The Godfather would be quite pleased with these Cannoli Cupcakes. Buttery brown sugar cupcakes filled with smooth and creamy chocolate chip ricotta cannoli filling and topped with decadent chocolate mascarpone frosting.
I’ve been on a Dean Martin and Rosemary Clooney binge lately. I’m quite sure it has been my source of inspiration for these beauties. Oh, and the cannoli. Authentic cannolis are amazing. The crunchy buttery shell with the contrast of the sweet, smooth ricotta. You can’t go wrong. If you haven’t had a cannoli guys, you’re missing out. If i’ts a good one, it will change your world. I only say that because sweets are my life.
And life is good.
Last month, I dedicated a post to the oh so wonderful French madeleine cookie. So I’m exploring a little of Italy today and combining my favorite dessert with the cannoli. The base of the cupcake is a rich fluffy cupcake with lots of brown sugar to give it a caramelized cookie flavor. They come out super moist and fluffy. Did I already mention fluffy? The filling is what I’m most excited about. I used ricotta, heavy whipped cream, mini chocolate chips and a little orange zest. The orange zest makes it beautiful. The frosting was incredibly simple, made with butter, mascarpone cheese, vanilla, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar. That’s it! For something so easy and simple, it really is rich and decadent. I topped them with crunchy, salty pistachios and dusted them with powdered sugar.
I promise these cannoli cupcakes will have you saying “Mama Mia!”
Cannoli Cupcakes With Chocolate Mascarpone
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 3 sticks softened butter
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar packed
- 4 large eggs
- 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
For the cannoli filling:
- 2 cups of whole milk Ricotta drained
- 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tbs orange zest
For the frosting:
- 8 oz mascarpone room temperature
- 1/2 c unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 c cocoa
- 1 1/4 c confectioner’s sugar
- 1 t vanilla extract
- 1/4 t salt
- 2 T cream or milk to adjust consistency
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- With your mixer using a paddle attachment, mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy on medium high. Beat in each egg one at a time until fully blended. Mix in vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- On low speed and starting with the dry ingredients, blend in batches switching between dry and milk. End with mixing in the dry ingredients.
- Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 16-18 minutes.
For the cannoli filling:
- Drain your ricotta and place in a large bowl. Using a whisk, mix until smooth and all the clumps are gone.
- Sift in the powdered sugar and continue to mix well.
- With your mixer, whisk the cream until it thickens up and forms peaks.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the ricotta using a spatula.
- Fold in vanilla, orange zest, and chocolate chips.
For the frosting:
- In your mixer, beat softened butter and mascarpone for about a minute.
- Add cocoa powder, cinnamon, and confectioners sugar until well combined.
- Add vanilla and milk and play with the consistency until its thickened to your liking.
Cupcake recipe from Kevin and Amanda.
Homemade cannoli filling from Craftaholics Anonymous.
Frosting from Lee la bean bakes.
Check out these lovely cupcakes:
White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cupcakes
Hi, Did you just hollow out the center of the cupcake to accomodate the filling or did you just force the filling in? Thank you. They look beautiful and yummy!
Shannon, I just hollowed out each center and spooned the filling in. Then I just put the cupcake tops back on. It was very easy. Thank you!
wow, your cupcake looks so tempting, nice pictures!. 🙂
Thank you Amallia!
Yummy! I love cannoli and the combination of cannoli filling and chocolate frosting. OMG.
Thank you Vedika! Yeah these turned out quite lovely 🙂
Holy wow!! These look amazing! I love the pistachios sprinkled on top! Gorgeous!
Thanks Lindsey 🙂 I take that compliment to heart because I adore your food photography!
Love the idea of cannoli filling Kathleen! Mascarpone is one of my favorite things, so these must be really good!
Thank you Shiran! I love cannoli filling, so I almost ate the bowl before it got to the cupcakes 🙂
I am just recovering from cannoli poke cake! When I saw chocolate and orange in the same text with cannoli and cupcakes- oooh baby! I share new desserts with my friends and they will just love this! I’ve actually started keeping marscopone and ricotta in the frig in anticipation of the next cannoli dessert. These are so pretty and I think the taste will be bo-dacious!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy them 🙂
These look great and I’m thinking of making them for a cupcake contest/fundraiser at the school where I work. About how many does it make? Thanks.
Hi Jody!
This recipe makes about 24 cupcakes. I hope you enjoy them!
For us novice it would be great to get some instructions on filling the cupcakes.
Thank you Mia for the suggestion! I will work on that this week 🙂