cinnamon chocolate cupcakes with nutella buttercream frosting

my dear friend megan is moving to colorado this week.  i'm going to miss her so much!  last week we had a little going-away party for her with some great mama friends.  and i volunteered to bake something sweet for the celebration.  megan knows how to pick her sweets!  she chose these delicious cupcakes from a fantastic looking blog, so i can't take credit for the idea or base recipe.  i did make a few little changes, mainly cutting out a bit of sugar in both the cake and frosting.  i highly recommend these little heavenly cakes, and they were very well received by all mamas!  here's the original recipe: 52 Kitchen Adventures

cinnamon chocolate cupcakes 

1 1/3 c flour

3/4 c cocoa powder

1/2 tbsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/3 c sugar

2/3 c coffee, cooled (i used some cold brew i'd already made)

2/3 c whole milk

1/3 c vegetable oil

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

beat egg and sugar together until well combined.  mix in coffee, milk, and oil.  whisk dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.  lower mixer speed and add dry ingredients slowly, mix just until combined.  use cupcake papers, and fill about 2/3 full.  batter is very thin (don't worry!).  bake at 325 for about 20 minutes.  cool on wire racks.  makes 16-18 cupcakes.

nutella buttercream frosting

1/2 c butter, softened

1 c nutella (!! what what!?  that's how you know it's good!)

2/3 c powdered sugar

1 tbsp milk

beat butter and nutella together until smooth and creamy.  add about half the powdered sugar and mix.  add milk and mix.  add the rest of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.  you may need a little more or less sugar or milk to get a good consistency.  i baked on a 95 degree day (because i LOVE megan) and the frosting was a hot mess at the end of this.  however, after an hour in the fridge, it was beautiful and easy to work with.  frost cupcakes when they have completely cooled.  this made more than enough frosting.  enough so that both odin and i could thoroughly taste test.

now that i'm looking at the pictures again, i wish i were eating one right now! 

at least one person claimed this to be the best cupcake they'd ever eaten.  it makes me really happy that so many people blog about all sorts of deliciousness they're baking up at home!