Hazelnut Cupcakes with Hazelnut Buttercream Icing

One of my favorite things about our church is the opportunity to craft and bake.  Our preacher and his wife are pregnant with baby #2 and we celebrated with them at the church’s baby shower last week. 
I volunteered to make some cupcakes but I wanted to do something more personal than vanilla.  Mr. A asked our preacher what his wife’s favorite cupcake flavor is and he said hazelnut.  This is how the baby shower hazelnut cupcakes came into being.  To match the cupcakes to the occasion, I made some custom baby shower cupcake wrappers and baby shower cupcake toppers.  Since the directions for both of these would be too long, I’m splitting it into two posts.  Today, I’ll give you the recipe for the hazelnut cupcakes and tomorrow I’ll give you the tutorial for custom baby shower cupcake wrappers and custom baby shower cupcake toppers.
  Hazelnut Cupcakes with Hazelnut Buttercream Icing
Ingredients:
 
 Cupcakes:

• 2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 1 cup of self-rising flour
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 2 cups of sugar
• 4 eggs (room temperature)
• 1 ½ cups of hazelnuts
• ½ cup of milk
• ¾ cup of hazelnut coffee creamer
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

 Icing:

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter
• 7 cups of confectioners’ sugar
• ¼ cup of hazelnut coffee creamer
• ¼ cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions:
Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spread out hazelnuts over baking sheet.  
  Bake hazelnuts for 15 minutes, stirring the nuts halfway through.
In large bowl, cream butter until smooth.

Add 2 cups of sugar and cream mixture for 3 minutes. 


Add 1 egg at a time.  Mix after each egg (approximately 1 minute).  Repeat until all 4 eggs are incorporated. 


After hazelnuts are toasted, add to food processor and pulse until hazelnuts are consistency of flour.



Add hazelnuts and flour to a large bowl. 

 In a separate bowl, mix creamer, milk and vanilla.
Alternate adding flour mixture and milk mixture to the butter/sugar mixture (spilt into 4 additions each).  Beat mixture after each addition, making sure to scrap down the sides of the bowl with a spatula when you are finished mixing. 



 Now that mixture is thoroughly incorporated, set up cupcake pan with cupcake liners.  Fill up each cupcake liner ½ way.
Allow cupcakes to bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Once cupcakes are finished baking, place cupcake tin on top of cooling racks and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
After cooling for 10 minutes, remove cupcakes from cupcake tin and allow to completely cool on cooling rack. 

Your mixture should make approximately 36 full size cupcakes.
While cupcakes are cooling, you can make the hazelnut icing.
Icing:
In a large bowl, add 2 sticks of butter, 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar, milk, hazelnut creamer and vanilla.  Mix for 3 minutes.

Add in 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar and mix for 2 minutes. Repeat 4 more times.  

Your icing is now complete. 
I decided to use a piping bag and large star tip to decorate the cupcakes but feel free to use whatever you like. 

Hope you enjoy your hazelnut cupcakes.  Tomorrow, I’ll have the tutorial for the cupcake decorations.