UPDATE: The full recipe for my cannoli inspired cake is now available in my eBook, Cakes without Borders. Order a copy today! A portion of the proceeds from each book is donated to a world children’s humanitarian organization.
The cannoli cake was one of the first recipes I ever created. I hadn’t made it in a long time so I thought it could use a re-visit and some testing/tweaking.
I first decided to make a cannoli cake after returning from my first trip to Italy. I was lucky enough to visit Sicily which is where the cannoli originates. After returning from Italy (where I also got to see Rome and Milan) I was excited to start making some authentic Italian pastries.
I was pleased to find a Sicilian baking book in my local library. The book had a recipe for both cannoli shells as well as the filling so I decided to give it a try. The shell recipe used a hint of cinnamon and Marsala wine in the dough. It said that the Marsala is what gave the shells their blistered appearance when fried. Although my shells didn’t look perfectly shaped, they were probably the best cannoli shells I ever had.
When I decided to make a cake version of the famous cannoli, I immediately thought a cake made with Marsala wine and a touch of cinnamon, just like the cannoli shell recipe, would be a great base. The filling is cannoli cream, of course, made with whole milk ricotta, powdered sugar, and pure vanilla. A rich chocolate ganache tops it off to make one truly decadent cake.
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