Ferrero Roche Cupcakes

As a welcome for the cold winter months ahead, I decided to make Ferrero Roche Cupakes to warm my taste buds up =]. I had to special order the hazelnut extract because apparently local stores don't carry it. Whereas most roche cupcakes had a chocolate hazelnut base, mine is strictly hazelnut. I baked an actual Ferrero Roche into the cupcakes, made a deep chocolate ganache topping, and sprinkled crushed hazelnuts on top. Enjoy =]

Hazelnut Cupcake-


Ingredients

• 1 cup cake flour, not self rising
• 1 cup a.p flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs, room temp
• 1 cup sour cream or buttermilk
• 1 tbs heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp hazelnut extract
• 3 tbs crushed hazelnuts
• 24 frozen Ferrero Roche

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy-about 3 minutes. Add an egg one at a time and mix till fully incorporated. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Alternating between adding the flour mixture and the sour cream or buttermilk to the batter in 3 parts ending with the flour. Mix until homogenous. Add in the extracts, hazelnuts, and heavy cream and mix for another minute. Pour batter into prepared cupcake tins, and add in the Ferrero Roche. Bake for about 20 minutes, and rotate the tins about halfway through. Allow to cool in the pans for 5 minutes before removing completely. 

Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache-

Ingredients

• 5 oz bittersweet chocolate (60%)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbs butter, cut into quarters
• crushed hazelnuts

Directions

Chop the chocolate into small pieces, and place into a bowl with the butter. Bring the heavy cream to a boil, and pour over the chocolate and butter. Stir the contents of the bowl only from the middle, going at a semi fast pace until all the chocolate and butter have melted and there is a glossy sheen to the ganache. Dip the cupcakes into the ganache either once or twice. Sprinkle the crushed hazelnuts on top while still wet. Allow to completely set before serving. Enjoy