FOUR-INGREDIENT CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

MAKES 24

700g dark (70%) chocolate 1kg cream cheese, softened, chopped 12 eggs, separated 11/ 3 firmly-packed cups (330g)

brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 150°C. Place cupcake papers in 2 x 12-hole cupcake pans. Place 500g chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water (don’t let bowl touch the water), stirring until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. Place 500g cream cheese in a separate bowl and beat with a spatula until smooth.

Add melted chocolate to cream cheese and beat to combine. Add egg yolks and 1 cup (250g) sugar, and beat to combine. Set aside. In a another bowl, whisk eggwhites until stiff peaks form. Fold one-third eggwhite into cream cheese mixture to loosen, then gently fold in remaining eggwhite. Divide mixture among cupcake pans and bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

To make the icing, place remaining 200g chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water), stirring until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature. In a separate bowl, beat remaining 500g cream cheese until smooth, then beat into cooled chocolate until smooth and combined. Beat in remaining 1/ 3 cup (80g) sugar, 1 tbs water and a pinch of salt until smooth and combined. (The icing should be very thick. Chill, if necessary, to thicken.)

Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, then pipe icing in thick swirls over cupcakes to serve.