Last Christmas we were in New York and came across the Magnolia Bakery at 401 Bleeckerstreet. This is the famous bakery where Carrie and Miranda of the TV series Sex and the City buy their favorite cupcakes. Magnolia uses beautiful pastel colors for the icing on the cupcakes. Not only do they look very pretty, they taste like heaven! So I was inspired to make our own Pomino version. I thought of using the fine taste and smell of Piemontese hazelnuts (tonda gentile) to create an Italian version.

Ingredients (approx. 24 cupcakes)

cupcakes

• 400 g flour
• 6 g baking powder
• 200 g butter (at room temperature)
• 400 g sugar
• 50 g hazelnut (preferably Tonda Gentile)
• 1 vanilla pod
• 4 large eggs
• 250 ml milk

hazelnut buttercream

• 200 g butter (at room temperature)
• 1.2 kg confectioners' sugar
• 2 table spoons hazelnut cream (Tonda Gentile)
• 1 vanilla pod
• 110 ml milk
• 1/2 table spoon cocoa

Tools

24 cupcake forms
1 clean plastic bag or piping bag

STEP 1 - prepare the cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 170 C. Now prepare the batter for the cupcakes. Combine the flour and the baking powder and mix well. In another bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter until you get a smooth paste. Add the sugar gradually and keep on beating the mixture. Now add the eggs one at a time and mix. Add the flour/baking powder mixture and the milk gradually until all ingredients are incorporated. Scrape out the vailla pods and mix the seeds with the batter. Do not overmix.

Fill the cupcake forms for three quarter and bake for 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes until they are at room temperature.

STEP 2 - prepare the buttercream

Put the soft butter in a mixing bowl and add the hazelnut cream, 800 g of sugar, the milk and the seeds from the vanilla pod. Beat with an electric mixer until you obtain a smooth mixture, about 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar and keep on beating until the mixture is thick. To provide a bit of color, add the cocoa powder.

STEP 3 - icing the cupcakes

Fill the piping bag with the buttercream and decorate the cupcakes.

You can keep the cupcakes for three days at room temperature but they are best eaten freshly baked.