Sweet dreams are made of this: gianduja and nutella vanilla cupcakes! Fluffy vanilla cake filled with a silky gianduja ganache and topped with a big swirl of creamy nutella swiss meringue buttercream.
About These Gianduja and Nutella Vanilla Cupcakes
A friend from high school messaged me about putting in an order for her boyfriend’s birthday. She actually messaged me last year too but I had to turn her away because I had a multi-day backpacking trip in the mountains. And this year I had to turn her down again (I know, I’m the worst) because she was looking for some fondant decor and I swore to my sanity that I would never use fondant ever again. Despite all of that, she still wanted me to bake the cupcakes so I made sure to make her some dang good cupcakes and give her everything else that’s non-fondant!
Her requests were simple (so grateful for clients who are easy to work with): nutella, vanilla cake, and white chocolate sprinkles. So I came up with these gianduja and nutella vanilla cupcakes! They are a simple concoction of vanilla bean cupcake filled with gianduja ganache and a nutella-chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. In case you’re wondering, gianduja is this fancy schmancy word for chocolate with a certain percentage of hazelnut praline. It tastes like the inside of ferrero rocher (but better) and is very pliable and soft in texture due to the praline, ie. it is crack.
So Long Dog Days of Summer
Gone are the long summer days where I had nothing to worry about. I used to spend entire days just cruising around the city and listening to music until 4AM. What a luxury it was to feel shitty-and-sleep-deprived the next day and NOT have to worry about performing at my best. It was seriously SO nice.
Can’t do that anymore! As you may or may not know, I started my dietetic internship in September and the next 9 months are the last leg of my Bachelors in Dietetics. Exciting and scary (SO SCARY) at the same time. I work 8-5pm everyday and when I show up tired and fatigued it really really affects my ability to think and retain info. Obviously. And even though I realize that, I go on hooting with the night owls anyway. Every night I sleep at around 2am and wake up at 6am. It’s a bad situation for sure. My last preceptor definitely noticed how tired I was given my cognition was only 50% in the mornings, but she was kind enough to not mention it until my evaluation. I should probably start taking better care of myself… I don’t need my preceptors to find out that I’m stupid yet… too soon 😛
Started from the bottom
Now we’re here.
Remember how defeated I felt from just reading the UBC Dietetics admission requirements? And remember that time I miraculously got accepted into the program and happy-cried on video in front of all my new coworkers? I seriously can’t believe those moments were just four short years ago. I can’t believe I am where I am in life right now.
More beautiful cupcake recipes:
Berries & Cream Cupcakes with Ganache Drip
Earl Grey Cream Cheese Cupcakes with Edible Gold
Hazelnut Praline Ganache Cupcakes
Recipe for Gianduja and Nutella Vanilla Cupcakes
Gianduja and Nutella Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
Vanilla Cupcakes
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1.5 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1/3 cup full-fat sour cream
- 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup whole milk
Gianduja Ganache Filling
- 1.5 cup gianduja chocolate chopped into small pieces
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
Nutella Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 5 large egg whites
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 2 cups unsalted butter room temp, cut into cubes
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup gianduja chocolate melted and cooled
- 1 cup Nutella add more as needed, depending on how intense you want the flavour to be
Instructions
Vanilla Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes. Because there is so little butter, you'll end up with a very fine sandy crumb texture.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla paste and extract until smooth.
- Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
- Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined. The batter will be very liquid. (Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. It's supposed to be that way.)
- Fill cupcake liners until 3/4 full
- Bake for 12 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it. The cupcakes should appear white with specks of vanilla bean. They should not turn a golden brown. If they are not done, test again in two minutes. If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes.
- When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them to cool.
Gianduja Ganache
- Place chopped gianduja into a bowl
- Microwave heavy cream until simmering
- Pour hot cream over chocolate and let sit for a minute
- Stir until cream and chocolate combine into a smooth mixture, let cool then place in fridge overnight
Nutella Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Combine sugar, egg whites, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer
- Place over simmering water (not IN simmer water)
- Whisk by hand until sugar is completely dissolved
- Transfer bowl to mixer and beat until you reach medium peak consistency
- Slowly add butter one piece at a time
- At some point, the buttercream will look curdled and gross, THIS IS NORMAL DON'T PANIC
- Keep adding butter and beating the buttercream until you reach a silky smooth texture
- Drizzle in the melted and COOLED chocolate, beat on low until incorporated.
- Beat in Nutella on low until smooth and creamy
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a comment below and tag @chocolateandconnie on Instagram.
Credits
Vanilla cupcake recipe adapted from Cupcake Project – it’s a winner!
Swiss Meringue Buttercream basic recipe from Martha Stewart
I totally want to make these but was wondering which brand of gianduja you use…
Hi Vanessa,
I used callebaut because that’s what my usual baking supply store sold but I’m sure any other brand would turn out good as well. As long as you’re using a high quality chocolate with actual cocoa content 🙂
Hope that helps!
Connie
Awesome! Thanks!