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Appetites and Adventures

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

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48 cupcakes is a lot.

But can you really have too many Chocolate Cupcakes with Nutella Cloud Frosting?  Notsomuch – they were GONE by the end of the wedding shower.  The chocolate part was good, but the frosting is what stole the show.  And I have Sweetapolita to thank.  Click here for her phenomenal recipe.

The final dish I’ll share from the wedding shower catering experience wasn’t actually made for the shower.  I did use that leftover icing though!  Obvious that meant I needed more cupcakes…

I had found some vanilla beans in Mom’s pantry and she didn’t have to ask me twice to put them to use in an Easter dessert.

These Vanilla Bean Cupcakes were fantastically light.  A perfect pairing for the rich Nutella Dream Icing.

My Easter cupcakes were slightly more healthy less bad for you than the chocolate cupcakes, yet no less delicious.

 

Without butter, these were fluffy to the point that you barely realize you’ve eaten the whole thing before it’s gone.  Sub in non-dairy milk and vinegar for the buttermilk and you’ve got a vegan cupcake (except the frosting – it’s full of butter).

Vegan or not – try these.  You won’t regret it.  In fact, you won’t even notice that you’ve just eaten 3 of them.

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Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

  • 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
  • 2 T cornstarch
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 C buttermilk
  • 1/3 C canola oil
  • 1/2 C sugar
  • 1/4 C xylitol
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped
  • Nutella Dream Icing

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl.

Beat together milk, oil, sugar, vanilla extract and vanilla bean in a large bowl.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring until just combined.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 10-12 mins.  Allow to cool completely before icing.

Notes:

  • Use a full 3/4 C sugar, or an alternate sugar substitute if you do not have xylitol
  • Make it vegan by using non-dairy milk and 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar.  Let stand 5-10 mins before using to allow milk to curdle

Makes 12 cupcakes.

***

Happy Friday the 13th!  It’s my lucky day.

What’s your favorite cupcake flavor?

What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

Comments

  1. Oh boy, Laura….you had me at Nutella! Love that the cupcakes are semi-healthy…more room for Nutella :)! I’m not too biased with cupcake flavors although I do think that red velvet is majorly overrated….give me plain chocolate with vanilla icing (or vice versa) any day instead!

  4. Oh my gosh these just look awesome! I’m a sucker for a good vanilla bean cupcake with chocolate frosting…can’t beat that if you ask me!

  5. These do sound great, I’ve heard that Sweetapolita’s Nutella icing was excellent! Since I love Nutella, guess I need to try it out! Your cupcakes look great! 🙂

  7. What delicious looking cupcakes. I love the icing and they way you have decorated them. I am quite sure I would not have noticed if I had eaten three of them! xx

    • Thank you! The icing was supposed to be fancier… then I remember I’m a terrible cake-icer. 😉

  9. omygosh yum! I’m making these!! (only trying vegan!) I always use soy milk, do you think one dairy sub is better than the other to use in vegan baking?

    • That’s a good question. I always use almond milk and haven’t had a problem, but I would imagine that they all work similarly.

  12. Whoa these look totally wonderful. Are tose photos the vegan version. I am going to have to try these using the non-dairy nilk and vinegar to replace the buttermilk. Very nice.

    • The photos are of the version with “real” buttermilk. I have done them both ways though. Let me know how they turn out for you!

  16. NOMNOMNOM! More like 6 😉

    I love Friday the 13th – I found a 20 dollar bill once!

    This weekend, I’m meeting Sofie from GermanFoodie, my first ever blog date!

    • You could just add in more vanilla… but I do love the taste you get from the actual bean.

  18. Those sound delicious!! Mmmm nutella…….. Happy Friday the 13th to you!! Usually I don’t even realize it is Friday the 13th… today I totally have. It has been just fine (and I hope it continues to be! Knock on wood) but it has been trying me too! I lost my license (dropped it out of my pocket on my walk with Sadie… then found it) and then Chickfila gave me strips instead of nuggets! And it was my first trip to Chickfila in like 2 months. I was so looking forward to the nuggets. Fail.

    Anyways, you already know this, but I’m looking forward to the Braves game tonight! 😀

  19. I can imagine that these were a huge hit at the shower! Look at those vanilla bean flecks–I would absolutely inhale three of them without even thinking about it.

  20. I’ve decided that life is too short to ever go without Nutella in my kitchen – I love these and am totally craving cupcakes! I think first post-graduation baking plan will be to figure out how to make GF cupcakes!

    • That sounds like a wonderful philosophy! I hear GF cupcakes aren’t too hard thanks to GF flour. Let me know how you do!

  23. Wahh your killing me and my high raw plant based thing I have going on for the next couple of weeks!! Damn Cyprus Fashion Days and their small sample size clothes! However I figure if I have to lose a few pounds I may as well do it the healthy way and give my body a good cleanse at the same time! Though it definitely means no nutella covered cupcakes for me… sobb… 🙁 However the day AFTER the job is a whole nother thing… 🙂

    • I’ll stop! I’m about to try to go more raw for the rest of the month. A little much with the sweets lately. 🙂

      You’ll deserve a TON of Nutella after Fashion Days!

  24. These cupcakes look like the kings of cupcakes! Nothing beats a vanilla – nice and traditional – but when teamed up with Nutella, becomes an explosion of addictive flavour 😀

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  27. So Yummy Looking! Thanks for making a vegan option! I imagine you could easily do earth balance and justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter for a vegan frosting (nutella uses skim milk)!

    • Thank you! I’ve never tried making icing from Earth Balance… is the texture the same? Great idea!

      • Earth Balance is amazing, before I went vegan, I was a huge butter fan and thought I would be broken hearted when I changed my diet, but earth Balance is a great substitute, I can’t tell the difference in a finished product. It performs just like butter in pie crusts, cookies, etc.

        • I’ve definitely used it quite often – just wasn’t sure how it would do in something non-baked like icing. 🙂 Thanks!

  32. I love cupcakes, as you don’t have to think about portion control, unless you are downing 3 at a time :)!

    I do so love a vanilla cupcake and really enjoy a good vegan buttercream with strawberries…just makes me think of spring time.

    Although Nutella is quite delicious and has so many applications…well done to put it on cupcakes.

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