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Nutella Cupcakes: Cupcakes with Triple Cream Cheese Frosting
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Remember those Cupcakes with Nutella, Almond Butter, and Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting I teased you with in this week’s kitchen tip (related Kitchen Tip: Two Tone Frosting for Cupcakes)? Here they are!
I’m so sorry you had to wait, but you needed to know about piping with multiple frosting flavors onto cupcakes before you could make this recipe. And all good things are worth the wait. The recipe wouldn’t be the same without all three cream cheese flavors swirled together on top.
I have been thinking about this flavor combination ever since making sandwiches for the kids when I decided to double dip my knife because I was in a hurry. Then afterward I remember looking at the almond butter and Nutella together on the knife and thinking how good those two must taste together.
So I did what any self respecting person would do. I licked it right off the butter knife. BOY was it good!
After that lick I knew that I had to come up with a recipe to feature these two delicious nut butters together. So I thought, and thought and then one day while contemplating Logan’s Birthday Cupcakes it came to me. And I realized that if I could so easily swirl two different colors of frosting together, why the heck not two (or more) flavors of frosting?
Originally I had planned to make batches of nutella and almond butter buttercream frosting, but I decided that it would look more interesting with white swirled in with the two shades of brown. Not to mention that I had this gigantic Costco sized thing of cream cheese sitting in the fridge that I thought I better use.
I can’t even begin to describe how amazing these nutella cupcakes tasted. If it sounds overwhelming, please know that it’s really not very hard at all once you get the different frosting flavors made. The actual piping is actually quite simple using the tutorial I wrote on piping multicolored (or flavored) frosting, just head over to that Kitchen Tip for the instructions.
I am glad that I made these just for fun and not for the birthday boy. While he is a huge fan of chocolate and nutella, he was so confused by the combination of the frosting. I think is poor little palate couldn’t quite figure out what he was tasting. After a half of a cupcake he gave up! Secretly, I thought: more Nutella Cupcakes for me!
Chocolate Cupcakes with Nutella, Almond Butter, and Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
cupcakes adapted from Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes
frosting adapted from My Baking AddictionYield: 3 dozen cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes:
2/3 cup Nutella
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups buttermilkVanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
5 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract*Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting
6 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Nutella
1 pound confectioners’ sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
black and brown food coloring, optionalAlmond Butter/Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
6 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Almond Butter or Peanut Butter
1 pound confectioners’ sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted
1 teaspoons vanilla extract*clear vanilla extract is used to maintain a purer white color. If this doesn't matter to you, then you may use regular vanilla extract.
Directions:
For the Cupcakes
Line 3 dozen muffin cups with cupcake liners or grease using non-stick spray. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar for 5 minutes, until it is pale and thick. Add in the butter. Mix until combined. Add in the nutella. Now, add in the buttermilk. Beat until well incorporated.
Add the flour mixture in 3 increments and beat until smooth. Divide batter into the cupcake tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over-bake. Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese in the large mixing bowl of a stand mixture. Add the vanilla. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar as you continue to cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, adding milk or additional sugar (if needed) to reach desired consistency.Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese in the large mixing bowl of a stand mixture. Add the nutella and vanilla and continue to cream. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar as you continue to cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, adding milk or additional sugar (if needed) to reach desired consistency. For a darker brown add 1 drop brown and 1 drop black food coloring.Almond Butter or Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese in the large mixing bowl of a stand mixture. Add the almond butter or peanut butter and vanilla and continue to cream. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar as you continue to cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, adding milk or additional sugar (if needed) to reach desired consistency.To Decorate
Please see Kitchen Tip: Two Tone Frosting for Cupcakes for detailed instructions on how to pipe three different frosting flavors simultaneously.
About the Author:
Katie’s lifelong interest in cooking good food has shown her that part of the goodness in life is enjoying delicious food with friends and family. She is: Writer. Photographer. Recipe Developer. Website Founder. Lover of all things good in life. Wife & Mom. A mix of great recipes, family memories, and yummy photography is what Katie serves up each week at GoodLife Eats™. Katie resides in Colorado with her husband and two children.
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Hello! I'm Katie Goodman, author of GoodLife Eats Etc. where I share what I find in my life. A mix of great recipes, family memories, adventures, good reads, and anything else that I love is what you will discover here.
Oh thanks for the recipe! I ve been dreaming of it seen you post about it in fb!! Sandy
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Oh my word ~ these look wonderful!
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Love Nutella! My kids would love this cupcake!
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These are just gorgeous, Katie! I’m drooling at the thought of them.
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Does the leftover frosting keep well in the fridge? For how long?
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Katie replied: — March 17th, 2011 @ 8:33 AM
I didn’t have a significant amount of frosting leftover to be worth saving, so I tossed it. I’m sure it would keep for several days.
I’ve been dreaming about this since your post on the piping. They are amazing!
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I love that the frosting is a swirl of 2 fabulous flavors! A shame the little guy couldn’t get into it… and I don’t blame you for thinking “more for me!”
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These are beautiful and I’m sure they taste just as good!
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Oh man, these look ridiculous!
I am so making them, although mine won’t be as gorgeous as yours are! And those pictures?! Stunning! You’re extremely talented!
Cannot wait to try out this recipe.
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So very pretty, Katie! I’m not even much of a sweet tooth, but I’m tempted by the layers of flavors and textures you have going on. Your photos are lovely.
Cheers – Karen
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Yay, now I can try to make these. I’ve been thinking about them ever since you posted the tutorial on the frosting!
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I can’t get over how amazing these look! And I”m sure they’re just as delicious
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Beautiful, Katie! And the flavor combo sounds delicious!
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Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Great work!
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Oh la la! On my list to try!
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Just reading about these is getting me mentally tasting all those luscious flavors!
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What brand of almond butter do you use?
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Katie, I love these photos so much! Just gorgeous. Of course the cupcakes look incredible too!
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Wow…..its looks beautiful and too tempting!
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OMG, triple cream cheese frosting?! These look amazing!
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Great work, looks delicious and cant live without trying it.
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I would like to request these for breakfast this morning. Seriously, what time should I come over for a box?
PS-Great tips that I will be testing very soon.
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Hello,
I’m very happy because I found your blog and I’m loving it, so clssy, fresh, excellent photography, very good taste. Congratulations!
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What kind/sizes of bags did you use for the frosting? They look so tall and skinny..Just wanting to know what sizes to buy- because I used ziplock…and it didn’t work.
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Katie replied: — March 19th, 2011 @ 9:50 AM
For bags I like CIA Masters Collection 12 Inch Disposable Pastry Bags or Wilton Disposable 12 Inch Decorating Bags, Pack Of 24. I buy them on Amazon but you can get the Wilton bags at craft stores like Michaels too.
pretty, pretty, pretty. and I love all of these flavors together
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Wonderful! I first tried Nutella when I lived in Germany & I love it. Thank you for the great recipe!
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Love this icing technique, can’t wait to give it a try!
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What beautiful cupcakes. I could eat an entire jar of Nutella myself and have maybe, just maybe dipped my Nutella filled spoon into the peanut butter jar beforehand before sneakily eating the whole thing in a dark kitchen. Maybe.
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Love the triple frosting… Yum!
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WOW I love Nutella so much and this recipe is new for me, I can’t wait to try it it looks great
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These look beyond amazing! I am in love with that frosting.
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Has anyone made the cupcakes? How do they taste? Yes they look aazing.
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I just got hip to Nutella and came across your blog with this recipe. I tried the nutella frosting and paired it with my own cream cheese frosting but held back on the almond butter because I thought it’ll be a bit too rich with my chocolate cupcakes. But it was delicious! I couldn’t stop eating spoonfuls of it.
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um creepy, I did this exact same cupcake right down to the sprinkles and foil liners several months back. great minds think alike? I use raw cacao powder and add spirulina to my batter. it tastes great with the nutella.
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I was looking for recipes to use up my almond butter so this is perfect for the almond butter cream cheese frosting. I would love to do all 3 frostings but it’s a bit too high profile for me!
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Thank you so much! I just made these for my best friends birthday tomorrow and they’re incredible! They’re so fluffy!
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If you only wanted to use the nutella cream cheese frosting for a dozen cupcakes, how would you cut it? Thanks a bunch! can’t wait to make this for hubby’s b-day this week
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Katie replied: — May 16th, 2011 @ 2:10 PM
I just want to make sure I’m understanding the question right so I don’t tell you the wrong thing:
You want to make 1 dozen cupcakes, but you only want the nutella frosting, not the other flavors?
Since the cupcake recipe makes 3 doz and the frosting is for that amount, but there are 3 types of frosting in this case, you wouldn’t need to do anything to the nutella frosting. Just use the amounts listed. You’re dividing the frosting in 1/3 but you’re only using 1/3 of the flavors, so just use the full amount for whichever flavor you want. Does that make sense?
I just made them today! And they are truly fabulous. I’m at a family member’s house and they happen to have a fancy kitchen maid stand-up mixer, so of course I decided to use that. It really was a lot easier and helped me make sure I didn’t overbeat them. The texture was very good, a bit dry, but thats just what I sensed. The flavor was too die for.
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These were absolutely amazing! So easy to make and very tasty! I didn’t attempt the frosting swirl though; I was too intimidated! I made a nutella cream cheese frosting to go with it and went together really well.
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Hi Katie, thanks so much for your amazing recipes. I love this triple colored frosting. My daughter is severely allergic to nuts and i was hoping you could suggest a substitute for the Nutella that would still give that chocolaty color?
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Katie replied: — August 19th, 2011 @ 11:15 AM
Hi! My son also likes this I.M. Healthy Chocolate Soy Nut Butter, Chocolate. Is she allergic to soy? It is Peanut, Nut, Gluten and Dairy Free. They have plain and chocolate. Another good product is SunButter Creamy Sunflower Seed Spread to replace Peanut or Almond Butter. Let me know if you have any other questions!
I am very familiar with SunButter and use it. I have never heard of IM Soy Nut Butter, so I will have to see if I can find that one here. She is not allergic to soy, but she is to Peanuts and all Tree Nuts:( Would love to know if you’ve made any “SunButter” cupcakes (instead of pb cupcakes) with success.
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Katie replied: — August 22nd, 2011 @ 1:16 PM
The person to ask about SunButter is Tracy from Sugarcrafter. Her site is: http://sugarcrafter.net/ She is the one who told me about SunButter because she is allergic to multiple nuts. Good luck!
HI,
Great recipe only thing was I thought the nutella flavor in the cake was underwhelming. I usually add coffee to my chocolate cake recipe and less coco poweder. I was thinking about making it more nutella-y by borrowing ideas from you. Maybe I will add nutella and maybe even change the normal brewed coffee to hazelnut coffee. What do you think?
Also this frosting is unreal! love all of them!!
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jen replied: — September 8th, 2011 @ 7:41 PM
OH- just had an idea and carved out a bit from the middle of the cupcake and stuffed it with nutella- PERFECT.
Oh my goodness!! Nutella cupcakes… I know I must make these for one of my besties b-day for sure!
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I tried this and I made a boo boo. instead of using unsweetened cocoa powder I used dutch processed. so the cake was extremely dark chocolate and powdery in taste. Very dry too. I assume since I used the dutch processed it overwhelmed the nutella taste. the nutella frosting was very yummy but found it lost the nutella taste when I swirled with the cream cheese frosting. has anyone else had that problem?
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I tried making the nutella creamcheese frosting for my son’s birthday, but the frosting was just too soft and didn’t hold shape and it was difficult to use. There wasn’t much nutella flavor either, but it was still tasty. Any tips on how to fix this?
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Katie replied: — November 2nd, 2011 @ 2:09 PM
Butter temperature can play a large role in the softness of the frosting. You want the butter to be just room temperature. Overmixing can be another problem. If the frosting turns out too soft accidentally, whether by overmixing or too soft butter, just refrigerate in a bowl before piping to thicken it up.
Katie replied: — November 2nd, 2011 @ 2:10 PM
Sorry, missed your question about the Nutella flavor. You can try experimenting with adding more Nutella to the frosting, but adding too much may increase problems with the frosting softness.
I just made the cupcakes (haven’t started the icing yet), but my question is the amount of cocoa correct? It just seems like a lot of cocoa and while they turned out moist and good form, they taste more like chocolate rather than Nutella. Just curious if I did something wrong or whether yours tasted the same. Thanks again for the beautiful cupcake recipe!
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Katie replied: — November 2nd, 2011 @ 2:06 PM
It is correct. You can always try adding more nutella, mostly I just added the nutella to the cupcake because the recipe usually calls for melted chocolate and I did not have any at the time. I thought the triple cream cheese icing was the star of the dessert.
I just made these and they’re so moist and yummy:) Thanks for sharing! Taking these to work to share with my co-workers…for the icing I’m using the nutella and peanut butter cream cheese icings:):)
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I wanted to make this recipe for my best friend’s birthday and I was wondering how the measuring proportions would change if I only wanted to make a dozen of cupcakes instead of 3 dozen?
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Katie replied: — November 24th, 2011 @ 7:22 AM
Divide the entire recipe by 3 to make 1 doz instead of 3 doz.
I love how your cupcakes turned out, but I only wanted to make 1 dozen of them and only with the nutella cream cheese frosting. Do you have a recipe for only 1 dozen cupcakes and nutella cream cheese frosting?
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Katie replied: — December 1st, 2011 @ 5:08 PM
Since the cupcake recipe makes 3 doz and the frosting is for that amount, but there are 3 types of frosting in this case, you wouldn’t need to do anything to the nutella frosting. Just use the amounts listed and ignore the other flavors. You’re dividing the frosting in 1/3 but you’re only using 1/3 of the flavors, so just use the full amount for whichever flavor you want. For making only 1 dozen cupcakes, divide the ingredients in the cupcakes all by three. 3 dozen divided by 3 = 1 dozen.
These look delicious and I’m making them right now with my sister. We are also adding a pumpkin pie filling after we core them
Also, the mix of three frostings is such a great idea, it looks beautiful! Thanks for the recipe!
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Cannot wait to try these this weekend!!! Perfect timing for a family birthday celebration!
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I found this recipe yesterday morning and I made the cupcakes in the evening, that’s how irresistible these were to me. And they were fantastic. I made some adjustments to the recipe for the frosting, though. I only put 1 1/4 cups of the required sugar, and a little more Nutella to because with the initial 1/2 cup it didn’t taste Nutella-y enough.
I am curious about the mixing method, since it’s not in the usual butter-sugar-eggs sequence. What difference does that make to the batter, if any? I did notice that my batter was softer and frosting-like compared to other cake batters I make, but I didn’t notice any difference in the texture of the cooked cake. Although I think I overbaked it a teeny, tiny bit.
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Katie replied: — March 13th, 2012 @ 9:37 PM
I don’t know that it makes a difference, but I adapted this recipe off of another chocolate cupcake recipe that I make and those were the instructions from the original. I haven’t tried it in the usual sequence to compare. Glad you enjoyed!
Hi Katie ,
I live in the u k, and wonder if you could tell me what cake flour is ?
We have all purpose (plain) flour, but I have not found cake flour any where.
Also would you be able to convert the measurements to uk grams or ounces, as I would really like to try this recipie, but do not have cups.
Many thanks
Jude
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Katie replied: — May 2nd, 2012 @ 9:25 AM
Hi Jude, here is some information for you.
What is cake flour: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake
How to make your own cake flour: http://www.goodlifeeats.com/2011/09/kitchen-tip-diy-homemade-cake-flour.html
How to convert cups to grams: http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking
Hi Katie,
May I check with you what is the actual measurement of a cup that you have used? In ml?
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Katie replied: — July 26th, 2012 @ 6:31 PM
Try googling “how many ml in a cup.” I use measurements in cups, teaspoons, tablespoons, ounces, and pounds living in the USA and am not familiar with other forms of measurements.
These sound delicious! I can’t wait to try them. I love Nutella.
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Hi I was just wondering if there is any modifications for high altitude?
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Katie replied: — October 31st, 2012 @ 10:10 AM
This recipe has worked fine for me at around 5,000 ft altitude so I have not made any specific modifications to it. However, should you need to modify due to being at a higher altitude or encountering problems, here are my trouble shooting tips for cupcakes at high altitude: http://www.goodlifeeats.com/2011/09/high-altitude-baking-tips-for-cupcakes.html
I made these tonight for a friend’s birthday. I’ve never swirled frosting before but your tips were super helpful and I am so excited take these to the party! Thank you!
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