Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream

I have been in a really weird procrastinating mood.  I have items on my baking list that I have planned to make for a couple weeks now.  For some reason I keep pushing them back and back, and you know what, I still haven’t made them!  I don’t know what’s come over me.  Maybe it was Thanksgiving and all the baking and cooking that comes among with it.  Or maybe it’s the planning and preparing for Christmas season that has gotten me to procrastinate all my other plans.

Well, enough is enough, I’m baking those items today!  

Even with all the procrastinating that happens, it doesn’t mean I don’t bake.  I just don’t bake the items on my “Things I want to bake” list.  What happens is I see an item I want to bake and I bake it.  Instead of looking over my list and then bake from that, I just bake from what I just found in a book, magazine, or online (or thought up in my head).  These Vanilla Bean Buttermilk and Nutella Cupcakes are an outcome of when that happens.

I was looking through one of my favorite cake books, Sky High: Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes, when I saw this amazing looking Vanilla Buttermilk Cake.  I knew I had to make it right then.  So I did.  Except I made a few changes and made them into cupcakes topped with a Nutella Buttercream.

The result was an extremely fluffy and springy cupcake that rose so much that the tops of the cupcakes ran over.  The taste was incredible, the texture was incredible, but they rose wayyyy to much.  So I scratched that batch and made a whole new one.  Don’t worry, I didn’t waste those cupcakes; I’m turning the crumbs into cake lollipops!

I tweaked the recipe by lowering the baking powder, and only filled the cupcake liners half way.  The outcome was a perfectly risen cupcake!  The flavor and texture stayed the same, with the look being more appealing.

I topped the cupcakes with a nutella buttercream, which added a nice slightly chocolaty touch.  Then I sprinkled some white chocolate sprinkles on top to add a bit of crunch.

This cupcake is definitely one that I going to bake much much more!  It’s a great fluffy base that will go with every flavor.  I can’t wait to play around with it more and add Christmas flavors, like peppermint, marshmallow, cranberry, and pistachio.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream

For Printable Recipe, Click here!

 

Makes: About 28 cupcakes

Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Cupcakes

4 Eggs

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste (or the seeds of 1 Vanilla Bean Pod, or 2 teaspoons of Pure Vanilla Extract)

1 ¼ cups Buttermilk

3 cups Cake Flour

2 cups Sugar

3 ½ teaspoons Baking Powder

½ teaspoon Salt

1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, at Room Temperature

Nutella Buttercream

1 ½ cups (3 Sticks) Unsalted Butter (Softened)

3 cups Confectioners Sugar

1/8 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract

1 cup Nutella

To make the vanilla bean buttermilk cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2-3 cupcake pans with baking cups.  This recipe makes a little bit more than 24 cupcakes, so you might need to have a third cupcake pan ready.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla bean extract, and buttermilk.  Set aside until needed.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add the butter and beat until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, beating well in-between in each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. 

Divide the batter among the prepared baking cups, ONLY FILLING UP THE CUPS HALF WAY.  This is important!  The first time I baked these I filled them 2/3 of the way (like usual) and they over-rose and baked over the edges. 

Place the cupcakes in the middle rack of the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into a few cupcakes comes out clean, about 25 minutes.  Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes.  Remove the cupcakes and place on a cooling rack to cool completely. 

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the nutella buttercream.  Cream the butter in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, about 5 minutes.  Add the confectioners sugar and salt and mix, gradually increasing in speed, until the sugar is fully incorporated.  Add the vanilla and whisk until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes – you may need to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple times. 

When the buttercream is fluffy, add the nutella.  Whisk for another 5-8 minutes until the nutella is fully incorporated and the buttercream is light and fluffy again.

Frost the cupcakes as desired.  I placed the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a large closed star tip, and piped small circles on the top surface of each cupcake (starting from the middle of the cupcake working outwards).  I also sprinkled some White Chocolate Sprinkles on top of each cupcake. 

Cupcake recipe from Sky High.  Buttercream recipe adapted from Annie Eats, which was originally from Cooks Illustrated.