cupcake, looks so decadent. Going to try it out this weekend with my daughter.
Ratna! Please, let me know how they turn out for you! I hope you like these cupcakes!
I have been making this since covid hit and I absolutely love it! I was actually using that powdered sugar on accident (the one people use on waffles for example lol) for the cupcake sugar, but all the sweetness was in the frosting and it worked out for the perfectly. Anyway, love this recipe!