Your favorite Italian dessert just got even better! These Chocolate Dipped Cannoli Cupcakes taste just like your eating an Italian Cannoli only in cupcake form!
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How do you know when the dessert you brought to a party is amazing?
When everyone at the party is on a diet but they go in for seconds and thirds! Lol!
That’s what happened when I brought these Chocolate Dipped Cannoli Cupcakes to a party this past weekend! Not only did everyone have more than one, they made sure they gave me back my serving dish empty! In other words they packed the few remaining stragglers in tupperware so they could have a midnight snack after we all left! Ha ha!
Why should I make Chocolate Dipped Cannoli Cupcakes?
Ok…I can’t even believe someone would ask that question but if you really need to, the answer is because they are FREAKING AMAZING!
If you love Cannoli and you love Cake then you’re gonna go crazy for these Cannoli Cupcakes! It’s like your two favorite desserts got married and had one delicious food baby!
How to make Cannoli Cupcakes that taste just like a Cannoli?
A lot of other Cannoli Cupcake recipes that I saw didn’t really bring the whole Cannoli flavor profile together for me. So I wanted to make sure that happened in this recipe.
I already had a killer Cannoli Filling recipe that I knew would make the perfect topping. My Creamy Cannoli Dip recipe was the inspiration for that part of the recipe. It just needed to be slightly altered to be stable enough to pipe.
The cupcake in this recipe is tender, moist and has just a hint of cinnamon flavor. Further more, the combination of brown and white sugar definitely gives it that quintessential cannoli shell flavor.
Lastly, just to make this Cannoli Cupcakes Recipe totally irresistible (and messy to eat! lol) you need to dip it in melted chocolate!
Tips for making Chocolate Dipped Cannoli Cupcakes
This is a relatively easy recipe to make but here are a few tips to avoid those typical Cannoli Cupcakes pitfalls. lol!
First, I’m going to share my method for “How to fill your cupcake”. There is certainly more than one way to do this.
- To hollow out a bit of the center of your cupcake use the end of a piping tip. Just sink it into the cupcake, twist it and pull it back out.
- Another much easier and quicker method to hollow out your cupcake is to use a cupcake corer tool. Click here for the one I use. Watch the video in recipe card for a demonstration of how it’s used.
Once you have all of your cupcakes hollowed out just place your filling in a pastry bag or zip lock baggie with a corner cut. Then you’re ready to fill and pipe your Cannoli Cream Filling/Frosting.
I also added a few mini chocolate chips to the filling before topping with the frosting.
My next tip is on “How to dip your frosting in chocolate”. The most important part is to MAKE SURE YOU FREEZE YOUR CUPCAKES BEFORE DIPPING THEM! You want to have them in the freezer for at least 1 hour preferably 2. If your frosting isn’t firm enough it’s not going to work. You will just make a big mess.
Once your frosting is firm and your chocolate is melted just grasp the base of your cupcake and dip away!
Chocolate Dipped Cannoli Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcake
- 1 Stick Unsalted butter ,softened
- 1/2 Cup Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
- 6 Tablespoons Sour cream ,room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 3 Large Egg Whites ,room temperature
- 1 1/4 Cupcs Cake Flour
- 2 teaspoons Baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 8 Tablespoons Milk ,room temperature
For the Cannoli Filling/Frosting
- 1 ,8 ounce package Cream Cheese ,softened, mascarpone can also be used
- 1 ,15 ounce container Ricotta Cheese
- 2 Cups Confectioner Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- mini chocolate chips for adding to filling ,optional
For the Chocolate dip
- 6 Ounces Semi sweet chocolate ,Melted
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 325 Degrees F. Line standard cupcake tin with 15 paper liners. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix to combine.
- Add in egg whites one at a time mixing well between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- Add half of your flour mixture and mix to combine. Then mix in the milk.
- Finish by adding the remaining flour mixture and blend to combine, scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.
- Fill lined cupcake tins with about 1/4 cup of batter in each. Bake in preheated oven for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool completely before filling and frosting.
For the Cannoli Filling/Frosting
- In a large bowl mix cream cheese on high speed of a hand mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Add Ricotta Cheese and blend until smooth.
- Mix in the confectioner sugar and vanilla and beat on high speed for about 3 minutes. Place in the fridge until ready to fill and frost cupcakes.
Assemble cupcakes
- Using a piping tip of butter knife make a well in the center of each cupcake.
- Place filling in a piping bag and fill the center of your cupcake with cannoli filling.
- Add a few mini chocolate chips if desired.
- Pipe cannoli frosting on top of your filling.
- PLACE CUPCAKES IN THE FREEZER TO HARDEN THE FROSTING!! This is vital to making sure your cupcakes come out perfectly so don't skip this step.
- Once frosting is firm grasp the bottom of your cupcake and dip in melted chocolate.
- Place your dipped cupcakes in the fridge to let the chocolate harden.
- Once you are ready to serve remove from the fridge about 1 hour before and dust with powdered sugar.
Video
Notes
- Here is the link to the cupcake corer tool that I use. Click here for the affiliate link.
Nutrition
Want more Italian inspired dessert ideas?
Try some of these!
When everyone goes in for seconds and thirds you know your dessert is a hit. These Chocolate Dipped Cannoli Cupcakes make it really hard not to have seconds!
I am trying to make these cupcakes, but have run into a problem… My frosting is grainy soup! I did not squeeze the ricotta to remove excess liquid because this step was not mentioned, and I think that is the problem. Did you strain yours?
I’m sorry that happened to you Angie, I actually did not squeeze my ricotta however that is definitely a very good idea! I’m going to add that tip to the recipe card. I do know that the ricotta that I use was not watery what so ever though so if yours was that definitely could be what the issue was.