Homemade Nutella Buttercream Frosting

Last Saturday, my lovely friend Stephanie celebrated her baby shower.  It was a B-E-A-U-tiful spring day in Virginia and we had a great turnout for the shower.  My friends Lindsay and Molly, plus myself, coordinated and planned this cute shower for Stephanie.

When we were thinking of details and decorations, a French-themed baby shower seemed like a no-brainer.  Stephanie studied French in college and even studied in France for a time.  Personally, I was introduced to Stephanie's love of France when she had some gals come over and watch Les Miserables on DVD.  She knew all the lines and songs by heart and told us fun facts about the production.  It was a cool experience and made me love the film/musical even more.

We used team work to come up with a variety of French foods and decorations for this brunch baby shower.  For foods, we had quiche, croissants, fruit salad, and French toast casserole.  And a MIMOSA BAR.  As for the decorations, I made a burlap Bonjour Bebe banner and Molly found some adorable Eiffel Tower mason jars, in which she put some gorgeous hydrangeas.  

For dessert, I made some of Erin McKenna's gluten-free/vegan doughnuts from her Babycakes Covers the Classics cookbook - a favorite, go-to doughnut recipe!  I also made macarons as favors, plus these lovely chocolate cupcakes with my Homemade Nutella Buttercream frosting.  All the foods there were a big hit - but I'll let you in on the secret of my yummy icing recipe!

For the cupcakes, I used my reliable and simple chocolate cupcake recipe.  I left the booze out of these cupcakes this time - ya know, for the preggo people ;-)

Homemade Nutella Buttercream Frosting
Adapted from Wilton

1 c. organic non-hydrogenated shortening, like Spectrum
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 to 3 c. vegan powdered sugar
approximately 1 c. homemade knockoff Nutella, recipe here

For the icing:
Beat the shortening, vanilla, and Nutella in a large mixing bowl.  Gradually add the powdered sugar until everything is combined well, scraping the sides as needed.  The icing should be pretty firm.

I only added about 2.5 cups of powdered sugar to the icing.  If you want a stiffer icing, add the full 3 cups.  It also depends what type of piping you plan on doing :-)

That's it!  It's quite a delicious recipe.

For the piping, I used my trusty Wilton 1M tip for rose-making.  Here's a link to my original tutorial.

These cupcakes received some good reviews; I hope they will get you some good reviews too!

Cheers,
-Aileen