It is officially the holiday season! Well, it is for me. My schedule is October is dedicated to Halloween (and maybe a little bit of September😜), November is Thanksgiving and fall, and only once we reach December is it officially the holiday season.
I really do love this time of year. There are so many breaks from school/work, you get a bunch of holidays, the weather is shifting into those colder months, and all things cozy are headed this way. October-December is the best time of year.
With the colder weather headed our way, I think we need something cozy and deliciously festive. Usually when I think of desserts this time of year, my mind jumps to peppermint. And don’t get me wrong, I love peppermint. But I think there are so many other flavors that are easily dismissed that would bring in the cozy vibes. Lets just say, these cupcakes are DEFINITELY one of those things.
Have you ever had a Hazelnut latte? It truly is a masterpiece. There’s something about that buttery nutty flavor that mixes beautifully with sweet, melt-in-your-mouth cream and bitter coffee. Not to mention a little bit of cocoa to compliment. These cupcakes combine all of those flavors together to create a truly magnificent dessert.
Describe These Cupcakes to Me
Taste: So these cupcakes are supposed to taste like a hazelnut latte. And they do. However, many have said they taste like tiramisu. And I’m not unhappy with that, because you still get that buttery melt-in-your mouth hazelnut flavor. Mixed with the bitterness of the coffee, and the creamy frosting, these taste like the coziest drink for the holiday season. I know hot chocolate is the typical holiday/winter drink, but I think hazelnut and cream lattes are so underrated. To serve as the cream on top, we have a less sweet whipped frosting. It’s creamy and light, and mixes beautifully with the flavorful cupcakes.
Texture: These are surprisingly fluffy considering they have actual nuts in them and Nutella. They still stay light and fluffy because we add egg whites, milk, sour cream, and all of these other ingredients that will give you a light and fluffy cupcake.
Ease: As far as cupcakes go, these are pretty simple and there are no extra steps. You just make the batter, bake it, make the frosting, and frost em. You don’t have to make any elaborate decoration if you don’t want to, I always just top them with a dusting of cocoa powder and a whole hazelnut on top. But as far as decoration goes, you can do anything you want.
The Cupcakes
Lets start with the cake itself. It’s a pretty classic structure, but with a few exceptions. The first thing we do is toast up some hazelnuts in the oven. Toasting them really helps bring out their flavor. Then we pulse them up in a food processor until they are a fine crumb. Now it gets a little more familiar. Flour, baking powder, baking soda, espresso powder, and salt. Mix that all together with some of those ground up hazelnuts. Now we mix up the butter, sugar, Nutella, egg whites, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Then we combine the dry and wet ingredients, add the milk and coffee, and finally pour it into the liners and bake. And that’s it! All done with the cupcakes!
The Frosting
The idea of this frosting is that it resembles the cream on the top of a latte. But I couldn’t just use whipped cream, because it isn’t strong enough. Instead I decided to use this whipped cream cheese frosting. It is a little stronger your typical whipped cream, but it still has that creamy light texture and it isn’t quite as sweet. To make it we beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and coffee together really well, making sure there are no lumps. Then we add a bunch of cold cream, and whip it up to create a smooth and fluffy frosting. When it comes to adding it to the cupcakes, there is really no way you can go wrong. I like to use Wilton 4B to pipe it on top, but you could just spread it if you want! I top it with cocoa powder and a hazelnut, just to make them look a little more festive.
How do we Get Our Flavors?
For the cupcakes we are looking for two main flavors: hazelnut and coffee. Let’s start with the easy one, coffee. We are using both espresso powder, and fresh brewed coffee. I found when just using one of them, the flavor wasn’t strong enough without messing with the texture. So for this recipe, we need a little bit of both. Now onto the more difficult part, the hazelnuts. It is really difficult to get a cupcake to have a nice, natural nut flavor without sacrificing the texture. In this recipe we start off by toasting some hazelnuts. Toasting them brings out their flavor a little bit more and provides a warmer feeling to the cupcakes. Then we grind them up in the food processor until we have a fine powder, sort of like almond flour. I also like to use a little bit of Nutella because it adds a little bit of chocolate flavor as well as hazelnut. The risk with using Nutella however, is that it has a tendency to do some funky stuff to the texture of your baked good. there’s something about the way its ingredients react with the rest of the ingredients in the cupcake that doesn’t quite work. It makes thing dry, dense, and crumbly all at the same time. In order to reverse this, we have to add whipped egg whites, sour cream, milk, and more to maintain that fluffy texture.
Hazelnut and Cream Latte Cupcakes
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 300 F. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the hazelnuts on the sheet evenly. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until they are lightly toasted. Remove from the oven and increase the temperature to 350 F. Allow the toasted nuts to cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Add the toasted hazelnuts to a food processor and pulse until they resemble a fine meal, similar to almond flour. Set aside.
- Make sure your oven is turned up to 350 F. Line a 12 count muffin tin with cupcake liners. Then on a separate shape, line 6 of the cups with cupcake liners, but leave the other half empty. This recipe yields about 18 cupcakes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup of the ground toasted hazelnuts(you should have extra, which you can use for decoration), flour, baking powder, baking soda, espresso powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using either a stand or hand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth, around 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and beat until fluffy and creamy, about two minutes. Add the Nutella and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the egg whites and vanilla extract, and beat until combined. Add the sour cream and beat until combined.
- With the mixer running on low speed add the dry ingredients to the wet until just combined. Slowly stream the milk into the batter with the mixer still running on low. Do the same with the brewed coffee.
- Spoon/pour the batter evenly between the cupcake liners. Aim for filling them about 2/3 of the way full, to leave room for rising.
- Bake the cupcakes for 19-22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, and when you lightly tap with your finger, the cake should bounce back. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- In a large bowl using either a stand or hand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment whip the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and creamy, around 1 minute. Add the confectioners sugar, espresso powder, vanilla extract, and salt and whip on low for 20 seconds. Then turn to high speed and whip for 2 full minutes. Try and make the mixture as smooth as possible. With the mixer running on low speed stream in the heavy cream until combined. Then turn the speed up to high and whip for 1-2 minutes. The frosting will become thick and airy, almost like whipped cream but a little stiffer. The time spent whipping it will vary depending on the temperature of your ingredients. You are looking for stiff peaks, which is when you lift your whisk out of the bowl the frosting will form a peak and stay.
- Fill a large piping bag with the frosting. I use Wilton 4B for the piping tip, which gives a nice swirly pattern. To pipe, I make a large swirl around the cupcake, moving upwards as I go. You can also use a spatula or a spoon and spread the frosting on top. For decoration, I like to dust them with cocoa powder and top them with hazelnuts. You can also use the leftover ground up toasted hazelnuts on top, but you can do whatever you want. Get creative, it’s the holiday season!
- Cupcakes stay fresh in a sealed container for up to 5 days at room temperature.
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