CHOCOLATE AND CHICKPEA CUPCAKES WITH NUTELLA AND SOUR CREAM FROSTING-Gluten-free

Today it is World Nutella Day, well at least among food bloggers around the world. In Italy almost everyone likes Nutella, it has a huge following and I can't imagine that there many who haven't tried it or one of its many imitations in this country. Children love it of course and many carry that love with them into adult age. But what is Nutella you ask because even though Nutella is sold in over 75 countries, I am well aware of the enormous amount of people who don't know what it is and I don't blame them for it because after all it is only a chocolaty almond and hazelnut cream/spread!



The background to the initiative to the World Nutella Day is not commercial but purely a passionate one, two of my friends, Sara from Ms.Adventures in Italy and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso, are the guilty ones for making us inundate the food blogosphere with Nutella today but who will hold that against them, I know I won't! If you check in on their Nutella blog on the 8th of February, they will make a roundup of all the entries and I am sure there will be a lot of them, ranging from declarations of love to recipes. I'm going for a recipe and a gluten-free made with chickpea flour for that, but I can assure you that it is for everyone, not only for those of us who have to hold a gf diet. All three of my children went nuts about these cupcakes, they finished them off in record time (but I have to confess that I helped them a little) asking for more and they are neither gf nor particularly easy to satisfy, many are the cakes I make that go untouched by them.




I made two versions, one plain chocolate one and one with candied orange peel and Grand Marnier, you choose the one you want to make, I liked them both.





CHOCOLATE AND CHICKPEA CUPCAKES WITH NUTELLA AND SOUR CREAM FROSTING-Gluten-free
12 cupcakes

cupcakes:
3 eggs
200 g/7 oz sugar
100 ml/ 0,42 cup of vegetable oil, I used sunflower seed oil but you can use canola oil as well
150 g/ chickpea flour
4 tblsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 tblsp chopped candied orange peel, optional
2 tblsp Grand Marnier or some other citrus liqueur

frosting:
300 g/ Nutella
200 g/ 7 oz sour cream

-Whisk eggs and sugar white and fluffy in a bowl. Add the canola oil and mix well.
- Sift chickpea flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into the batter and stir until well incorporated. If you choose to make the orange version, this is when you add the candied orange peel and the liqueur.
- Spoon the batter into cupcake forms and bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for about 10 minutes but do check with a toothpick to see if they are ready, they don't need to be completely dry as they are even nicer if they are a little on the moist side.
- While the cupcakes cool down, whisk sour cream and Nutella until smooth and shiny and then pipe the cream on top of the cupcakes.
- Eat!