Nutella Frosting
Hello friends! Today I am showing you this super easy recipe for Nutella Frosting!
This is one of my favorite frostings, and it can be used on cakes, cupcakes, cookies, macarons, what have you!
This recipe for Nutella frosting makes enough to cover a 6″ 3-layer cake, a 8″ 2-layer cake, or 24 cupcakes.
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Let’s begin with the cream cheese and butter.
You can use just butter if you wish, however I don’t recommend using just cream cheese for this recipe.
The cream cheese won’t be sturdy enough to frost cakes, unless you only want to spread the frosting on top of the cake, without needing it to be firm and hold in place.
Cream the butter and the cream cheese together for 3 to 4 minutes, until fluffy.
Make sure that the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature, not too cold, but not warm either. The butter should be firm, but softened.
If the butter and cream cheese are too soft, you will have problems. The frosting will be too thin and runny.
To troubleshoot that, you can place the frosting in the fridge for a few minutes and then try to cream it back again, but I really recommend starting with the ingredients at the optimal temperature, which is softened but not warm.
Add that marvelous Nutella to the bowl, and cream again, until combined and creamy.
Time to add the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. It’s best to sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder before adding them so you don’t end up with a lumpy frosting.
Mix the dry ingredients on low, until combined. And then add the vanilla and cream on medium high until incorporated.
And ta-da! You will end up with a luscious, shiny, delicious looking frosting!
If the frosting is too runny, add more sifted powdered sugar to adjust consistency, or insert the bowl of frosting in the fridge for a few minutes, if the case is that the butter and cream cheese were too soft.
And if the frosting is too stiff, add a teaspoon or so of water or milk to thin out the frosting, and mix in between before adding more liquid.
Here are some suggestions on how to use this frosting. The following cakes and cupcakes can totally be frosted with this Nutella Frosting.
- Chocolate Strawberry Cake
- Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes
- Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake
- Walnut Chocolate Cake
- Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cake
- S’mores Cake
Or you can use any of my Chocolate Cupcakes such as this one (Click here to see the recipe for Alfajores Cupcakes), and top with the Nutella Frosting.
And here are some more Nutella recipes:
If you make this recipe please tag me on instagram, I love to see your creations! Thanks for reading my blog!
Nutella Frosting
Equipment
- Electric mixer
- Sifter
- Spatula
Ingredients
Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup cream cheese softened 226 grams, 8 oz
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature 113 grams, 4 oz
- 2/3 cup Nutella 176 grams, 6.2 oz
- 3 cups powdered sugar 375 grams, 9.7 oz
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder 31 grams, 1 oz
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting
- Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Cream at medium-high speed for 5 minutes, until very fluffy and light in color. Scrape the bowl in between.
- Add Nutella and cream for another minute.
- Sift powdered sugar and cocoa powder together.
- With the mixer off, add sifted powdered sugar and cocoa powder to the bowl.
- Mix on low until incorporated.
- Raise speed to medium-high and cream for 1 minute until creamy.
- If you notice the frosting is too runny, add a bit more sifted powdered sugar to firm it up. And if you notice the frosting is too stiff, add a teaspoon of milk or water at a time until the frosting becomes smooth and creamy.
- Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.
Storage
- Store this frosting in the fridge, covered. If you want to use it on the next day, let it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour until it softens up, and then cream it until fluffy, for 1 or 2 minutes.
Despite having six cups of powdered sugar in it, this frosting is not sweet at all. I wonder if it was the cocoa powder. I put it on cupcakes, which I don’t make too sweet because the frosting should be sweet enough. The combo of cupcake/frosting was almost bitter. And I made a double batch too! Ugh. Can’t take them to work.
The double batch of frosting was good for 36 cupcakes, but would have to be spread thin to cover 48. I didn’t put it on too thick for my 36 and had only a little left over. FYI.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I’m sorry to hear the frosting didn’t turn out as sweet as expected. The cocoa powder could definitely contribute a touch of bitterness, especially if using a natural or dark cocoa. but this frosting not only had a lot of nutella but also a lot of powdered sugar. And just a bit of cocoa powder. Not sure what could have happened.
Hi, the frosting tastes amazing! But it wasn’t stable enough to be able to pipe my cupcakes 🙁 I’m from South India where the weather is hot and humid. Is that why my frosting isn’t stable? Previously I had done vanilla cream cheese frosting and it was stable. What am I doing wrong?
First thing is to ensure you’ve used cream cheese blocks, and not cream cheese spread.
Next thing would be to ensure the cream cheese and butter are not too soft, but at room temperature instead.
If needed, put them back in the fridge for a bit.
And lastly, you can add more powdered sugar to make the frosting firm up and have a thicker consistency.
Hi could I put less powdered sugar? It sounds too sweet for me, but will it effect the texture of the frosting?
you can try putting less, but the frosting might not be firm enough, might be too runny.
If reducing the amount of sugar to decrease sweetness, how about adding powdered coffee (not too much). It might make for a “adult” flavouring?
I sometimes add espresso powder to my frosting. But no more than 2 tsp. And make sure to add either espresso powder or instant coffee powder, because regular coffee powder won’t dissolve, and it will be grainy in the frosting.
Parabéns, Camila!! Ficaram lindos!!🤗👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Obrigada mae!
Que delícia!!!!!! Gostei muito e muito fácil pra fazer!!!!!
Obrigada pai!! Sim faz pras meninas elas vao amar num bolo assim!!!