Giotto Cupcakes with Hazelnut Nougat Cream
Ingredients
Batter
- 12 cupcake liners
- 120 g softened butter
- 1 tablespoon hazelnut nougat cream
- 120 g brown sugar
- a pinch of salt
- a pinch of vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 65 g ground hazelnuts
- 125 g all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 70 ml buttermilk
Topping and decoration
- 72 Giotto chocolate balls (8 packages of 9)
- 400 g mascarpone cheese
- 6 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons hazelnut nougat cream
- 3-4 tablespoons crushed hazelnut praline
Preparation
Place 12 cupcake liners in a muffin tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F) conventional or 160°C (320°F) convection. Beat softened butter with hazelnut nougat cream, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract until fluffy, then add eggs one at a time.
Fold in the ground hazelnuts. Mix and sift the flour and baking powder, then add to the batter. Add the buttermilk and divide the batter among the 12 cupcake liners. Bake for about 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then let cool completely.
Unwrap the Giotto chocolate balls, reserving 12 for decoration. Finely grind the remaining balls in a food processor. Beat mascarpone with powdered sugar and hazelnut nougat cream until smooth, then fold in the ground Giotto.
Transfer the cream to a piping bag and pipe onto the cooled cupcakes. Top each cupcake with one reserved Giotto chocolate ball and sprinkle with crushed hazelnut praline if desired.
