Recipe: Semi-Sweet Chocolate-Hazelnut Buttercream Frosting

My father's birthday was a couple of weekends ago, and I was asked to provide a gluten free dessert that everyone could enjoy - so I decided to bake gluten free yellow cupcakes, with choices of buttercream or chocolate frosting. The first thing I did was research online, where I found this recipe. I was extremely happy with the results - though it's important to note that you have to be sure to use superfine white rice flour to make sure the cake isn't too gritty.

The buttercream frosting I used was pretty simple and straightforward - I used a modified version of Betty Crocker's recipe, with the following ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup melted butter (I never, ever use margarine here)
  
• 4 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
  

However, the piece de resistance was the chocolate-hazelnut buttercream frosting recipe that I created. For inspiration I took the above buttercream frosting recipe, and the back of the Hershey's baking chocolate box.

Semi-Sweet Chocolate-Hazelnut Buttercream Frosting

Disclaimer: Vince does not eat chocolate so I did not verify that Nutella is actually gluten free.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 3 cups confectioner's sugar (this really is semi-sweet - I'd recommend using 4 cups if you like sweeter frosting)
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup powdered unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup nutella

Directions:

1. Mix butter, shortening, until fluffy. Add sugar 1 cup at a time until everything is well blended.
   
2. Add cocoa, salt, vanilla extract, whipping cream, mix. Add Nutella. Add additional whipping cream by the Tbsp if necessary. Beat on high speed until fluffy.

The cupcakes turned out very well - everyone enjoyed them and other than a slightly chewy consistency it was hard to tell they were gluten free. The semi-sweet chocolate frosting also went over well - my parents aren't big fans of super-sweet chocolate.