These incredibly rich and chocolatey flourless chocolate cupcakes are fabulous hot out of the oven with some cold ice cream. They are also crowd pleasers at room temperature topped with chocolate whipped cream. Think of them as the fudgy brownies of the cupcake world!
Combine the water, salt, and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until completely dissolved, remove from heat, and stir in vanilla extract.
In a metal mixing bowl (I like to use the bowl of my stand mixer) over a pot of boiling water, stir the chocolate until it melts.
Remove the bowl from the stove and, if using the bowl from a stand mixer, place on the mixer. Beat the butter into the chocolate, one or two pieces at a time.
Beat in the hot sugar-water.
Beat in the eggs and the egg whites, one at a time.
Use a disher to transfer the batter almost all the way to the top of lined cupcake tins.
Bake for 40 minutes. The tops will be set and slightly cracked and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake will come out with chocolate on it, but it won't be wet.
Do not take the cupcakes out of the tins. Wait until the cupcakes are cool enough to handle with your bare hands (5 - 10 minutes). If you take the cupcakes out of the tins while they are still hot, they they are more likely to sink in the middle.
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Notes
I adapted the flourless chocolate cake recipe from Allrecipes into these cupcakes.These can be made with any kind of chocolate. If you use baking chocolate, increase the sugar by 1/4 cup since the chocolate isn’t sweet at all.If you remove the cupcakes from your oven before their centers are totally set, they will sink in the middle. Letting the cupcakes sit in the tins for five minutes after baking will help a bit. Remember that sunk cupcakes give you a perfect spot to put your topping!Because this is a very moist and buttery recipe, the bottoms of your liners may get a little greasy if you don’t use grease-proof liners. Wipe them off with a paper towel. Don’t be alarmed – the cupcakes don’t taste at all greasy!Store these cupcakes at room temperature for up to 5 days or freeze for several months. Use a microwave to reheat them if you want to serve them warm.