You like cupcakes and you like them with frosting but you feel you don’t have the time, the patience or the skill to create beautifully frosted cupcakes. The answer? Self-frosting cupcakes. The ones I made, based on a recipe from Baking Bites, were frosted with Nutella. But I bet you can make an equally delicious batch using local peanut butter.
What is Nutella? It’s a hazelnut and chocolate spread. Kinda pricey because it’s imported and that’s why I mentioned peanut butter. If you want to make these babies using peanut butter, choose the kind that gets really soft and almost pourable at room temperature.
Can the same technique be used using melted chocolate? I did that once (see the photo) but the chocolate hardened as it cooled. The cupcakes were great while warm but not after they had cooled.
Now, how to make these self-frosting Nutella cupcakes.
The following ingredients will yield 9 large or 12 medium-sized cupcakes. It all depends on the size of you pan.
Ingredients for self-frosting Nutella cupcakes:
140 g. of butter (that’s a little less than 2/3 cup), softened to room temperature
3/4 c. white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. of vanilla
1-3/4 c. of all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
9-12 (depending on the size of your cupcake pan) heaping tsps. of Nutella
Preheat the oven to 325oF.
First, you need to have all your ingredients at room temperature, including the eggs and the Nutella.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Place the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl. With a wire whisk or a mixer, beat the butter and sugar together. Just keep beating until the mixture is light and creamy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
Add the flour mixture and mix. The mixture may appear lumpy at first…
… but keep right on mixing until you have a smooth batter. Note that the batter will be heavy and hardly pourable. Stir in the vanilla.
Meanwhile, line the muffin pan with paper cups. Use an ice cream scoop (very practical) to fill the pans until about 3/4 full.
Top with a heaping teaspoonful of Nutella. Take a toothpick, dip into the unbaked cupcake until the tip hits the bottom of the pan.
Using a scooping motion, swirl the Nutella with the batter so that some of the batter comes up on top of the Nutella.
Bake in a preheated 325oF oven for exactly 20 minutes.
Serve warm or cooled.
Edited on April 21, 2010.
Great idea!!! i have my nutella spread here so i can make my first attempt to do cupcakes
thanks again for sharing ur wonderful and very easy recipes!! more powers!!! more yummy recipes!!
Love the step-by-step pictures. Parang kakayanin ko ito!
my pogiBoy would love this!
Puno na yung binder ko nang kapi-print nang recipes mo. When is the book coming out? Or is out already and I missed it? waahhh
Meron na sa Tastebook. But I’m not so happy about it because the shipping costs more than the book if you’re ordering from the Philippines.
I googled and went to their site but I can’t seem to find your book? Pa-send naman nang link to it. May friend ako sa US pabili na lang ako when she comes over this year.
Sayang I thought you’d publish locally. I was already planning a trip to National Bookstore hehe
Auee, try this link. Someone told me it was out of print and I found that weird kasi nga print on demand yan. That’s the reason why I removed the banner link on the sidebar.
TY.
Tama ka, mahal nga shipping. Pagdating dito nyan may added tax pa ko.
I will send it to my friend hehe
Hi Ate Connie,
I had to give up using Nutella due to it’s partially hydrogenated oil content. It’s addictive and too yummy to keep around the house. I will try the peanut butter version.
I get the Trader Joe’s or off-brands that don’t have hydrogenated oils, but taste the same or better! They’re out there. Just check the labels
Thanks for Trader Joe suggestion. Didn’t know they had one. Will pick one up next time I head down to Seattle.
It’s been about 3 years ago when I had the last jar of Nutella. I checked out their site and they are now 0 trans fat. Wohoo! I may bake these babies soon afterall
.
http://www.nutellausa.com/faqs.htm
i love your site…i love nutella cupcake,i make it easier by using yellowcake mix.
bonjour connnie ! i have recently tried your nutella cupcakes and they were very good. though my cupcakes were less prettier than yours ha ha ha ! i had visited also the site where you got this nutella cupcake recipe and honestly your cupcakes are more gorgeous than hers ! one of these days , will try the custard cake.
Oh, that is so heartwarming. Two years ago, I was such a bad baker that I rarely posted cake and cookie recipes. You inspire me to learn more. Thanks.
hi! may i call u ate connie? i’ve been visiting ur site everyday since i came across of your corn muffin a la kenny..im not a cook nor know how to bake before bt ur recipes are easy to follow..oh i tried this recipe and i quote my husband “masarap pro it’s not enticing” ksi some of the cupcakes sunk in the middle..heheh oh well atleast masarap!
…thanks for another yummy recipe and looking forward to a new one soon..
hi connie,
it’s my first time to post here but i always visit your site. it’s a big help for me who always go by the book when it comes to cooking or anything to do with the kitchen.
i just tried this nutella cupcake recipe of yours, and it turned out pretty good.
sorry if this is an idiot question… for left overs, how do we maintain the crusty outside, soft inside texture/taste.. do we store it inside the ref then reheat when it’s time to eat again?
You can’t reheat them because they will dry up. They really are best eaten within a day in which case no refrigeration is necessary. Best to bake a small batch that can consumed quickly.
I tried this recipe. It turned out well tastewise
Now for the aesthetics – I think I put too much nutella and did not swirl properly because mine had uneven top. Parts with so much nutella did not rise. I have to try this again 
Hi ate connie,
can i use vanilla flavor instead of vanilla extract?
thanks!
Yes.
Hi Connie, I stumbled upon your recipe and your site and it went straight to my bookmarks. I’d like to bake this for some friends who will be staying over, but I wonder, can I prepare the batter the day before and bake the next morning? If so, how should I keep it? in the fridge or outside? Thanks for you fantastic site and ideas.
That I wouldn’t know. I know that some recipes call for the batter to “rest” but I’m not sure about this one.
Thanks, i guess i’ll try…and see how they turn out…
hi ms. connie,
my cupcakes were not as pretty as yours though. i’d definitely make it again soon as we have an abundance of nutella at home (thanks to my bro-in-law who sends care packages from Australia regularly). I posted about it on my blog 
thanks for the recipe. i just baked a batch of these super yummy cupcakes and they were a hit!
I’m almost finished making these and I am a little confused why I went to the store and bout Vanilla, being that their are no instructions in which it is put to use.
Oops. Add it last minute. Let me edit the recipe.
Hi Ms. Connie, I have tried this recipe. it is sooooooooo delicious thank you….
is salted butter okay to use in this recipe?
if not, is hard margarine okay to use?
Salted butter is not recommended for baking.
What is “hard margarine”?
hi miss connie. can’t help but keep on baking self-fosting nutella cupckes. this is my 3rd time to bake this recipe. Bagong bake palang ubos na, naubos na ng anak ko (2 y.o) at hubby. sobrang sarap……….. we are located here in nEW zEALAND… Thank you and God bless… Thank you talaga miss connie…
I made it and it is so heavenly especially with coffee
I have another bottle nearing best before and will surely make another batch 
by the way sinabay ko cya with onion bread and ambango ng onion bred good thing d nahawa sa amoy 
Good for you that you have an extra jar of Nutella. Rarely happens in our house as the Nutella gets eaten off the jar.
Finally made my own version! Thanks so much for this wonderful idea. Newbies at baking will love this.
Hi. May I ask is it 1 or 1/3 cup of plain flour, or 1 & 1/3 cup of plain flour?
It’s 1-3/4 or, spelled out, one and three-fourths. A dash is different from a slash.
Connie , this must be good i will try to bake this recipe .. I haven’t try Nutella , quite expensise.
I tried this last night. Unfortunately, they turned out dense and dry. I was hoping for fluffy and moist cakes. I wonder where I went wrong? What is the effect of salted butter on cakes?
I just went to the baking bites site and I found this recipe there. I now understand why they turned out dense and dry, they’re supposed to be pound like cakes. Thanks for the recipe. I guess I’ll search for a more moist cupcake recipe and just add nutella on top. My daughter loves nutella that’s why I tried this recipe.
Salted butter affects the taste.
This is by far your most wonderful cupcake recipe.