White Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes

White chocolate cake filled with white chocolate ganache topped with whipped Nutella buttercream make these cupcakes the perfect cupcake to satisfy your sweet tooth!

A  couple months ago, my husband Dave transitioned into the Warrior Transition Unit – Europe.  The WTU is a special unit in the Army that specializes in helping injured soldiers get well or transition out of the Army.   After 11 years serving on active duty, 2 deployments to Iraq and 1 to Afghanistan and countless hours of training, Dave suffers from combat related PTSD, TBI (traumatic brain injury), anxiety, depression, nightmares, sleepless nights… just to name a few.

So when Dave asked if I would make cupcakes for him to bring to his combat stress support group, well… of course I said yes.  Anything I can do to help bring a little bit of joy, comfort and happiness to these injured soldiers I’m more than happy to do.

Dave’s two favorite flavors are white chocolate and Nutella so what better opportunity to make a cupcake filled with his favorites.  Thus this White Chocolate Nutella Cupcake was born!

The base of this cupcake starts with a white chocolate cake that has chunks of white chocolate folded into the batter.  Filling the cake is a simple to make, yet rich and delicious white chocolate ganache.  Topping these cupcakes is a whipped Nutella buttercream, white chocolate shavings and a hazelnut wafer cookie.

The best part about these cupcakes though… Dave frosted and decorated every last one of them.   He’s pretty darn good with a piping bag!

I think my favorite bite of these cupcakes was one where I got a bit of the white chocolate ganache and a bit of the Nutella buttercream.  Creamy, delicious goodness.

When Dave brought them to his group and the soldiers could hardly believe Dave helped make them… let alone frost them.   Needless to say, they were a huge hit and everyone loved them.

Enjoy!

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White Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes

Yield: 2 dozen

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 18 minutes

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Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 3 cups cake flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 14 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, deseeded
• 6 egg whites
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 100g white chocolate, roughly chopped

Filling

• 200g heavy cream
• 200g white chocolate

Frosting

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 heaping cup Nutella
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• ½ cup heavy cream
• pinch of salt
• White chocolate, for shavings
• Hazelnut wafer cookies

Instructions

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for 2 minutes. Add the vanilla bean seeds and mix until combined
4. In another bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk and vanilla. Pour this in 4-5 parts into the egg/butter mixture mixing well after each addition.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix only until just combined. Make sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated but do not overmix the batter.
6. Fold the chopped chocolate into the batter.
7. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full.
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. After the cupcakes have cooled, core the center out of each cupcake.

Filling

1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a small glass bowl.
2. Heat the cream until just bubbling, but do not boil.
3. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for a few minutes. Stir gently with a rubber spatula until all the chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool.
4. Once cooled, fill the hole of each cupcake with ganache.

Frosting

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the Nutella and butter for 2-3 minutes. You want the color to lighten by a few shades.
2. Add the powdered sugar, scrape the sides of the bowl and mix until combined.
3. Pour in the heavy cream and beat until smooth. Scrape the bowl again.
4. Mix in the salt.
5. Beat on high for 3-4 minutes or until the buttercream has become light and fluffy.
6. Fill a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M piping tip with buttercream and pipe swirls of frosting on to each cupcake.
7. Top with shaved pieces of white chocolate and a hazelnut wafer cookie.

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