The Weekender ~ "Rotcher" Cupcakes

Hello lovelies, welcome to the first installment of 'The Weekender', another new weekly feature on the blog! Each week I'll post a recipe(either my own or something fabulous I've stumbled across), a trick or tutorial, or  a party DIY! I'm really excited about this one, I think it's going to be tons of fun- and I'll be sharing secret cupcake recipes for the first time!

This week, my first recipe post is dedicated to one of my best friends in the whole world, Shakey. Well, it's not so much dedicated to him as a person, as it is dedicated to him making an idiot of himself and me dying of laughter at his expense. That's what friends are for right?

Shakey being really excited about panda-
shaped bread at Bread Talk in Singapore!

"Rotcher" cupcakes are actually just Chocolate Hazelnut cupcakes...but for the rest of my life I will call that flavour Rotcher, because of one afternoon in Singapore. Shakey was trying ice cream in a shop and had asked for some of the kind labeled "rocher"(as in ferrero rocher, which was blatantly obvious to everyone but Shakey at this point). After telling me loudly that he was "just going to try this rotcher for something different", he takes a bite, makes a face, and shouts across the store, "THIS ROTCHER TASTES LIKE NUTELLA." It took a minute for me to realize what he was talking about before I started laughing like a crazy person...Meanwhile, the poor girl behind the counter is just staring at us with her mouth slightly open, trying to figure out what's going on right in front of her. After typing this out I realize that it's probably not actually that funny to anyone else, but honestly it's one of my favourite moments of all time. There is nothing in this world quite like laughing til you cry/stop breathing, and the best people in your life are always the ones that make it happen. So, in honour of laughing like an idiot about absolutely nothing, with people that mean absolutely everything, my Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes have been renamed "Rotcher" Cupcakes (and here is the recipe!)

My 'Rotcher' Cupcakes were part of a cupcake photo shoot last year...
they scrub up pretty well!

"Rotcher"(Nutella) Cupcakes

People will be hovering at this point waiting to lick the spoon.

Cake:
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup nutella
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 cup flaked hazelnuts, optional

Frosting:
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup nutella
4-5 cups sifted icing sugar
pinch salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix together dry ingredients and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and nutella and mix until smooth.
3. Add a third of the dry ingredients to the batter, mixing just until you can no longer see most of the flour.

Drinking wine is essential to successful baking

4. Mix in half the milk, and another third of the dry mixture, and repeat. You should have added three lots of dry and two lots of milk, starting and ending with dry ingredients. Just mix your batter until it's pretty much uniform in colour and texture, and then STOP STIRRING. Seriously. Put down the spoon, step away from the mixer. Ain't nobody got time for chewy cupcakes...don't overmix your batter!
5. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3rds full- you should get 12-15 cupcakes.

Freshly baked and smelling like heaven

6. Bake the cupcakes for 17-20 minutes in the centre of the oven. Open the door at 17 minutes and lightly touch the top of a cupcake. If it springs back, they're done. If you leave a dent, they need a few more minutes. When the cakes are baked,  let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer them to  a wire cooling rack.
7. For the frosting, whip the butter and nutella until combined, and then gradually add the icing sugar while mixing. Whip the whole lot for a few minutes, add the salt to taste, and then eat a big spoonful, because seriously this stuff is amazing and you deserve it!
8. Decorate however you like- this frosting is so decadent that it looks amazing just swirled onto the cupcakes with a teaspoon- add a few hazelnut flakes and you've got some show-stopping rotcher goodness!