Ingredients
- Cupcakes:
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1/2 cup Ovaltine Chocolate Malt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- Buttercream:
- 1/2 recipe Vanilla Buttercream
- 1/2 cup Nutella
- Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- (This makes enough to cover one 8-inch cake, plus more for piping decorations)
- 1 cup egg whites (about 8 egg whites)
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 pounds unsalted butter, room temperature
- Pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center of the oven. Line muffin tins with 24 cupcake liners.
Whisk together the flour, Ovaltine, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
Combine the melted butter with the sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla, mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.
Add a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix to combine on low speed. Add half of the buttermilk and mix to combine. Repeat with another third of the flour and the rest of the buttermilk, ending with the last third of flour, mixing after each addition. Mix the cake batter on medium-low speed for 1 minute.
Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners, not filling more than half way. You may end up having to fill a few more cupcake liners, but don’t overfill.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before decorating.
For Frosting:
In the bowl of your stand mixer combine the egg whites and sugar. It will be very thick and grainy.
Put the bowl over a double boiler and stir it with a rubber spatula until the sugar is completely melted. This can take several minutes. You want to brush the sides down with the spatula to make sure all the sugar is melted and no grains are clinging to the sides.
Feel the egg mixture between your fingers to check for graininess. Once it is completely smooth and has no grains left, put it on your stand mixer and beat with the whip attachment on medium high speed.
Beat it until it is light, fluffy, glossy and the bowl feels just about room temperature. If the whites are not cooled off sufficiently it will melt the butter when you add it.
Once the egg whites are whipped and cooled, add the butter to it, 2 tablespoons at a time on medium speed.
WARNING: After you have added about half of the butter, it may look curdled and runny, this is normal and you should continue adding the rest of the butter.
Once you have finished adding the butter and it has mixed on medium speed for about a minute the buttercream should be creamy and glossy looking again.* Add the salt, vanilla and any flavorings you choose.
*If the buttercream is still runny at this point, it may be that your butter or egg whites were too warm. Just place the bowl in the refrigerator for about 3 minutes and stir, then repeat in the refrigerator for another 3 minutes and stir. This will chill the butter, but the stirring will prevent it from solidifying too much. Repeat this until it is the right consistency.