A First - Nutella Batman Cupcakes

Hello!
It's been an exciting few weeks. Work with the girls has been quite a lesson! I seem to learn something new everyday. I planned 7 Christmas activities for the girls 2 weeks ago, and we're almost done with them! Gotta look for something else to keep them entertained. So far we've made Christmas Mobiles, Snow Globes, Paper Angels, Wax & Paint Snowflakes, Paper chains and Christmas Cards.
All I've got left are Salt Dough Ornaments and Stain-glass Nativity. I'm trying desperately to avoid the super mucky stuff like cookie decorations & gingerbread houses. They're fun activities, but in this humid climate, they'd have to be stored in the fridge such that it's not much fun at all!

Anyway, back to the cupcakes. Yes! Batman it was. A friend of mine ordered these for a friend's birthday celebration. I'd never done themed cupcakes so this was a first. The only other fancy thing I'd done was my sister's wedding cake, which was dead simple (I sure didn't say that when first battling with tiered cakes!).

The problem with baking for a crowd I do not know, is choosing a flavour most of them would like. But the choice was clear & simple... who does not enjoy a good dollop of Nutella?!

I'd never made these before but they seemed rather fool proof. So the tricky bit was just the decorating.
Initially I'd decided on fondant Batman logo decorations but colouring the white fondant was an absolute chore! Yellow was easy peasy but the black? Oh, they make it look so simple on Youtube that you'd be fooled. I was so so very close! But at the end of the day I still thought it looked too grey. And that just wouldn't do!

Plus, fondant in this climate was a joke.

So I looked online to see if there was anything else I could do… and these adorable templates came up! Out came the buttercream frosting, colouring, toothpicks, glue & paper. Voila!

The colours came together so nicely I was thoroughly please! I didn't get to try the cupcakes so all I heard was that they were a hit. Yay! (:

INGREDIENTS (Adapted from One Pot Chef; makes 12)

• 300g Nutella
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

METHOD

1. Mix Nutella & eggs in bowl until well incorporated
2. Add in the flour and mix well
3. Stir in the chocolate chips if desired
4. Line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake liners and spoon mixture evenly into each liner
5. Bake in a 180 degree C oven for about 8-10 minutes
6. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the desired buttercream, beating the butter so well that it's just an off-white
7. Add in the desired gel food colouring and place in fridge to cool down
8. Using a teaspoon, spoon out about 2 teaspoons worth of cupcake from the middle, leaving a hole for more Nutella!
9. Spoon about a teaspoon worth of Nutella into the middle and cover with the cut-out top
10. Place cupcakes in freezer/fridge so the Nutella sets. This will prevent it from spreading around when you spread your buttercream
11. When ready, pipe/spread your buttercream & decorate as desired
12. Store in a airtight box in the fridge
13. Best to be consumed on the same day as decorating

Cheers,

Amy.