‘Question…?’ Cupcakes

It’s been a while since the last instalment of my Taylor Swift Cupcakes series (where I’m baking my way through the album Midnights and creating a cupcake inspired by each song). I’ve already tackled the first 6 tracks of the album so, in today’s post, I’m tackling Track 7: Question…?. This one’s chocolatey, nutty & ever so slightly boozy- in other words, it’s super tasty!

Table of Contents

• The Question…? Cupcake: Explained
• Roasting the Hazelnuts
• Making the Chocolate & Hazelnut Cupcakes
• Making the Hazelnut Praline
• Preparing the Ferrero Rocher Chocolates
• Making the Chocolate & Hazelnut Whipped Cream Icing
• Decorating the Cupcakes
• Recipe

The Question…? Cupcake: Explained

The Question…? Cupcake is comprised of 4 main elements:

• Chocolate & hazelnut cake
• Amaretto, chocolate & hazelnut whipped cream icing
• Hazelnut praline
• Gold Ferrero Rocher ‘meteor’

There’s not a huge amount of food-related inspiration to draw on in this particular song, so I had to use a little bit of artistic license when creating this cupcake. I’ve mainly drawn on two specific lines from the lyrics:

‘It was one drink after another‘

and

‘Does it feel like everything’s just like second-best after that meteor strike?‘.

I was brainstorming ways to decorate the cupcake to reflect the concept of a meteor strike and I kept coming back to Ferrero Rocher chocolates. If you’ve never seen these before, they’re these (expensive- WHY SO EXPENSIVE?!) chocolate & hazelnut truffles, that come individually wrapped in gold foil. Once unwrapped, they have a pretty distinctive, knobbly (for lack of a better word) appearance, which comes from the chopped hazelnuts that the truffles are covered in, before their final dunking in chocolate. They’ve always reminded me a little of space rocks, so I figured they’d make a great ‘meteor’ for this cupcake.

I decided to run with the flavours of the Ferrero Rocher (i.e. chocolate and hazelnut) and use that combination as the basis for these cupcakes. I also added some alcohol, even though I’m usually not a huge fan of alcohol in bakes (but it actually really works here- amaretto is one of the few spirits I actually like, so it all works out!), to reflect the reference to alcohol in the song.

Essentially then, the cupcakes are standard chocolate cupcakes, studded with tiny pieces of freshly roasted hazelnuts. The whipped cream icing is combined with warmed chocolate hazelnut spread and Amaretto liqueur (a combination I first came across in this Yule Log recipe, by Edd Kimber, of Great British Bake Off fame, and which I have been obssessed with ever since). The Ferrero Rocher chocolates are painted gold using edible lustre dust (because, of course), then shards of homemade hazelnut praline are also adorned with gold and arranged to look like the fiery path of the meteor as it falls.

Roasting the Hazelnuts

To get the maximum amount of flavour out of the hazelnuts, which we’ll be using in both the cupcakes and the praline, you need to roast (or toast) them. There are a few different ways you can do this:

• On the hob:

This is the fastest method, but the nuts won’t be quite as evenly roasted all the way through- so the flavour won’t be quite as deep. Place the nuts into a dry pan over medium-high heat and shake every now and then until golden and smelling super nutty. Tip them out onto a clean plate and allow them to cool completely before chopping/grinding as needed.

• In the oven:

This takes a little longer, but produces perfectly, evenly roasted nuts with an intensely nutty flavour. Spread the nuts onto a baking tray, in an even layer and place into a 180°C oven (conventional oven). Allow to roast for 6-8 minutes, until evenly golden. Again, allow to cool completely before chopping/grinding as needed.

• In an airfryer:

This one’s a bit rogue, but airfryers are actually amazing at roasting nuts- you get the same effect as roasting them in the oven, but it’s faster, because you don’t need to wait for the airfryer to come to temperature beforehand. Simply tip the nuts into the airfryer, then fry (airfry? bake? I don’t know…) for 6-8 minutes at 180°C, until evenly golden and smelling delicious. As with the other two methods, allow the nuts to cool completely before chopping/grinding as needed.

In total, for this recipe, you’ll need 100g of roasted hazelnuts (50g for the cupcakes, 50g for the praline). I like to roast all the hazelnuts at the start of the process, so they have plenty of time to cool before I need them.

Making the Chocolate & Hazelnut Cupcakes

To make the cupcakes, start by finely grinding half of the roasted hazelnuts in a food processor. Aim for a texture similar to that of the ground almonds that you would buy in the supermarket (like in the above photo), but be careful not to overdo it- if you grind the hazelnuts for too long, they will release their oils and you’ll end up with hazelnut butter- fun and delicious, but not what we want here. Don’t worry if you have a few slightly bigger pieces of hazelnut- it will just add a bit more texture!

I used my favourite All-In-One Method to make the chocolate cake batter. This method is great because it’s so quick and easy- perfect for if you’re in a hurry, are feeling low on energy or just want to focus on the other elements of your cake. You can read more about this method in this post– which includes a detailed step-by-step walkthrough of how to make the perfect cake batter using this technique.

Essentially, all you need to do is put all of the cake batter ingredients (bar the ground hazelnuts) into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix everything together on medium-low speed until the dry ingredients are incorporated, then turn the speed up to full power and whisk until you have a smooth, fluffy batter.

Once the cake batter is ready, you can fold in the hazelnuts.

Adding the hazelnuts with the initial ingredients can interfere with how the batter whips up, so it’s best to wait until the end and fold them in by hand.

Once the batter is ready, it’s time to fill the cupcake cases. Divide the batter equally between the 12 cases (I like to use a regular-sized ice cream scoop to ensure all of the cupcakes are the same size), then bake the cupcakes at 170°C (conventional oven) for 25-30 minutes, or until the cupcakes spring back when touched gently.

As soon as the cupcakes come out of the oven, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating. Removing them from the tray immediately after they come out of the oven will prevent the bottoms of the cases from becoming oily- just be careful not to burn your fingers!

Making the Hazelnut Praline

To make the praline, start by roughly chopping the remaining half of the roasted hazelnuts.

Spread the chopped hazelnuts onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, and set aside somewhere near the stove, ready for later.

Place the sugar into a saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Without stirring, allow the sugar to melt over the heat and begin to turn a deep caramel colour.

Once the sugar has completely melted and the caramel is a deep golden colour, take it off the heat. The caramel will be super hot at this stage, so be very careful!

Immediately pour the hot caramel over the nuts, aiming to cover as many of the nuts as possible.

Allow the praline to sit at room temperature until completely cool. It will harden as it cools, so, once cold, you’ll be able to snap it into little shards, ready to decorate the cupcakes with. Don’t be tempted to put the praline into the fridge to speed up the process- sugar gets super sticky if you leave it into a cold, humid environment like the fridge! If you want to make the praline ahead of time, place the cooled shards into an airtight container and leave at room temperature until you’re ready to use them.

Preparing the Ferrero Rocher Chocolates

While the cupcakes are cooling and the praline is setting, you can prepare the Ferrero Rocher chocolates, by painting them with gold lustre dust. This is optional, but it adds a bit of pizzazz to the cupcakes and helps to give the chocolates more of a ‘meteor’ look.

Unwrap the chocolates and set them on a baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper.

In a small bowl or cup, mix some gold lustre dust with a splash of vanilla extract, until you have a similar consistency to a watercolour paint. Don’t bother using a really good quality vanilla extract here- we’re not using it for taste at this point, so a cheap one will work just as well.

Using a clean, food-safe paintbrush, paint each chocolate all over with the gold ‘paint’. Leave them to set at room temperature while you prepare the icing.

If, like me, you’re feeling a bit extra and have some lustre dust ‘paint’ leftover, you can also add little streaks of gold to the praline shards, to tie everything together. Just paint directly onto the cooled shards and set them aside with the chocolates to set before assembling the cakes.

Making the Chocolate & Hazelnut Whipped Cream Icing

This whipped cream icing is SO easy to make, but incredibly delicious. As I mentioned, this is an adapted version of the icing used in Edd Kimber’s Chocolate Hazelnut Bûche De Noël recipe, which I actually made last year and LOVED, so it seemed like the perfect icing to use here. It does include a little bit of alcohol (specifically, amaretto), but, if you would prefer to make these alcohol-free, just leave it out! The icing will still taste delicious without it.

To make the icing, place the cream, sugar and vanilla bean paste into a large bowl and whisk to soft peaks.

Add the amaretto (if using) and continue whisking until the cream reaches medium peaks.

Gently warm the chocolate hazelnut spread to loosen it- this will help you incorporate it into the cream. I do this in the microwave, on the lowest temperature setting, in 15 second increments, until the spread is nice and fluid, but not hot. If the spread is too hot, it will melt the cream- not the vibe!

Fold the warmed hazelnut spread into the cream.

Once everything is completely incorporated and you have a smooth, pale brown icing, transfer it to a piping bag, fitted with a large, open star tip, ready to pipe onto the cupcakes.

Decorating the Cupcakes

To assemble the cupcakes, start by piping on the whipped cream icing. I went for this double-height swirl, which looks impressive but is super easy to create.

Just start in the middle of the cupcake, applying gentle pressure, then work your way out to the edge and continue all around the edge of the cake. Without releasing the pressure, continue up on top of the layer of icing you just piped, in a spiral. Work around the outer edge, then come inwards, finishing up in the centre by gently releasing your pressure on the bag.

To finish off the cakes, add a gold Ferrero Rocher ‘meteor’ to the top of each cupcake, placing it slightly off centre to leave room for the praline.

Nestle a couple of praline shards in next to each chocolate to mimic the fiery meteor trail and you’re done! ‘Question…?’ Cupcakes, ready to be enjoyed.

The cupcakes are best served immediately, because of the cream icing and the sugary praline. However, they will keep in the fridge for a couple of days if needed. If you plan to store them in the fridge, I would recommend leaving the praline off and adding the shards just before you serve the cakes, so that the sugar doesn’t become sticky.

Recipe