Thank you for having a birthday....

...so I had an excuse to make these Nutella cupcakes. This recipe comes from Carmen Cooks. They looked to die for. So when a co-workers birthday popped up (on Cinco de Mayo, fun!), I jumped at the chance to bring in a treat for the office. They ended up being so easy and so good. The cake was moist and delicious, and how can you go wrong adding Nutella?

It starts with a yellow cake batter (mmmm... cake batter)


Divide the batter into 12 cupcake things Add a dollop of Nutella to each
Swirl the cake batter and Nutella. Note to self (and others): it's not easy to swirl thick cupcake batter with even thicker Nutella in paper liners.
Try to resist shoving one in your mouth right when the pan comes out of the oven. It's hard, they smell so good!
The best part is the fact that they are already frosted. Super easy!
See? Swirling issues. The Nutella should have been swirled throughout the entire cupcake instead of blobbed in the center. Whatever, they were still awesome.
Nutella Frosted Cupcakes
From Carmen Cooks

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup, 12 oz) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour (sifted? I never sift flour)
1/4 tsp salt (I used salted butter, so I omitted the extra salt)
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners (I highly recommend NOT using paper liners. Really, don't do it) or grease the cups with some butter. Alternatively, butter an 8-inch round cake pan.

Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth (It won't. It looks pretty gross at this point. But don't you worry... it will be irresistible soon). Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full (or pour all the batter into the cake pan). The batter will be thick. Top each cake with a dollop (I used about 2 tsp per cupcake and about 1/3 cup dolloped in tablespoon measures for the cake round) of Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the Nutella (This is where you will regret using paper liners. That toothpick is no match for thick batter being held in flimsy paper).

Bake cupcakes for about 20 minutes and the round cake for 25-30.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 12 cupcakes or 1 8-inch round cake.