"99 with Cake" - Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Since the sun has decided to show its beautiful, shiny, happy face this week, I thought it would be fun to post my recipe for these cute little ice-cream cone cupcakes. I made these for a Marie Curie Tea Party my friend Joy and I hosted a couple of years back, and they went down very well indeed!

I couldn't find any flat bottomed cones, so I bought normal cones and very carefully sawed off the bottoms to make them stand... this meant I had to bake the cupcakes separate to the cone, but it worked well :-)

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
100g margarine
100g caster sugar
1 medium egg
2tbsp milk
1tsp vanilla extract
100g self-raising flour

For the butter cream:
300g butter
600g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
a little milk, if needed

To decorate:
12 ice cream cones
3 cadbury flakes (full sized), or 12 mini flakes

Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 15 - 20 mins
Makes 12

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 (or 180) and line a bun try with cupcake cases.
2. Beat together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, milk and vanilla extract until well combined. Sift in the flour and fold in until the mixture is smooth (and delicious - try not to eat too much just yet!)
3. Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until golden brown and springy when touched. Leave the cakes to one side to cool.
4. While the cakes are cooling, prepare your butter cream. Beat the butter until soft, then mix in the icing sugar and vanilla. If you find your butter cream is too stiff, add a teeny tiny splash of milk, stir it in, and repeat until you have the desired consistency. You need this butter cream to be fairly robust if you want to make it look ice-creamy! Spoon the butter cream into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle (I used Wilton 1M) and pop to one side.
5. Now the tricky part... if you're using flat bottomed cones and mini flakes - well done you! You are much cleverer than I am, and can move to the next step. If, like me, you have pointy bottomed cones and standard sized flakes, I hope that, unlike me, you have a steady hand! Use a serrated knife to carefully cut off the end of each cone, so that the cone can stand flat. Next, chop the flakes into 12 mini-pieces. Try not to crumble them into dust in the process. (MUCH easier said than done!!)
6. Now for the assembly. Remove the cooled cupcakes from their cases, and pop each one into your prepare ice-cream cone. Pipe a big swirl of butter cream on top of each (think Mr. Whippy!) and then pop a flake into the icing to finish.
7. Eat them quick - you wouldn't want the ice-cream to melt ;-)

Happy Thoughts
x