What I’m Reading
Jul
6
Something you may or may not know about me: I love to cook. My special brand of cooking is less following recipes, more improvisation, which in some cases produces amazing results and in some (rare) cases produces a meal fit for the garbage can. So I signed up for Nic and RA’s Whip It Up Challenge, where a whole bunch of us are going to try one new recipe a week right up through August. The suggested theme for the first week was pasta, so I made this awesome dish with cavatappi and artichokes and a whole bunch of deliciousness and when I went to upload the pictures I got the dreaded message: CARD READ ERROR.
Nooooooo!
So I had to decide on another recipe quickly, and since I just got the new KitchenAid mixer I wanted really badly to literally whip something up. Luckily, the lovely Allie had just sent me her tried and true recipe for flourless chocolate cupcakes. NPW: Baker Extraordinaire!
I started out by gathering up all the ingredients, something that would never normally happen in NPW’s world of cooking, since half the time I don’t know what I’ll end up adding in “to taste”. For this recipe I needed eight large eggs (that’s a lot of cracking!), two sticks of butter because it’s a good blood thinner, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 10 ounces or 1 2/3 cup of dark chocolate chips (I used 70% cacao, but you just need anything above 60%), 1/4 cup water, 1 tsp. instant coffee, and powdered sugar for dusting the tops of the cupcakes. I skipped the powdered sugar because Whole Foods tried to con me into paying $8.99 for a small box and I already had to buy instant coffee. I ain’t no fool, Whole Foods, even if your packaging is pretty.
No idea what I’m going to do with the rest of that instant coffee, now that I think of it. Anyway, I chopped up all the butter into chunks.
After chunking up the butter I realized I had no idea what I was doing, since I didn’t have the recipe in front of me. IPod touch to the rescue! I love that this thing has WiFi, it’s like having an electronic recipe card. Ohhh, right, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
After rereading the recipe I remembered I should get the eggs going first, so I cracked all the eggs into a big ass Pyrex and scooped out the numerous shell bits. My impatience does not pay off in baking, apparently.
YAAAAAAAAY MIXER!
On high for five minutes, until the eggs double in size. While those were getting whipped into shape, I threw the butter, water, instant coffee, and chocolate chips into a saucepan.
Chris decided halfway through this process to come in and pester me with questions and comments on how I could do things more efficiently. Which, in case you didn’t realize, is totally annoying. I shooed him away, but not before he mentioned I should have used a bigger saucepan. Who’s cooking here, anyway, me or Chris?!
Of course he was right, which was even more annoying. So I scraped all the gooey chocolate mixture into a bigger saucepan and added the granulated sugar, stirring it until it was smooth.
Then I folded in a third of the egg mixture until fully incorporated, and kept doing so until all the egg was mixed in and I had a giant batter.
Because I am awesome and a huge nerd, I had already laid out the cupcake liners.
I filled them all to the top, since the cupcakes do not rise very much. And also because I wanted giant cupcakes ALL TO MYSELF.
Seven to eight minutes later, the cupcakes were ready! Slightly dry and spongy on top, super light and moist on the inside. It was almost like a warm chocolate mousse.
The recipe made a few more cupcakes than I realized. I have cupcakes for days, yo.
When my cousin got home from school I waited for her to eat dinner and then served her a plated dessert like I was on Top Chef. I didn’t make the ice cream (how ambitious do you think I am?!), but if you are curious it is the Turkey Hill Duetto- cherry gelato and vanilla soft serve twist.
Yeah. Yum.
The cupcake recipe was deceptively easy- very minimal actual work- and made a ton of delicious cupcakes. I think the next time I make these babies I will make sure I have a crowd to feed because as it is I had to send Chris off to work with a giant plate of them.
And in case you dislike following a pictorial, full recipe after the jump!
Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes
1 2/3 cups or 10 oz, dark chocolate chips (60% cacao or higher)
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup) cut into small pieces
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp. instant coffee
1/3 cup granulated sugar
8 large eggs
Powdered sugar for dusting over the top
Preheat oven to 325
Place chocolate, butter, water, and instant coffee in a large, thick bottomed saucepan
Heat on medium low, stirring frequently until smooth
Add granulated sugar and stir until smooth
Beat eggs on high for 5 minutes or until the volume doubles
Fold 1/3 of the beaten eggs into the chocolate
Fold remaining mixture in 1/3 at a time until fully encorporated
Spoon into cupcake pans – they don’t rise much at all, so you can get pretty close to the top edge of the papers
Cook until the tops look dry and slightly spongy — about 7-8 minutes
Comments
42 Responses to “Whip It Up #1: Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes”
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I think you just secretly wanted to show us your gorgeous mixer again….
You know you did.
You could of saved some of that deliciousness for the old parents you know.
Oh ya, we are having PB&J sandwiches just for that.
You made your cousin eat dinner before eating these brownies? You are a cruel, cruel, woman. In situations like this, go for dessert first.
Oh my god, they look so yummy! I’m going to close this window now before this recipe finds its way into my Weight Watchers tracker.
WANT!
Yay for the mixer! I highly approve of this inaugural recipe, and the cupcakes look delish.
But, no pasta recipe? I am totally saddened. What was the recipe?!
I had to comment again to say that that word looks weird all by itself. And I’d still like a cupcake.
so it’s not even 10:30 am and i am not craving sweets… we are fighting. hah!
I have to know if your pasta dish included making the pasta yourself with the mixer attachment. Because really? The pasta attachment is a life-changing device. Every time I use it I have a spiritual experience.
Yum! AND you got to use your new mixer! That thing will pay for itself soon!
Those cupcakes look delicious! And now I want a big piece of anything made out of chocolate even though my pants are already too tight.
I WANT SOME!!!! DAVE WOULD HAVE LOVED THEM YESTERDAY YOU KNOW…..
Oooh! I’m glad you liked them! They do freeze very well. I should have warned you they make like a million cupcakes.
Those look awesome! I’m actually drooling on my keyboard right now!
I mean it makes a million cupcakes. It being the recipe. Not they. It’s not like the cupcakes multiply or make themselves or anything.
It IS annoying when boys are right, isn’t it?
LOVE the new mixer! So pretty and industrial-looking.
Yummy!
A couple of people in my office here are very happy about this recipe. I’ve been eating those damn cakes with a fork… like rich little delicious fluffy dark chocolate mousse cakes, mmmmmmm.
Also, I was only trying to be helpful with the sauce pan suggestion. Nancy Pearl MeanieFace
Those look delicious! In fact, I am quite tempted to make them for AS’s bday this weekend instead of the milk chocolate sour cream cake that I planned!
That looks really good, and I’m glad you got use out of the mixer so quickly!
I could have mailed you some instant coffee if there was time. I have a can of it leftover from when I made brownies once. I don’t know what to use it for, because I sure as hell ain’t making instant coffee.
Funny, that I would click on your blog at the VERY moment I was considering running out and buying stuff to bake…..its a sign.
I was sooo wishing I had a kitchenaid mixer this past weekend. And a bigger kitchen. Sigh…
Those cupcakes look deelicious. Nice work!
Very impressive. I’m super jealous of your mixer. I have a white “professional” Kitchen Aid left over from my restaurant and a dead red one in the basement, but now I want yours too.
God I love cupcakes.
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Personally I think you need to have some sort of contest and the winner gets sent a batch of those cupcakes….because they look delicious and I know I’d want to get some of them in the mail!
These looks delicious! I will definitely be trying them out soon. Don’t you love having the stand mixer? It’s one of my most favorite things!
Those look fabulous! The recipe didn’t seem to hard either!
They look great! And they’re gluten free, too! I will have to remember this recipe.
You know, the flour totally would have gotten in the way of the chocolate. These look awesome. And I’m wickedly jealous of your mixer.
It’s all Smitten Kitchen in here!
Personally, I’m done with food. It’s too expensive.
Those cupcakes look delicious. Will you mail me one?
I WANT THAT MIXER.
Food Network here you come! Man, that was a lame comment.
Wow. Glad you’re staying busy.
I have the same annoying compulsion as Chris to wander into the kitchen and critique the happenings. Just stay out of the kitchen, man. Let the magic happen.
Hey, thanks for stopping by earlier today. It is wagon wheel pasta although Barilla calls it ‘fiori’ or something like that. I guess ‘Wagon Wheels’ just doesn’t sound fancy-pants enough.
Those cupcakes look amazing, by the way. They will have to be added to my to-make list. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
You are so very funny. And I almost want to bake now. Almost.
[...] – bookmarked by 1 members originally found by JPitha on 2008-08-15 Whip It Up #1: Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes http://nancypearlwannabe.com/blog/?p=749 – bookmarked by 3 members originally found by insomnic on [...]
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I have no idea who any of you are – but this was a VERY fun read. I can’t wait to try this recipe. My husband and I went out for drinks & dessert last night and ordered flourless chocolate cupcakes to share. We had never had them before, never even heard of them, but they were to die for! This is why I went on a recipe search just now and stumbled upon your blog. Now, if only I had an awesome mixer like that…
Thanks for sharing!
I’m also frustrated that I have to buy instant coffee…!
I found this recipe via a Google search and followed the directions, even cooking a few mins beyond the 7-8 mins in the recipe. The consistency of the cooled cupcakes is not very firm – quite wet and fluffy/eggy. Are they supposed to be this way? I was going to take them to a party today and worried people will think they are not cooked all the way.
Making these this morning for my daughter’s 2nd birthday party. They are simply delicious! I had to bake them for 15 min, though…at 8 min they were still very very wet looking. I’ve been learning recently that what I am baking is usually done when I can smell it. At 15 min, the house smelled lovely and chocolatey and the tops looked spongy and dry. Thanks for the recipe!!!