Chef Angela asked, examining the two cupcakes Gigi and Miranda had put before her. Cupcake Number One was the zeppole-inspired one that Miranda had dreamed up. Vanilla, filled with a simple but oh-so-rich Italian pastry cream and topped with a tall swirl of whipped cream frosting and a miniature zeppole. It wasn’t as splashy looking as Cupcake Number Two, which was a revamped version of the cannoli cupcake Gigi had started with. Miranda’s mastery of baking ratios had taken the thing from the batter disaster and turned it into something truly special: a light ricotta cupcake filled with a mini-chocolate-chip-speckled cannoli cream. It used the same whipped cream frosting as the zeppole cupcake, only instead of a little doughnut, it was topped with chopped pistachios and half of a mini cannoli shell. Chef Angela took a bite of the zeppole cupcake first and chewed thoughtfully. “This is OMG good,” she said. “You girls are major-league impressive.” Gigi beamed. “Now try the other one.”
