Chocolate hazelnut or almond cupcakes

Makes 12 very light and crumbly cupcakes.

180g dark chocolate buttons ( I used Callebaut)
80g sugar
120g butter
2 XL eggs
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 cup milk (room temperature, luke warm)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cream of tartar
50g self raising cake flour (almost half a cup)
50g hazelnut meal or almond meal (half a cup)
2 tsp cornflour (10g)
A pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 160 deg fan force
Line baking tray of 12 with baking paper cups.

Melt chocolate and chopped butter over bain marie.
Mix salt, corn flour, SR flour, baking powder, cocoa and cinnamon powder together (dry content).
Separate egg yolks from white.
Whisk egg whites until slight bubbly, then add cream of tartar. Continue whisking till bubbles become slightly denser, then add 1/2 of the sugar slowly. Whisk till form soft peaks. Set aside.
Separately, whisk egg yolks and slowly add remaining 3 sugar while continuing to beat the yolk, until creamy and almost white.
Fold egg yolks into melted chocolate/butter in 3 batches. Do same with almond or hazelnut meal and milk.
Sift remaining dry content into wet content slowly in 3 batches. Do not overfold/stir to prevent gluten developing (from the flour).
Spoon mixture into baking tray and put into preheated oven.
Bake for 15-16 minutes, and remove from oven, let it cool in tray for about 10 minutes then, place on wire rack.
Optional: Slight press 1 chocolate button on top of each cooked muffin after about 10 minutes, for decoration. 


Bon Appetite!