Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

I decided to leave this post 'til after the Daring Bakers post was up just because I didn't want anyone to think that I was giving out the February 2009 challenge before the actual posting date. What do these two recipes have in common? They're both versions of the flourless chocolate cake. The next recipe from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson is Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes.

First, I melted the chocolate and the butter together.

I then beat the eggs, yolks, and the sugar in a separate bowl.

In a small bowl, I mixed cocoa powder and almond meal together.

This is how the egg and sugar batter was after beating. It was nice and thick.

I folded the chocolate mixture into the batter...

...and then I mixed the almond meal/chocolate mixture into it.

The batter was put into foil liners, instead of paper liners.

The instructions said to take them out immediately when they puffed up.

I don't know how they were supposed to turn out. The little caption said that they'd be molten and to serve with ice cream and cocoa powder. They ended up deflating and weren't molten like those molten cakes. They seemed more like when you open up a raw cupcake. Maybe I did something wrong.

I really wouldn't make these again. Maybe I did something wrong, or maybe this is what the author meant by molten. The taste was incredible though. It wasn't too sweet, and had a bit of nuttiness due to the almond meal. If someone finds out what I did wrong, or what I can do to improve this, it would really be appreciated!

This recipe included one variation, but since I didn't find the batter sweet, I didn't bother making it:
For a less-sweet version, decrease sugar to 1/2 cup.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes
*makes 12 cupcakes*

Ingredients:
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp almond meal
1 tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350F.
2) Line muffin pan with foil liners.
3) In a microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Microwave, uncovered, on High for 60 to 80 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until butter is melted and chocolate is soft. Stir until smooth and chocolate is melted. Set aside and let cool slightly.
4) In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat eggs, egg yolks, and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes or until thick, pale, and consistency of soft whipped cream.
5) Fold half of the chocolate mixture into egg mixture. Fold in remaining chocolate mixture. In a small bowl, combine almond meal and cocoa powder. Sift dry ingredient over top of batter and gently fold in until incorporated.
6) Scoop batter into prepared pan and place on baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 12 minutes or until tops of cupcakes are just puffed up. Let cool in pan on rack for 3 minutes. Serve the cupcakes directly in the foil liners placed on individual plates with a spoon for easy scooping.



Recipe from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson