Sachertorte, or the Most Perfect Flourless Chocolate Cupcake Ever!

I'll give credit where credit is due.  This is not my recipe (and yes, that is the name given to this recipe).  I just finished a book, by Jennifer Ross, about a woman from Dallas, who upon being dumped by her fiance, went to live with her grandmother in New York City.  She ended up opening a bakery called the "Icing on the Cupcake".  It's filled with amazing recipes, that doesn't make a ton of cupcakes (anywhere from 6 to a 12).  I want to try them all.

A Sacher Torte is a flourless cake made with bittersweet chocolate.  These little beauties are a-maz-ing!  They're like eating a dark chocolate cloud.  They melt in your mouth.

I absolutely promise, you will not be disappointed.

First the ingredients:

10 oz of bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped into pieces
5 eggs, separated
1/2 c sugar, divided, plus more for sprinkling
1/3 c pecans, ground (didn't have any, so I used walnuts)
1/2 c butter, room temperature









Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and place 12 paper liners into the cupcake tray (her recipe said 6 - I assume she was using the extra large cupcake tray).

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water.  If you don't have a double boiler (as I don't), place the chocolate in a temperature safe bowl, put the bowl in a saucepan of simmering water.  Make sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl.

Stir until the chocolate is melted.  Remove the pan from the heat, but leave the bowl on top of the hot water to cool.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and 1/4 c sugar, with an electric mixer, until fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the egg yolks and beat for 2 minutes (I stopped midway and scraped the bowl).  Add the pecans (walnuts) and beat for another 2 minutes.

It already looks rich and amazing!

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until they are light and foamy while slowly adding the remaining 1/4 cup sugar.  Beat for 5 minutes.

They'll look like this.

Fold the melted chocolate into the egg mixture with a rubber spatula.  Then fold a quarter of the chocolate mixture in the whipped egg whites.  Slowly fold the egg whites back into the rest of the chocolate mixture.

 

Cate decided to lend a hand at this point.  If you'll notice, I have 6 cupcake liners in my pan.  This was before I realized just how much batter I had going on.

Pour into paper liners, filling almost to the top.  Bake for 17-19 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbly coating, but is not wet.  (I baked for 18 minutes, the recipe said 10-15 minutes, but they was still soup at that point).

Cool for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack and cool completely.  Sprinkle with sugar.

NOTE:  This is not a sweet cupcake!  So I made a raspberry whipped cream by melting 2 tbs of seedless raspberry preserves in the microwave for 15 seconds.  Cool completely (Very important.  I didn't and just look at what happened to mine.  Nobody's perfect!).  Whip 1 cup of heavy whipping cream with 1/4 tsp of pure vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar.  Gently fold in the cooled preserves into the whipped cream. 

Make's 12 cupcakes