rainy day cupcakes

in my new ongoing project to clean out my cabinets, i found some dark chocolate for baking. now, i do not consider myself a baker. i like experimenting with my textures and flavors too much to not screw up the chemistry involved, and baking usually seems a little too formulaic for me. i also hardly ever crave sweets - i have more of a salty tooth. but yesterday was our third day of cold rain, and i was feeling like something unhealthy, i.e. a chocolaty dessert.

hence: flourless chocolate cupcakes with grand marnier buttercream frosting. these cupcakes are super fudgy, almost like brownies, and the frosting is creamy and delicious.

NOT a baker, so i didn't create this recipe - i found it online. i only made a few minor modifications. the frosting is my own creation. i did take pictures throughout this process, but some of the steps aren't particularly photogenic, so i'm not going to post them all.

you will need:

10 ounces dark or bittersweet chocolate

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup heavy cream

4 eggs

1 1/3 cups white sugar

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp salt

for the frosting:

1 stick butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp heavy cream

1 tbsp grand marnier (you can leave this out if you want)

to begin, spray each of your cupcake liners lightly with vegetable cooking spray, and pop them into your muffin pan. preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

chop your chocolate up roughly. most of this will get melted, so don't worry too much about getting it into tiny pieces.

grab 16-20 of the smaller pieces and set them aside for once the cupcakes are baked.

(if you have extra chocolate after all of this, please try out this hot chocolate recipe that i found yesterday and tell me how it is, because it sounds delicious!)

in a small saucepan, heat the butter and cream together until they are just simmering.

once the butter is completely melted, add the chopped chocolate and turn the heat down. stir gently until the chocolate is melted, but don't heat too long afterwards or the cream can curdle.

in a medium bowl, mix the sugar, eggs, mayonnaise, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until the sugar is no longer noticeable.

add the chocolate mixture and stir gently, only until things are just combined. fill your cupcake molds about they are about 3/4 of the way full.

pop these into the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of them clean.

once you've pulled them out of the oven, immediately grab the chopped chocolate you set aside and push a small piece into the middle of each cupcake. then set the cupcakes aside and let them cool. repeat the process until you've used all of your batter - i got about 16 cupcakes from this recipe. 

while your cupcakes are cooling, whip up some quick frosting. use a whisk to whip the butter up in a small bowl until it's smooth and creamy.

add the confectioners sugar, vanilla, grand marnier, and cream. stir well until it's smooth, and taste - make sure it's the way you want it.

once the cupcakes are completely cooled, cover them with frosting. i sprinkled mine with a bit of cocoa to finish them off. devour promptly.