Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream

To make the vanilla bean buttermilk cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line 2-3 cupcake pans with baking cups. This recipe makes a little bit more than 24 cupcakes, so you might need to have a third cupcake pan ready.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla bean paste, and buttermilk. Set aside until needed.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and beat until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, beating well in between in each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide the batter among the prepared baking cups, ONLY FILLING UP THE CUPS HALFWAY. This is important! The first time I baked these I filled them 2/3 of the way (like usual) and they over-rose and baked over the edges.

Place the cupcakes in the middle rack of the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into a few cupcakes comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the nutella buttercream. Cream the butter in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, about 5 minutes. Add the confectioner’s sugar and salt and mix, gradually increasing in speed, until the sugar is fully incorporated. Add the vanilla and whisk until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes; you may need to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple times.

When the buttercream is fluffy, add the Nutella. Whisk for another 5-8 minutes until the nutella is fully incorporated and the buttercream is light and fluffy again.

Frost the cupcakes as desired. I placed the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a large closed star tip, and piped small circles on the top surface of each cupcake (starting from the middle of the cupcake working outwards). I also sprinkled some white chocolate sprinkles on top of each cupcake.

Recipe sources: cupcake recipe from Sky High and buttercream recipe adapted from Annie Eats, which was originally from Cooks Illustrated.