| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 5 min |
| Prep: | 45 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 24 cupcakes |
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 5 min |
| Prep: | 45 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 24 cupcakes |
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons orange zest
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon orange oil
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
- 2 tablespoons finely diced candied orange peel
- 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 6 ounces heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup almond paste
- Toasted almonds, for garnish
Instructions
- For the cupcakes: Preheat a convection oven to 325 degrees F. Line 24 regular-size cupcake pans with liners.
- Combine the flour, orange zest, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a stand mixer, cream the sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 8 minutes. Slowly add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla extract and orange oil to the mixer. On low speed, gradually alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mix until smooth.
- When the mixture is smooth, divide the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake liners. Bake until lightly browned and fully cooked through, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.
- For the filling: With a large wooden or metal spoon, mix the ricotta, confectioners’ sugar, chocolate and orange peel in a medium bowl until combined.
- For the ganache: Place the chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl. In small saucepan over medium heat, bring the heavy cream and sugar to a boil ensuring the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour the cream and sugar mixture over the chocolate and let sit 5 minutes. Gradually whisk until smooth. Cool completely.
- For the almond cream: In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the cream, sugar and almond paste until the cream is firm enough to pipe on the cupcakes but not too stiff and buttery.
- To assemble: Cut a small hole the size of an apple core in each cupcake and fill with the cannoli cream. Pipe a small amount of ganache on the entire surface of the cupcake and do the same with the almond cream. Top with toasted almonds.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 24 servings |
| Calories | 406 |
| Total Fat | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 15 g |
| Carbohydrates | 42 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 29 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 95 mg |
| Sodium | 187 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 24 servings |
| Calories | 406 |
| Total Fat | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 15 g |
| Carbohydrates | 42 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 29 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 95 mg |
| Sodium | 187 mg |
Reviews
I incorporated the almond paste in the confectioners sugar as someone mentioned in comments and then slowly added the milk. It still curdled up. I ended up using a simple cream cheese frosting recipe and added a 1/4 tsp of almond extract. Only did this cause I was in a fix for time. I hope to get that almond past frosting down right next time because I love almond paste. Cupcakes were moist and tasty.
They are very good- but not the same as the Cupcake Wars Winning Recipe. I was a regular at CakeDreams and had the winning recipe many times. It was an Italian meringue buttercream Michelle used (I believe she once told me it was a family recipe). The icing in this recipe is a whipped almond icing, and although tasty just isn’t the same.
I LOVE the cannoli filling, and the cake tasted good, it just was dryer than I expected. The ganache did not thicken like it looks like it does in the picture. It was like putting chocolate water on the cakes. The whipped cream topping was delicious even though I used almond extract instead of almond paste because the paste was hard to find and fairly expensive.
fantastic recipe! The candied orange peel is a bit tricky but other than that well worth the time. Also I agree about the almond paste- work that first with sugar then add cream otherwise it doesnt work.
Absolutely Delicious! I will make them again and again!
I have to tell you. I was going to skip this recipe. I knew it was not going to be easy I was tired long day. Long story short, So glad I made it and so was everyone else. Do it You will be glad U did. Yummy :
I just tried these cupcakes and they are very yummy – its definitely worth the time to if you want something special. The only problem I had with the recipe was that the almond paste and the cream are almost impossible to incorporate together if you just put all the ingredients in a mixer like it says. I had to throw it out and start over by first incorporating the almond paste with the sugar, then SLOWLY drizzling in the cream until it came together. Then you can switch to the whisk attachment and beat the cream. Also, the orange flavor is really strong, MUCH stronger that a cannoli would ever have, to the point that my husband thought they were good, but didn’t recognize it as mimicking a cannoli. So if you want a more authentic cannoli taste, I would cut the zest and candied orange peel in half next time.
These were fantastic….I made 24 and gave away 22 of them to family, friends,neighbors and co-workers. I did not get one negative response back!! Com’on some were family and even they were shocked at how good they were. Sometimes with alot of ingredients people shy away and don’t want to like it but that’s impossible these are really that good. I agree the candied orange might as well be made at home but to be honest these are so full of flavor that the roasted almonds make a great topper. Remember to have the almond paste soft because you are whipping it into the heavy cream and you only have a small window of time to mix the two.
Delicious cupcakes. I was looking for something different in a cupcake, and I found it. It was pretty time consuming….had to candy my own orange peels, couldn’t find those pre-made, and I wish I had chopped my chocolate and peels a little finer, other than that it was pretty yummy!