Cannoli Cupcakes

Last month, I made a cake and cupcake tower for a friend's bridal shower. The detailed post of the cake is here. I was asked to make 48 cupcakes, half would be my standard chocolate recipe (here) and the other half would be cannoli cupcakes. I've never made cannoli cupcakes, I've never even made cannolis so I was a little nervous. I mean, I love a good cannoli but cannoli cream on top of a cupcake? I just didn't know if that would work or be appetizing if it did.  I was very very wrong.

The internet is full of cannoli cupcake recipes. So apparently, this is a flavor of cupcake that the rest of the world is familiar with and that I inexplicably totally missed. After much research, I decided that there wasn't a recipe that I loved from start to finish so I adapted a bunch and made my own.

I liked the idea of having the cannoli cream as filling for the cupcake instead of as icing. I just couldn't see a dollop of cannoli cream sitting sweetly on top of a cupcake without moving. And with the richness of the cream on the inside, I thought that simple, fresh, ordinary, slightly-sweetened whipped cream would be the best icing.

For the cake, I adapted my favorite white cake from King Arthur Flour. Here it goes:

Cake:
2 cups sugar
3 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a stand mixer, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and beat at low speed until the mixture looks sandy.  Add milk and vanilla. Mix for about a minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl after to make sure it’s all incorporated.

Add eggs one at a time with the mixer running on low speed. Continue scraping down the sides of the bowl too.

After last egg, add mini chocolate chips and beat for about 30 seconds.

Fill each cupcake liner with 1/4 cup batter and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

When cupcakes have completely cooled, hollow out the center. I used this nifty little $3 tool from Bed Bath and beyond

but it can be done with a spoon too. Fill each cupcake with Cannoli Cream (recipe below)

Cannoli Cream:

16 oz tub of Ricotta
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 mini chocolate chips








Top each cupcake with whipped cream so that the hole is covered.

Whipped Cream

1 pint heavy cream
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Sprinkle each cupcake with mini chocolate chips.

If you are going to eat these within a couple of hours, keep them in a container in a cooled place. If any longer, I recommend refrigeration.