Incredibly simple 3-ingredient Nutella cupcakes topped with delicious Nutella buttercream.
Following on from my Nutella buttercream a few days ago, here’s my recipe for those Nutella cupcakes that the buttercream was piped all over the top of.
This recipe is born out of the fact that I can’t resist a bit of a recipe challenge. A couple of month’s ago was world Nutella day and Ros from The More Than Occasional Baker shared her recipe for 3-ingredient Nutella brownies in my Food Year Linkup. The idea behind the brownies is that due to the fat and sugar content of Nutella it could be used as a substitute for both the butter and sugar in the brownie recipe. It got me wondering whether the same principle would hold true for cupcakes too.
As with many of my ideas it got popped on the back-burner while I got sidetracked by other things, and then a month or so ago I decided to have a go and see what I could make. It took a few attempts to get the ratio of ingredients right (I couldn’t simply substitute the weight of Nutella for the weight of butter and sugar in my cupcake recipe as the fat content wasn’t high enough leading to the cupcakes being too dry). After a bit of playing around and lots of tasting (it’s a tough job you know!), I found just the right combination.
If you’re a novice in the kitchen, then this is definitely the recipe for you. Simply weigh the three ingredients, mix them together, spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and bake. Even my 3-year old could do it (although he’s more interesting in eating the cakes than making them!).
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Nutella Cupcakes
RECIPE VIDEO
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan.
- Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake cases.
- Put all of your ingredients into a large bowl (3 large eggs, 375g Nutella, 150g self-raising flour) and mix until fully combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases (about 60g in each if you feel like measuring).
- Pop them into the oven and cook for 20 minutes. Check if they’re done by inserting a skewer, if it comes out clean they’re done, if not pop them back in for a couple more minutes.
- Once cooked, take them out of the tray and pop them onto a wire rack to cool.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Corn-Free
The ingredients for this recipe are commonly available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.
Jody says
I’m making these now.
I added 1.5 tsp to 150g all purpose flour. Your oven temp of 160 celcius is 320F according to Google so I’m going with 325F which is what makes more sense for cupcakes. I really hope these turn out. Those 3 ingredients kind of worried me as I’m not adding any sugar, oil, butter etc. Fingers crossed.
Did you use a hand mixer to combine everything? Or just a spoon?
Charlotte Oates says
There is fat and sugar in this recipe, they are just contained within the nutella spread! You do only need to use a spoon and a little elbow grease but it certainly won’t hurt to use an electric mixer – you don’t need to whisk for too long however.
allie says
these cupcakes turned out fresh and delicious, so easy and simple yet like a proffesional baker did it!
Erin says
Is it possible to not use a muffin tin? I need to bake them tomorrow and recently they are all sold out and I can’t get any at such a short notice.
Charlotte Oates says
The only other way is to use firm cupcake cases made from cardboard or silicone. If you use paper cases without a tin the cupcakes will spread very wide and flat.
shannon says
yum
Melissa says
What do I do if I don’t have (can’t find) self-rising flour?
Charlotte Oates says
You can make your own 🙂
How To Make Self-Raising Flour From Plain Flour
Jemima says
Incredible yet so easy to make, highly recommend
chơi bài cào says
Me during quarantine learn a new skill in baking
Daashini Selvarajah says
Hi there. Can I lessen the amount of batter to make smaller amounts of cupcakes? btw love your recipes! 🙂
Charlotte Oates says
Yes!
Kerri says
Could this be done as a birthday cake my daughter has requested a nutella birthday cake this year? Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately it doesn’t work brilliantly as a larger cake. You could try just my chocolate cake and cover it in Nutella buttercream. That would still have a decent level of Nutella flavour to it.
Nicola says
Fantastic and such a simple recipe
Dory says
Heya, has anyone tried doubling the recipe? I know some recipes don’t like that.
Charlotte Oates says
This recipe should be fine to double (although if you have to split the cupcakes onto two shelves in the oven you may find that the won’t cook as evenly as it’s more crowded.
Rose Pipicella says
Hi Charlotte! Just wanted to ask, can these cupcakes be frozen and then thawed out? I want to make them this weekend and freeze until next weekend. Thanks! Rose
Charlotte Oates says
Due to the slightly gimicky nature of this recipe, they’re best eaten within a day or so of baking. If you really want Nutella cupcakes that you can freeze and then deforst later, I’d recommend making my regular chocolate cupcakes and then topping them with Nutella buttercream. You’ll get a lot of Nutella flavour from the buttercream but they’ll keep better.
Zuri says
Hi just wanted to ask substitute for self taising flour? I am here in japan and self raising flour isn’t availble in stores. I want to try these next week for my baby shower hope you can help me… thanks
Charlotte Oates says
There’s a guide here from Nigella on how to make self-raising flour from plain flour and baking powder.