CHOCOLATE-ALMOND DAIM CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Grease and flour six cups in a standard-size muffin tin.
• Blend together the egg YOLKS, almond paste, and cream until they form a smooth, thick, almond-scented mixture.
• Incorporate the flour.
• In a separate bowl, whisk egg WHITES with the teaspoon of powdered sugar until you achieve firm, white peaks.
• Scoop about HALF of whipped egg whites into almond mixture and fold it in until all the white is incorporated.
• Scoop REMAINING HALF of the whipped whites into almond mixture, fold in, don't overwork the mixture at this point.
• Fill six cups in the muffin tin with the batter. (In a 12-cup tin, alternate filled cups with empty cups so pan is balanced.).
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the cakes comes out without batter stuck to it.
• Cool 10 minutes in the tin, then run a butter knife around the edge of each cake to help release them from the pan. Be free, little cakes!
• Once you have cooled cakes, use a serrated knife to cut the rounded tops off. These are tasty. Eat one now, and save the rest for later snacking -- maybe with berries and whipped cream. Yum.
• Bisect each cake horizontally so you have two equally sized tiers to work with.
• Take the Daim bars out of the freezer. DON''T unwrap them. Immediately throw them down onto the kitchen floor as hard as you can. Pick them up and throw them again. Do this again if it makes you feel good. You're trying to shatter them as much as possible without sending chunks of chocolate flying across your kitchen. Once those bars are appropriately pummeled, open up the packages and pour out the pieces onto your cutting board.
• Chop up any large hunks so you have a nicely uniform "crumb.".
• To make the chocolate ganache: combine chocolate, cream, and butter in a small saucepan over very, very low heat.
• Whisk all the lumpy chocolate bits until the sauce is smooth and shiny. Don't let it burble. Burbling is bad in this case!
• Take apart the bisected cakes and lay them out on across a sheet pan you've covered in a protective layer of parchment, wax paper or plastic. Easier clean up.
• Use a small rubber spatula or a butter knife to spread a thin layer of chocolate ganache over the tops of the lower layers and the bottoms of the upper layers.
• Evenly sprinkle about a half-teaspoon of the Daim bar crumbs on each ganache coated bottom layer.
• Cover each cake with a smooth layer of ganache, sprinkle ANOTHER half-teaspoon or so of crumbs on the tops, and finish the cakes by spreading ANOTHER teaspoon or so of ganache across the Daim crumb topped cakes.
• You should be able to smooth out most irregularities in the ganache with a butter knife that you've warmed in a glass of hot water -- but don't get crazy about it. They SHOULD look a little irregular. It's better that way.
• Cool the cakes at room temperature until the chocolate firms up, and serve 'em with hot coffee.