Lauren’s Chocolate Espresso cannoli Cupcakes

My daughter Lauren is the inspiration for these cannoli cupcakes.  The truth is that she loves everything about cannoli.  She loves Sicily and the first thing she eats when we land is of course cannoli. Lauren’s Chocolate Espresso Cannoli Cupcakes are light, tasty and creamy.  Lauren is with us visiting and the cannoli critic gives it a thumbs up.

The ingredients to any cupcake should be simple.

Sicilian make a variety of cannoli and I love every kind. Every Sicilian has a recipe, and I like to take shortcuts if it will give me flavour.  I like adding the cinnamon because it adds sweetness and depth.  Sometime, I add orange peel or candied fruit, but today I want the creaminess of the ricotta.  You can also use mascerpone and it adds another layer of flavour.  Mascarpone is a thickened cream whereas ricotta is a byproduct of cheesemaking.  I tend to use more ricotta in my recipes because my Calabrese nonna made cheese and ricotta was more accessible than mascarpone.

Chocolate and coffee

“Chocolate is the first luxury. It has so many things wrapped up in it: Deliciousness in the moment, childhood memories, and that grin-inducing feeling of getting a reward for being good. “ (Mariska Hargitay) I love the combination of these two; I often add some chocolate chips to the bottom of my coffee cup.  Now my secret is out.  There is something about the taste and the aroma of these cupcakes.  It is the perfect marriage to combine them with a cannoli stuffing. My nonna Emilia loved this combination; she would often have a cup of espresso and a piece of chocolate.

Print

Lauren's Chocolate Espresso Cannoli Cupcakes

Shot of coffee in your cannoli.  

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 40 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 12

Author Renata Solski

Ingredients

Cupcake

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp espresso

Filling

• 1/2 cup cream cheese soften
• 3/4 cup ricotta
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

For the cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

   Line muffin pan. 

   Combine, butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, eggs and cocoa.  Beat until smooth.

   Pour the hot espresso into the chocolate chips to melt them.  

   Drizzle the melted chocolate into the batter.

   Spoon by tablespoon full into prepared muffin pan. 

   Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

   Put on a wire rack to cook.  

For the Filling

1. Put ricotta, cream cheese, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

   Beat until smooth.

   Add chocolate chips and stir.

   Chill in refrigerator.

   
   

To assemble

1. When cupcakes are cool, scoop out the centre and gently lift out.

   Fill centre with a generous teaspoon or more of filling.

   Replace cap by pressing it down gently.

   Sprinkle with icing sugar.  

Recipe Notes

You can make double the amount of filling if you like and add more to cupcakes.