Ice Cream Cone Cakes

Obviously, given the fact it's not really ice cream weather, these are not a new make/bake!These cakes are one of the things that started me on my baking journey/obession. I had a days annual leave to use up last summer and decided to spend it baking. I'd been making odd sponge cakes and Banoffee pies but I wanted to try something different. I'd seen a few recipes for Ice Cream Cone cakes and they looked amazing! It's basically cupcakes baked in ice cream cones and decorated to look like Mr Whippy's - perfect for allowing you to eat "ice cream" without all the coldness!

I used my favourite never-fail sponge recipe. Weigh the eggs in their shells ( I used 3 large ones to do 12 cones) and then use the same quantities of flour, butter and sugar. I creamed the butter and sugar first until they were pale and fluffy and then added in the eggs one at a time with a tbsp of flour and then mixed in the rest of the flour (sifted) and 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract.

I preheated my oven (I tend to go for 180°) and then got myself ready!

You need to use the flat-bottomed ice cream cones (otherwise they won't stand up) and I loosely wrapped them in tin foil and then filled them three quarters full with the cake mixture. I then baked them for about 20-25 minutes until they were golden and then left to cool for a few minutes in the tin before removing and cooling on a wire rack.

They looked fairly messy and a bit soggy initially and I was worried that I'd gone wrong, however once they cooled, they firmed up and I stopped panicing!

To decorate them I made some buttercream icing by mixing unsalted butter (140g) and sifted icing sugar (280g) with some vanilla extract for about 10 minutes using an electric hand mixer. Sometimes if its too stiff I add a few splashes of milk to loosen the mixture.

I then piped "Mr. Whippy" swirls on the top of the cakes using a large star nozzle (I use one I got from a set from Lakeland) and then added a flake (I had large ones so cut them in half) and sprinkled them with edible glitter! I was very impressed with the results...

I gave one to my friends little boy and he was very confused that they weren't frozen and that they were actually cakes! They were lovely and very cool. Not something I'd make everyday but a  great idea for a party.