Nutella Cupcakes

I love early mornings, there is a day ahead that can hold so many possibilities. Tiarnán & Fionn share a bedroom, which is right beside my room. Mornings usually start with one wakening the other and a little chit-chat ensues about plans for their day ahead. It's always a lovely start to the day earwigging on their whisperings. The innocent banter and the elaborate scenarios they conjure up, while still tucked up tightly under their duvets, always makes me smile.  

Fionn age 4 & Tiarnán age 6 with Lulu the dog.

Sometimes their plans aren't too unrealistic and yesterday morning their thoughts were focused on baking, with the main ingredient of choice being chocolate. After breakfast they flicked through some cookbooks, for inspiration, before deciding on making some buns. They both love the occasional slice of bread with Nutella so what better to incorporate into their icing than a few spoonfuls of this sweet chocolate spread. They were delighted with how they turned out and straight after lunch they enjoyed one with a big mug of hot chocolate. However it wasn't long before they had their wellies back on and a pirate adventure was under-way in the back garden. They are busy bees that are so full of energy and always on the go. Watching their fun and games make me very grateful to have such healthy young men.

Nutella Cupcakes 

Ingredients
100g softened butter
50g cream cheese {Philadelphia}
300g icing sugar, sieved
100g Nutella
1 tbsp cocoa powder, sieved

To decorate
Sweets/chocolate of choice or
Roasted hazelnuts, chopped 

Method
1. Place the softened butter and cream cheese in a large bowl and blend well.
2. Slowly add the icing sugar and continue to blend. Add the nutella and cocoa powder, blend until nice and fluffy.
3. Put in the fridge for 15mins.
4. Put a large spoonful of icing on top of each bun and spread evenly.
5. Top with some sweets or chopped roasted hazelnuts.

Jack is always a great help in the kitchen.

On tasting the icing it was declared not 'chocolatey' enough so a spoonful of cocoa was added!

I think all children love to get creative with how they top their buns.

If the boys are doing something then Millie has to get stuck in too!

Fionn decorates with little icing but lots of sweets- just the way he likes them!

Job well done!

Millie can't wait for the taste test.

Until Jack mentioned it to me yesterday, I had completely forgot that my blog would of celebrated it's 2nd birthday at the beginning of this week. A lot has happened in the past two years. I love to write and to take photos but for most of my time I'm a stay at home mam to four, so this is a wonderful hobby for me. I've had many amazing experiences and opportunities in the past couple of years, which all really came from blogging. Thanks for coming on this journey with me and as always I'm grateful for your feedback through comments, e-mails and tweets.