Ice cream cone cupcakes

Happy New Year foodies! I’m sure most of us breathed a sigh of relief when the clock struck midnight on December 31st, but we’re not quite out of the woods yet. After the major rollercoaster of a year that was 2020 I hope that you managed to squeeze in some holiday down time, and that the year ahead will be kinder to all of us.

I’m kicking off another year of recipes with something that’s sure to inject a bit of fun into your day! Grown ups and kiddies alike will love baking and eating these ice cream cone cupcakes. You can play around with colours and sprinkles depending on your mood, or to match a specific theme if you’re serving them at a party (what are those again?!).

I love the soft serve effect you get when piping the icing on top, but you can just as easily spread the icing on the cones instead, if you prefer. Just don’t forget those all important sprinkles. Have fun!

Cook’s notes:

You can halve the recipe to make a smaller batch.
Try different icing colours and sprinkles if you’re serving these at a themed event.
The icing can be spread on the cones instead of piped if you prefer.

ICE CREAM CONE CUPCAKES

Servings: 20
Print

For the cones:

20 flat bottomed ice cream cones
heavyweight foil, to secure the cones
100g butter, softened
200g light muscovado or brown sugar
2 large eggs
5ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
200g flour
10ml (2 tsp) baking powder
pinch of salt
30g cocoa
125ml (½ cup) warm milk

For the icing:

230g butter, softened
400g icing sugar
5ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
3 tbsp warm milk
15g cocoa
chocolate flake and sprinkles to decorate

1.) Preheat the oven to 170ºC. Arrange the cones in a muffin tray. Tuck pieces of crumpled up foil around the base of each cone to secure them in the tray.

2.) Cream the butter and sugar together for 5-10 minutes. The mixture should be visibly lighter in colour, soft and moussy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix to combine.

3.) Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa. Mix until just combined, then whisk in the milk.

4.) Divide the batter between cones. (I found that two tablespoons of batter per cone was just right. Don’t overfill them!) Carefully transfer the tray to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.

5.) To make the icing whip the butter until soft. Sift in the icing sugar and mix until combined. Add the vanilla and some of the milk and mix into a soft icing. Continue to add the remaining milk gradually until you reach piping consistency.

6.) Scoop half of the icing into a separate bowl and sift in the cocoa. Mix to combine. Pop the vanilla and chocolate icing side by side into a piping bag with a star nozzle. (If you want more defined line between the vanilla and chocolate icings place them each into their own small piping bags, cut the tips then place both bags in a larger piping bag with the nozzle.

7.) Pipe the icing onto the cooled cones. Decorate with flake and sprinkles.