To celebrate Alyssa's half birthday, we made ice cream cone cupcakes. These treats greatly up the cuteness factor of regular cupcakes. Plus, they are so simple to make. Easy enough for my 3-and-a-half and 5-and-a-half year olds to make by themselves.
Normally, we make our treats from scratch, but I sometimes get free cake mixes after sales and coupons. I like handing the kids a box and say, "Here, make some cupcakes."
(It's even more fun if you stay in your pj's all day, just because it's your half birthday!)
Once the batter is made, either from scratch or a mix, place ice cream cones with flat bottoms into the cups of a muffin tin. Pour batter into cone until wide part is 2/3 full. Bake as normal.
The cones tend to get mushy if not eaten the first day. We made a few in cones, some regular cupcakes, and lots of mini-cakes. The mini ones are always a hit with kids. Also, you don't have to worry about them eating too much or wasting some.
Once they're cooled, frost as desired. I like to use my dessert decorator to make them look like soft-serve cones.
I learned something new this time . . .
If it's an 80 degree day, the frosting even melts and looks like real ice cream!
Messy, runny cones could not deter my 3 little ones from devouring the sticky treats.
* Here's a tip to give the frosting some height and look realistically like ice cream:
Put a dab of frosting right in the middle of the cake. (A bigger glob is better. Unfortunately, I was working with melting frosting that was oozing out of my decorator. Not so easy.) Then, start swirling the frosting at the edge of the cone, working in a circle toward the center. As you get to the middle, cover your initial dab as you build upwards.
Voilà! Soft-serve ice cream!
