Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

It’s easy, it has only five ingredients and it tastes like a rich and decadent Oreo cookie magically turned into a cake.  I like to add a little espresso powder to the batter for a little something deeper in flavor, but you can make it without and it will still be awesome. You may also want to add a tiny splash of your favorite liqueur to up the fancy factor a bit, if you’d like.  I’ve made about a hundred different versions of this cake in all different pans with all different additions and toppings, and I know it pretty much works no matter what you do to it.  How many baking recipes are like that?  Not many.

That’s why I love it.

Flourless chocolate cake recipes are all over the place in their quantities, generally speaking.  Some are really eggy and fluffy and others are more rich, like a torte or brownies and you can kind of tell what it’s going to end up like just by reading the recipe and seeing how many eggs it has relative to the amount of chocolate.  You can’t really go wrong with any of the recipes since there’s no flour in any of them, it’s almost like cooking instead of baking. As long as it’s sweet enough and not too sweet and packs enough chocolate punch, it’s going to work.  The only recommendation I have for you is to use good chocolate.   This recipe only calls for 4 ounces, so you might as well get a small bar of the fairly good stuff.   It’s worth it.

Add whatever you’d like on top.  Powdered sugar, strawberries, raspberries.  It’s a versatile little recipe since there are so few ingredients. I hope you love it as much as I do.  It’s my standard go-to easy recipe.  This particular cupcake shown in the photo was filled with warmed hot fudge and topped with freshly sliced strawberries.  I skimmed the seeds off of one whole berry and placed it in the center of the top of the fudge filled cupcake and the juices of the berry released and dripped into the hot fudge underneath it.  It was delicious.

I have to run now, though.  Max just shared this with me and is now completely wild, hopped up on sugar and streaking through the house covered in chocolate.

Ah, the joys of parenting.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

• 4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 extra large eggs, thoroughly beaten
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus additional for dusting the pan

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F and butter 12 cup muffin/cupcake pan.  Dust each cup with cocoa powder.

Note: If you’re having trouble getting the sides of the muffin cups dusted, you can dip a pastry brush into cocoa powder and brush the sides of each cup lightly with the cocoa powder.

Chop chocolate and butter into pieces and drop into a glass bowl. Microwave on high for one minute.  Stir and repeat heating in thirty second intervals until completely melted.  Add brown sugar and whisk until smooth.  Add beaten eggs and whisk well.  Sift 3/4 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour batter evenly into cupcake pan and bake in middle of oven until  fragrant and tops have formed a thin crust, or about ten minutes. Cool cakes in pan on a rack for about two minutes and gently  remove and place onto cooling rack.

Add seasonal berries and chocolate sauce if desired.

Adapted from Gourmet, November 1997