Chocolate Cupcakes [gluten free]

A few weeks ago I bought some new silicone cupcake forms. They are really cute as they look like forms for tiny Bundt cakes or Polish babka: fluted and ring shaped, perfect for Easter. I couldn’t wait to use them to see how the tiny babkas would look like.

Therefore, when I came across an interesting gluten free recipe* for cupcakes, I decided to give it a go. The recipe requires quite a lot of eggs and that is why even though there is no baking agent added, the cupcakes rose beautifully. They did fall afterwards but only a tiny bit. After they were baked, we couldn’t resist and tried them while they were still hot. And together with my husband we quickly agreed they needed something to be served with, like e.g. custard, as they were very delicate in texture. But when we ate them a day later, they had a completely different texture: moist and much heavier, and in truth, I preferred them that way.

P.S. There is not a lot of sugar used in this recipe. Therefore, if you prefer your bakes to be sweet, you may want to use some melted milk chocolate as icing on your baked cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS (for 12 pieces):

100g dark chocolate,

100g soft butter,

120 g sugar,

6 eggs, yolks and whites separated,

100g ground almonds,

butter and sugar for the cupcake forms,

icing sugar for dusting.

METHOD:

1. Melt the chocolate over a pan of hot water, set aside to cool down.
2. If you are using silicone cupcake forms, you don’t have to prepare them special way, otherwise grease them and sprinkle with sugar.
3. Preheat and oven to 180C (160C for fan ovens).
4. Beat the butter with approx. half of the sugar for a few minutes until the mixture gets fluffy; one by one add the egg yolks and then the cool chocolate, beat till everything is combined.
5. Whisk the egg whites till stiff, add the rest of the sugar and whisk for 2 minutes longer.
6. Add the third of the whisked egg whites and third of the ground almonds to the bowl with chocolate mixture, gently stir with a spatula. Repeat the process twice till you have used the egg whites and almonds.
7. Divide the batter between 12 cupcake forms and put to the hot oven for 25-30 minutes until a wooden stick inserted to a cupcake comes out clean.
8. Dust with icing sugar, or - if you prefer them to be sweeter – pour melted chocolate on top.

* The recipe comes from a Polish cookbook "Ciasteczka - wyszukane smakołyki z całego świata"