Hazelnut Praline Ganache Cupcakes

Bake some Hazelnut Praline Ganache Cupcakes

Posted by Connie Z.

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You Will Need (29 things)

  • Chocolate Cake

  • 2 cup Sugar
  • 1 ¾ cup All Purpose Flour
  • ¾ cup Cocoa
  • 2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 cup Buttermilk
  • 1 cup Strong Black Coffee
  • ½ cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

  • Hazelnut Praline

  • 100 g Hazelnuts
  • ¾ cup Of Granulated Sugar

  • Hazelnut Praline Ganache

  • 320 ml and 800mL Heavy Cream , separated
  • 10 oz Milk Chocolate , best quality you can find

  • All of the hazelnut praline Dipping Ganache

  • 1 cup Heavy Cream
  • 1 cup Dark Chocolate , best quality you can find
  • Roasted Hazelnuts , chopped

  • Nutella Swiss Meringue Buttercream

  • 5 Large Egg Whites
  • 1 cup Plus 2 tbsp Sugar
  • 1 pinch of Salt
  • 2 cup Unsalted Butter , room temp, cut into cubes
  • 1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
  • ½ cup Nutella

Steps (5 steps, 120 minutes)

  1. 1

    For the Chocolate Cake
    Preheat oven to 350°F
    Whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl.
    Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla; beat for 2 minutes to fully incorporate
    Pour batter evenly into prepared cupcake pans
    Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean

  2. 2

    For the Hazelnut Praline
    Preheat oven to 150 degrees C. Roast hazelnuts for about 8-10 mins, then place the hazelnuts between 2 towels and rub the hazelnuts to get the skin off.
    In a saucepan, caramelize the sugar one third at a time. Place ⅓ of sugar into pan at medium heat, stir and let melt until it reaches a caramel colour. Add in second third and last third slowly, making sure to stir.
    Once all sugar is caramelized, throw in the hazelnuts and coat them all with the melted sugar.
    Immediately transfer to oil-sprayed cookie sheet. Let the praline cool until hardened
    Break up praline into pieces, process in food processor until it reaches a super fine consistency

  3. 3

    For the Hazelnut Praline Ganache
    Using a a microwave, warm the chocolate in 30s intervals, stir in between intervals. When there are just a few lumps of solid chocolate left, reduce heating time to 10 secs in the microwave to avoid burning the chocolate. Stop when chocolate is one liquidy consistency.
    Stir the processed praline into the chocolate. The mixture is supposed to be grainy, don’t worry!
    Bring 320mL of heavy cream to a boil, then pour ⅓ of it into the chocolate mixture. Stir slowly until evenly combined. Drizzle in the rest of the boiled heavy cream in thirds and stir to combine.
    Pour in the remaining cold 800mL heavy cream, you will have a very liquid mixture, this is normal, don’t panic!
    Place the entire mixture into a refrigerator for a couple hours to cool. If possible, put the beaters of your standmixer/handmixer into the fridge as well. You want to make sure everything is really cold, but NOT frozen, in order to be able to whip up the cream and create a thicker consistency.
    When it is cooled, whip the mixture on medium speed until medium peak forms. You don’t want to whip it for too long or on high speed because your whip cream will curdle and turn to butter. No bueno.

  4. 4

    For the Dipping Ganache
    Heat heavy cream until slightly bubbling and pour over chocolate in a bowl
    Let sit for 5 minutes then stir to melt chocolate and combine until shiny

  5. 5

    For the Nutella Swiss Meringue Buttercream
    Combine sugar, egg whites, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer
    Place over simmering water (but not IN simmer water)
    Whisk by hand until sugar is completely dissolved
    Transfer bowl to mixer and beat until you reach medium peak consistency
    Slowly add butter one piece at a time
    At some point, the buttercream will look curdled and gross, THIS IS NORMAL DON'T PANIC
    Keep adding butter and beating the buttercream until you reach a silky smooth texture
    Mix in Nutella, until desired intensity of flavour.
    Transfer to a piping bag and decorate cupcakes