I’ve been experimenting for a little while with trying to put a surprise layer in the middle of cupcakes.  First I tried it with a different flavour of cake batter in the middle, but I don’t have a very steady hand so the batter went everywhere!  I then tried putting a piece of chocolate in the middle but it melted into a funny shape when I cooked it and then your teeth struck something hard when you ate the cake, which is always slightly worrrying.

Fortunately these Frosted Nutella Cupcakes were a little more successful!  The little parcel of Nutella loveliness in the middle is a surprise for the tastebuds!  I made them for a colleague’s birthday; as a group we take it in turns to create something yummy on each of our birthdays!

You will need: 175g butter, 175g caster sugar, 3 medium eggs, 150g self-raising flour, 6 tsp Nutella.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/ 375°F and place 12 cupcake cases in a muffin tray.

Place the butter and caster sugar in a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time and combine well.  Sift the flour and stir until well mixed.  Place a fairly thick layer of batter in the bottom of each cupcake case and put 1/2 teaspoon of Nutella on top.  Don’t put it too near to the bottom – it needs the protection of the batter when it’s in the oven and if you put it too near to the bottom it can burn and this makes it form a crust around the Nutella – I kinda like it when it does that, it adds texture, but not everyone likes a crunchy surprise!  Use the rest of the batter to cover the Nutella so that it’s hidden.

Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the cakes are lightly browned and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

For the frosting: 200g cream cheese, 600g icing sugar, 20g cocoa powder.

Mix the ingredients together and place into a piping bag.  This makes enough frosting to create the piping shown on the top photo and fill the middle of a Victoria Sponge.