With the help of a friend...

Baking not only relaxes me but I also find it a good opportunity to get creative with my friends.

Being at my parents' house during my summer break a friend of mine presented me with a challenge. She claimed everything she baked came flat. I couldn't accept it so I encouraged her to bake one of the simplest treats. Cupcakes. I love Hummingbird Cupcake recipes and as her little one loves chocolate we chose the Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcake.
She baked them herself with just a tiny encouragement from me. They were a success :-)

Ingredients

• 100g plain flour


• 20g cocoa powder


• 140g caster sugar


• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder


• a pinch of salt


• 40gr butter, at room temp


• 120ml milk


• 1 egg


• 120gr nutella


• chopped hazelnuts to decorate

For the icing

• 250g icing sugar


• 80g butter, at room temp


• 25 ml milk


• 80g nutella

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170c

2. Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and mix together. You can use an electric hand whisk for this. It should be a slightly sandy/grainy texture

3. Pour the milk into the mixture and mix. Then add the egg and beat until it's all incorporated.

4. Spoon the mixture into cupcakes cases in a muffin tin, filling to about halfway or 2/3 full. They rise quite a bit. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

5. Leave to cool completely, then cut out a little circle in the cupcake. Pop the loose piece of cake out, insert a dollop of nutella, then put the cake piece back ontop so you have a filled cupcake.

For the icing
Mix all the above ingredients together until incorporated and continue mixing for about 5 minutes. The more mixing, the fluffier the icing! Use a palette knife to ice the cupcakes, then sprinkle with a bit of chopped hazelnut.

http://afeitar.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/chocolate-and-hazelnut-cupcakes.html