Robicelli's Dom DeLuise Cupcakes

All this week, our friends Allison and Matt from Robicelli's will be sharing recipes from their cookbook Robicell's: A Love Story, with Cupcakes, answering our questions, and giving away a book every day.  

Today: The story of how the Robicellis fell for each other -- thanks, in part, to cannoli. 

The Dom DeLuise is our cannoli-inspired cupcake, which was really a “must” for us for reasons beyond the fact that we’re from southwest Brooklyn. In the weeks after we first met, I told myself the reason I thought about Matt a thousand times a day was because for the first time ever, I had a friend who was as obsessed with food as I was. It absolutely wasn’t because we were both madly in love with each other, as every person who knew both of us had already figured out. I’m not that smart. Sue me. One day I learned we were both off from work and decided to go out and buy him a bunch of my favorite foods “just because.” I showed up at his house with a huge bag of antipasto, a pan of chicken parmigiana, and a box of my favorite dessert cannoli. We ate nearly everything I brought while hanging out on the couch and watching old episodes of Full House. (How in God’s name did I not realize I was in love with this guy? Al, you are so, so stupid.) 

While I was oblivious, Matt wasn’t. I’ll let him tell you the next part.

Matt says: "I didn’t actually have a day off -- I was taking a sick day because I had a stomach virus, but I didn’t have the heart to tell Al that when she showed up. I still ate all the food she brought: the dried sausage, the oil-cured olives, the sharp provolone, the cannolis. I was running upstairs every twenty minutes “to check on the dog,” but in reality, I was throwing up. I knew that I was crazy about Allison the moment I laid eyes on her. But at some point while lying there on the cold tile floor with my head inside a toilet, I realized that this was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. For one thing, she somehow psychically knew to bring me chicken parmigiana, which is my favorite food of all time. Two, she also had an encyclopedic knowledge of Full House. And three, never had I been so driven to repeatedly cause myself to violently throw up just to impress a girl."

Matt’s not that smart either.

Dom DeLuise

Pistachio Cake

2 cups sugar
3/4 cup shelled raw pistachios
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
4 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/ 3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Cannoli Buttercream

One recipe French Buttercream or American Frosting
1 cup ricotta, strained and pressed
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

To Finish

1/4 cup shelled pistachios, roasted and chopped
1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips
1/4 cup candied citron or orange zest, finely diced (optional)

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photo by Eric Isaac

Want to win a copy of Robicellis: A Love Story, With Cupcakes? Tell us in the comments: What dishes do you rely on to win people over? We'll choose one random winner each day, and announce them this Friday! (Unfortunately, we can only ship books within the US.)