Cupcakes are the perfect food. They have equal proportions of cake to icing (if made correctly) and come in a neat little package. The best thing about cupcakes, is that they come in so many different varieties. Being that I am on a cannoli kick (see previous post “Cannoli Cups”), I decided to make a cannoli cupcake. But that has been done before, so how can I make it better? Well, you dip it in chocolate, of course.
Chocolate covered cannoli cupcakes are a delicious treat!
So, of course, dipping the cupcakes in chocolate is optional. I mean, you can just fill and ice them with the cannoli cream, and they would be delicious just like that. But in my humble opinion, the chocolate shell makes them that much better. I use chocolate melting wafers. I tried melting chocolate chips, but the consistency was too thick and it didn’t work too well. Of course, you can also get the white chocolate wafers, and that would taste delicious too. If you don’t want to submerge the entire cupcake in chocolate, you can always drizzle a little bit of chocolate on top. Of course, then you have to drizzle pretty. That can very easily go the wrong way and look like a sloppy mess.
And speaking of sloppy messes, please make sure that you pop the cupcakes in the freezer before attempting to dip them in chocolate. Stick those bad boys in the freezer for about 15 minutes. This will firm them up so that they hold up to the melted chocolate and don’t fall apart. If you skip this step, your cupcakes will look like this (see picture below). And that is not pretty (although don’t be fooled, you can bet your sweet cupcakes that I didn’t throw them out…while they look like a mess, they were still pretty darn tasty).
Now, if you want to skip making the cupcakes from scratch, and want to use a boxed cake mix, go right ahead. I promise, I won’t tell anyone 😉 Because the best part of this dessert is the cannoli cream slathered in the yummy chocolate shell. You can still tell people that you made them from scratch. We’ve all been there at one point or another. Just make sure that you follow the directions and you are all set.
Try making your favorite cupcake, a “chocolate covered” cupcake.
The best thing about this post, is that you are really learning a method. The method being, stuffing cupcakes and dipping them in chocolate. You can mix the ingredients up. Make a raspberry buttercream frosting and dip in white chocolate. Or a caramel flavored frosting, dipped in chocolate and topped with sea salt. You can experiment a lot with this. And people will be impressed with the candy coating. Its kind of like the brown bonnet of cupcakes. And you can never go wrong with a brown bonnet. It is classic, and delicious.
What you need:
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 16 ounces ricotta, drained
- 8 ounces mascarpone cheese at room temperature
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips.
- 2 bags melting wafers
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Line 2 muffin tins with liners.
- In a small bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer.
- Add the eggs one at a time, using the hand mixer.
- Add in 1/3 of the dry ingredients.
- Mix the milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Add 1/3 to the large bowl. Alternate dry ingredients and milk and vanilla mixture until everything is combined.
- Bake for 22 minutes. A toothpick should come out dry when inserted.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.
- In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, confectioners sugar, mascarpone and vanilla. Mix with a hand mixer until combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Use a pastry bag with a fancy tip (and one large enough that will allow the chocolate chips to pass through).
- Insert the tip three quarters into the cupcake. Fill until it comes out of the top (see picture in the post). Then frost the cupcake as you usually would.
- Put the cupcakes in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate melting wafers according to the package. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Carefully, dip the tops of the cupcakes into the melted chocolate.
- Place in the refrigerator for an hour to allow the chocolate to firm up.
Your Chocolate Covered Cannoli Cupcakes look amazing! I’m making them right now to bring to work for my manager’s birthday tomorrow. I’ve made, filled, and topped the cupcakes with the cannoli cream. They’re in the freezer right now. I’m going to leave them there overnight and do the chocolate dip part early in the morning before heading out to work. I’d like to do a Pintesting blog post on them and wanted to email you directly but couldn’t find your email address. Can you please get in touch with me?
Hi Anne!
Thanks so much! I hope they turned out great! Please feel free to email me at:
mangiamichelle1@gmail.com
I look forward to hearing from you!
~Michelle
These look amazing! Unfortunately every time I make the cannoli filling it’s pretty loose and not frosting consistency. I’ve drained the ricotta for 1-2 days with still no luck. Any suggestions?
Hi Tena,
Are you using a cheese cloth? I put the cheesecloth on the bottom of a strainer. I put the cheese inside and cover it with the cloth. Then I place the strainer over a bowl so the moisture can drip out into the bowl. Then I put something heavy on top (like a few canned goods) and pop it in the fridge. The weight should help push out the moisture. If the very bottom of the ricotta is wet (sometimes it is) I leave that bit out. I hope this helps!
~Michelle
Do these cupcakes need to be kept in refrigerator due to the filling/ frosting?
Hi Norah,
Great question. The answer is yes. They will be ok sitting out for a little bit (2 hours tops) and then I would put them in the fridge…that is if they didn’t all get devoured 😉
~ Michelle
Wow! Now that’s a cupcake! Looks amazing.
Thank you Amy!
~ Michelle
Are you using regular ricotta from the dairy aisle or the specialty type from the Italian cheese section puff the grocery store? I saw the comment about the icing being runny and am hoping to avoid that, if possible. Thanks so much.
Hi Nicole,
I am using regular ricotta from the dairy aisle. Make sure that you drain the ricotta overnight. This is a very important step, or your icing will be runny. And I apologize for the late response! Your comment somehow got lost in the crowd.
Thanks
~ Michelle
These were so good! I skipped the dipping part as I was short on time, but stuck a mini cannoli shell in the middle after filling and icing. I then filled the cannoli and drizzled the whole thing with the melting chocolate ???
Thanks for sharing Ashley. And the idea with the mini cannoli shell is AMAZING!!! I love that! So creative and it must have looked adorable.
Thanks!
~Michelle
These look amazing, but my cannoli filling was very loose, definitely not pipeable. Is there a certain brand you use? Also, I made 24 cupcakes but they spread all over the pan. Do you usually get more out of the batter?
Thanks!!!
Noel
Hi Noel,
I am sorry about the filling! Did you drain the ricotta? This is a very important step. If you do not drain it, it will become loose and runny. I drain it overnight. I wrap it in a cheese cloth and put it in a strainer over a bowl. I then weight it down with a few cans. I do not use any particular brand, just any kind from the dairy aisle is fine.And I usually get 20-24 cupcakes. I hope this helps.
~ Michelle
I made these tonight and they turned out devine! However, I only had enough filling for 12 cupcakes. Next time I will double the cannoli filling recipe. Fun to make, though! Thanks!
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How far in advance can I make these cupcakes? Or can I make them in advance and freeze them with the frosting and just dip on the day of?
Hi Allie,
The cupcakes themselves can be made ahead and frozen. I do not, however, recommend freezing the cannoli cream. The texture is just not the same when defrosted. Freezing it can add moisture to the cannoli cream which takes away from its creaminess. The cannoli cream can be made the day before and kept in the refrigerator. I hope this was helpful!
~Michelle
Really looking forward to making this recipe for my coworkers!! Would you say the amount of frosting/filling is about right for the number of cupcakes made? Or will there be a lot of leftover frosting/filling? Thank you in advance for your help!
Hi Lisa,
I am so happy you are making these! They are my favorite. I have always had enough frosting, however, one person commented on Pinterest that they had to make a little extra. I guess it depends on how much frosting you put on each cupcake. It was only one person that said that, so I guess unless you put A LOT of frosting, you should be ok with the amounts from the recipe. Don’t forget to drain the ricotta 😉
~ Michelle
I’m making these now for my Son’s second d birthday party tomorrow. I bought the dessert ricotta from the specialty cheese section in my supermarket. Does that need to be drained as well?
Hi Kate!
Yes, I would drain the ricotta. And to answer the question about cheese cloth, you can use a clean dish towel, or double up paper towels.
Enjoy!
~ Michelle