Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Buttercream

I love cupcakes, they are generally small and cute, and the perfect size for one serving. When I went to make these vanilla bean cupcakes, I realized I did not have the vanilla bean...Hmmm. Should I try it with regular vanilla, which would still be tasty, but that wasn't enough I thought. So what did I do, I turned to my trusty Penzeys Vanilla. Which if you choose to use this wonderful vanilla, there is actually a vanilla bean in the bottle (with the extract!) So I fished it out, took my paring knife with a freshly sharpened tip, split the bean open, scraped the seeds out and added them to the mix. Crisis averted-right?!



You'll notice in the image below the cupcake has a bit of sparkle to it, which is due to the sugar glitter I used to dress her up. The sugar glitter I used was purchased at Michael's.



Vanilla Bean Cupcakes (from Williams Sonoma)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 whole egg plus 1 egg white, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract (and if you are using, the seeds from one vanilla bean)
1/2 cup milk
Vanilla buttercream for frosting cupcakes


Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan ( or use your 6 cup muffin pan twice) with paper or foil liners.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the egg and egg white one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions, beating until just combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat just until no traces of flour remain, about 30 seconds; do not over beat.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full. Bake until the cupcakes are lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Then transfer the cupcakes to the rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Frost the cupcakes with the buttercream. (The frosted cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature before finishing.)

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (William Sonoma)

6 cups confectioners’ sugar
16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 1/2 Tbs. milk, plus more, if needed
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
Food colorings (optional)

Have all the ingredients at room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the confectioners sugar, butter, the 4 1/2 Tbs. milk, the vanilla and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

If the frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 tsp. at a time, until it is creamy but still holds peaks. Tint with food coloring as desired. Makes about 4 cups.

Nutella Cupcakes

In this case, it took a village to save these little cupcakes, but in the end I was richly rewarded. Unfortunately, I tend to leave things in the oven just a little too long on occasion. This was no different, I was so excited, the house smelled lovely, and out of the oven the 12 perfectly shaped Nutella cupcakes came. I let them cool, took them out of the paper liners, got really excited, and took my first bite. Hmmm...I thought, not quite exactly what I was expecting...kind of dry. Argh, I double checked the baking time, and sure enough, I over did it.

When we got married we registered for this really nice Analon bakeware set, which we gratefully got. However when I started to bake with them I realized that Analon cooks more quickly and gets more hot than your average bakeware. So after much trial and testing I am now almost used to adjusting recipes oven temperature and reduced cooking time. The recipe I am blogging today, the beautiful Nutella cupcakes reflect the actual recipe, and is without the Analon adjustments that I should have made. But if you do bake with Analon, let me know how it goes for you, we should have a support group I think.

So now I have 11 overbaked cupcakes, and was desperate to save them. I reached out for help, and that is exactly what I got. The outpouring support I got was overwhelming. I realize that this was merely flour and butter, and sugar but now this became a challenge. What I decided would be the best remedy for this situation was to use the blunt end of a skewer and poke a bunch of holes on the top of the cupcakes and create an almondy simple syrup. Drizzle it over the top and let the little cakes drink it up. I also used the rest of the nutella up to create a 'light' frosting. I think that did the trick-Lets taste and find out!

**Yes that's our puppy in the background, isn't she cute!

Nutella Cupcakes (found here)


10 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 325F and line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

Cream together butter and sugar until light, about 2 minutes. Add in eggs on at a time, until fully incorporated. The batter may not look smooth, this is fine. Add vanilla.

Stir in flour, salt, and baking powder until batter is smooth and all flour is blended. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. Cups should be 3/4 full if you're not using a scoop. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, folding a little batter up and over the Nutella as well.Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove to wire rack and allow to cool. Makes 12. While these cooled I prepared the simple syrup.

Flavored Simple Syrup (adapted from here)

1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp Cream de Cacao Liqueur (can use any liquer, I wanted to keep with the cocoa flavor theme)


*Use the blunt end of a skewer and literally poke many holes in the top and just let these little cakes drink up the syrup.

World Nutella Day Icing (found here)

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup Nutella
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used almond extract)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners' sugar, Nutella, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

So in conclusion whether you overbake your Nutella Cupcakes or not, the addition of the simple syrup and Nutella Icing are a nice treat either way!