Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream

Chocolate and hazelnut is one of my favorite flavor combinations! Ferrero Rocher have always been my favorite chocolates and if you didn't know, that chocolatey goodness that's inside is Nutella. So if you ever wanted to eat a Ferrero Rocher in cupcake form, look no further than these chocolate hazelnut cupcakes with Nutella buttercream!

I don't know if I'm ashamed or proud to tell you that Kyle and I finished off all 12 of these chocolate hazelnut cupcakes in less than 24 hours. They're that good! So keep scrolling to see all of my tips and tricks!

If you love chocolate and hazelnuts as much as me, you might also like these Chocolate Hazelnut Macarons!

Ingredient Notes

The secret to keeping these cupcakes light and moist (as well as adding awesome flavor) is hazelnut flour!

You can buy hazelnut flour at a lot of grocery stores and online (Bob’s Red Mill* is my favorite brand for nut flours) but you can also make it yourself to save a little money. Hazelnuts can be pricey so buying in bulk is always the best bang  for your buck. Trader Joe’s has big bags of toasted hazelnuts that are much cheaper than elsewhere that you can easily use to grind up your own hazelnut flour. 

Make Hazelnut Flour

1. If you have hazelnuts that are already toasted, wrap them in a kitchen towel and rub them until the skins fall off.
2. If you have raw hazelnuts, spread them out evenly on a cookie sheet and toast them at 325 degrees for about 5-10 minutes until the nuts are browned slightly. Then wrap in a towel and rub to remove the skins. Let the hazelnuts cool completely to room temperature before grinding. 
3. Make sure both your food processor and the nuts are completely dry and room temperature. This is super important for making sure that you don’t turn your nut flour into nut butter.
4. Place clean hazelnuts in a food processor and pulse in 1-2 second increments for about 1 minute total, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently to make sure they are ground evenly. Be careful not to over grind the nuts because, once again, you don’t want nut butter (unless you do, hazelnut butter sounds delicious).
5. You can also add a little bit of sugar to the nuts to help absorb the oils, but I prefer not to. The same process can be used for almond flour or any other nut flours!

How to Make Brown Butter

I also like to add brown butter to these cupcakes! This is optional but the extra time is so so worth it! Browning butter gives it a toasty, nutty flavor that perfectly compliments the hazelnut flavor. But if you don’t feel like doing the extra step, melted butter works just fine in this recipe.

1. In a small saucepan, melt 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter over medium heat.
2. Once melted, stir frequently and watch closely for the formation of brown specs on the bottom of the pan and a nutty aroma.
3. Once you see brown specs, stir for just a few more seconds (it browns super quickly).
4. Remove from the heat and immediately pour into a different bowl to prevent it from burning.
5. Let it cool slightly (5-10 minutes) before using.

Decorating Tips

To decorate all of my cakes and cupcakes, I use this Wilton Decorating Kit* and I love it! It’s super easy to use and has a ton of tips in different sizes. For these cupcakes, I used the 1M tip.

Make sure you let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting!! After frosting, garnish with chopped hazelnut pieces!

If you make these chocolate hazelnut cupcakes, please leave us a star rating at the bottom of the page! This provides helpful feedback to both me and other readers. Happy baking!

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