Hazelnut cupcakes with Nutella^®

STEPS

1. 

   For the cupcakes:
   Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F) and position the baking rack in the middle of the oven.
   With a whisk, cream the butter and the sugar for 5 minutes. Then mix the eggs and the ground hazelnuts in.
   In another bowl, sift together the flour, the baking powder and the salt then fold in the butter and egg mixture until just combined
    

2. 

   Spoon the batter into 10 muffin paper cups and bake for 20-25 minutes, (or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean)
   Let the cupcakes cool down on a wire rack 

3. 

   Using a small knife, cut the top of each cupcake and spoon out a little bit of the crumb (you will use as cupcake lid later)
   With a piping bag, fill each cupcake with 15g of Nutella^® and top with the lid
    

4. 

   For the meringue:
   In a small pan, heat 150g of sugar and the water until it reaches 118° C (245° F)
   In the meantime, whisk the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer, gradually adding 35g of sugar until soft peaks form
   Once the sugar syrup reaches 118° C (245° F), turn up the speed of the mixer and pour the syrup along the sides of the bowl. Continue whisking until the bowl sides are barely warm

5. 

   Fill a piping bag with the meringue and pipe it on top of the cupcakes

6. 

   Caramelize the meringue using a blow torch or, alternatively, under the oven broiler set at the highest temperature