A neighbour gave us a box of Ferrero Rocher for Christmas, but my fiancé doesn't like them, and I'm trying to lose weight. Which is not to say I won't eat chocolate but I'm not going to open a box of chocolates and munch my way through them -even over a longer period. Friends and family have known that for a long time so never give me boxes of chocolates any more!
It was a very nice gesture by our neighbour though and I didn't want the goodies to go to waste, so hit upon the idea of using them in cupcakes. I wish I could say the idea was my own but I have come across them on the internet a few times and my good friend Ros has made them and posted the recipe on her site, The More Than Occasional Baker.
It was this recipe that I used when I went to see my family a few days before my birthday.
Ferrero Rocher, for anyone who hasn't had one before, consist of a whole hazelnut surrounded by wafer, a 'velvety filling', smooth milk chocolate and finely chopped hazelnut pieces. The box also included three Ferrero Rondnoir, "a delicious combination of tastes and textures from fine wafer and rich velvety cocoa filling to a dark chocolate covered hazelnut at its heart", and three Raffaello - "delicate layers of wafer, an elegant velvety centre and a toasted almond, all finished with a sprinkling of coconut".
To recreate the Ferrero Rocher taste the cupcakes have a whole Ferrero Rocher baked inside! They consist of a chocolate cake, with Nutella frosting, topped with chopped nuts and drizzled with chocolate. Ros did two types of frosting on top of hers and topped them with a whole Ferrero Rocher but I didn't have enough of the chocolates to do this and decided a whole Ferrero Rocher was a big so instead I piped a swirl of buttercream, which I made from just icing sugar, butter and Nutella, sprinkled the chopped nuts over the top and then drizzled over some Choc Shot - this is a liquid chocolate that is designed to be used as a hot chocolate drink and has 85% less fat than leading brands of solid chocolate - but what I also like about it is that it's great to drizzle on cakes and desserts.
Check out the link above for the recipe itself which I followed other than the tweaks described above. Here's how I made the cakes:
Mixing up the batter
Here I've spooned a little of the cake mixture into each cake case then popped a Ferrero Rocher into the bottom of each cupcake case - I used gold cases to mimic the chocolate wrappers.
After filling up the cake cases and baking in the oven
Piping the Nutella buttercream on top in swirls with a star nozzle
Chopped nuts and Choc Shot
The cupcakes in all their glory
I'm sharing this with Alphabakes, the blog challenge hosted by myself and Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker - we have come to the end of the alphabet for the second time and our final letter is F.
Finally I'm sending these to Love Cake, hosted by Ness at JibberJabberUK. Her theme is 'signature bakes' and while I don't have one particular cake that I'm known for as I make something different every time, that's actually my signature - I'm known for unusual cakes, showstoppers and turning everyday sweets, chocolate and snacks into cake, which is what I've done here!
