This Nutella Buttercream recipe is the perfect topping for chocolate or Nutella flavoured cupcakes, traybakes, loaf cakes, brownies and other bakes. You could even use it to jazz up a plain Victoria sponge.
My kids, like most, absolutely love Nutella.
If I’m being completely honest, I’m also partial to a slice (or 5) of Nutella on warm toast. It’s so nice when it’s all melted in.
Baking with Nutella is something that we really enjoy. It’s got such a thick, sticky texture and rich creamy taste that make this chocolate hazelnut spread perfect for adding to a huge range of sweet treats.
We particularly love Nutella Loaf Cake, Nutella Traybake and Nutella Muffins which are all super simple and great for baking with kids.
Can You Make Nutella Buttercream?
I love buttercream icing. It’s a great topping to any kind of cake, and you can quite easily adjust the ratio to get the taste how you want it.
For my basic buttercream, I use equal parts butter (not margarine) and icing sugar. If I’m adding different flavours, like my coffee buttercream, I sometimes use 1 part butter and 2 parts icing sugar for a sweeter flavour.
Personally, I prefer the creamier flavour of an equal ratio for this one.
I also find that a creamier buttercream makes it easier to add other flavours, and Nutella is perfect.
This Nutella Buttercream Recipe is super simple, always tastes amazing and it’s really easy to adjust the consistency or flavour to suit you.
Frosting made with Nutella is perfect for piping or spreading onto cakes of all shapes and sizes, and Nutella topping for cake is always a hit in our house!
Ingredients for Nutella Frosting
For my easy Nutella buttercream icing I use:
Butter – Preferably unsalted, and not margarine. Leave this to come to room temperature so that it’s easier to soften.
Icing Sugar – If you want a richer chocolate flavour, remove maybe 30g of icing sugar and replace it with cocoa powder. I don’t do this.
Nutella – Or a store-own Chocolate Hazlenut spread
Milk – You may need to add a little milk if it’s too stiff to pipe, you might not though, beat it all together first.
How Do You Make Nutella Buttercream?
So, how to make Nutella buttercream frosting?!
It’s sooo easy!
I start by beating my butter so that it’s much softer. Then I beat in the icing sugar, before stirring through the Nutella.
That’s it.
If it’s too runny, add more sugar or some cocoa, if it’s too stiff (more likely) add a tiny splash of milk. But if you are adding anything, only add little bits at a time.
What You Need to Make Nutella Buttercream Frosting
You can use a stand mixer to make your Nutella chocolate icing but honestly I just beat it all together with a wooden spoon in a large mixing bowl.
Can You Colour Nutella Buttercream?
Colouring buttercream is like colouring hair. It’s easy to go darker, but quite hard to go lighter.
Same with cake mix, you can turn a cake bright red with good colouring, but you’d struggle to make a traditional Victoria sponge anything lighter than its natural light brown colour.
Because Nutella cupcake frosting is fairly dark to start with, you can only really make it darker. Dark brown or black food colouring would darken it, but it won’t get any lighter than its natural colour. I’m afraid Easy Nutella Buttercream is always likely to be a shade of brown.
Can You Freeze Nutella Buttercream?
You can freeze Nutella Buttercream. But I often find that any buttercream goes a little grainy once thawed.
You can usually smooth out the texture by beating through a little milk.
Freeze in a sealed, airtight tub and thaw slowly in the fridge when you are ready to use it.
How to Make Nutella Cake
You can add Nutella Icing to a Chocolate Sponge, but if you want to make a Nutella cake, see my loaf cake recipe, or my traybake recipe.
Nutella Buttercream
Ingredients
- 200 g Unsalted Butter (At room temperature)
- 200 g Icing Sugar
- 300 g Nutella (At room temperature)
Instructions
- Cut the butter into small chunks or cubes with a sharp knife and place in a mixing bowl.
- Beat until soft (you can do this by hand, or with an electric mixer).
- Add the icing sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is smooth.
- Carefully fold through the Nutella until evenly mixed.
- Pipe or spread onto your favourite bakes and enjoy.
Notes
- This makes enough Nutella Buttercream to ice around 12 cupcakes or to pipe swirls onto a medium-size cake. You can increase, or decrease accordingly, just keep the ratios the same.
- If your Nutella is very firm, warm it up for a few seconds in the microwave, or stir it to soften it up a little before adding.
- If your Nutella Buttercream is too stiff, add a tiny splash of milk and stir through. Add more as needed, but only a little at a time.
- If it’s too runny, beat in a tablespoon of icing sugar. Again, add more as needed, but only a little at a time.
Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.
