Ice Cream Cupcakes

There are two styles of Ice Cream Cupcakes. When it comes to eating there's the messy and the not-so-messy varieties. The messy ice-cream cupcake recipe involves real ice-cream, whereas the not-so-messy only looks like an ice-cream cone.

When I first heard about cooking in the cones - I was very, very sceptical. But it works. I like to put cupcake liners in the tin, put batter in and put the cone on top. This way the cake is at the top of the cone, rather than the bottom, and you don't need to use as much frosting.

I'll show you how to make both types.

Ice Cream Cupcakes

You will need:
Cupcake batter
Ice-cream
Glace frosting
Candies to decorate

Place cupcake liners in trays. Make cupcake batter and use about 1 tablespoon for each cupcake. You can make either chocolate or vanilla cupcake mix, depending on the "look" you are after.

Cook for 8-10 minutes and let cool in the trays. Cover with plastic wrap and place trays in the freezer for several hours or overnight.

When ready to decorate, remove ice-cream from the freezer and allow to soften slightly. Cover each cupcake with ice-cream and fill to the top of the tray.

Return tray to the freezer until ice-cream has set.

Decorate with frosting or whipped cream and candies or chocolate.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

You will need:
Cupcake batter
Flat bottom cones
Buttercream frosting
Candies to decorate

Make the cupcakes and fill flat-bottomed ice-cream cones halfway with cake batter.

Place each cone in a cupcake baking tin for stability. Bake at the recommended temperature for about the same time as cupcakes.

Pipe frosting in a swirling motion to resemble a soft-serve ice-cream.

Top with candies.

Another alternative is to make cupcakes, chocolate or vanilla, and bake as per recipe. Remove cakes from paper cases and place in ice cream waffle cones. The cakes should fit in easily or they may need to be shaped slightly to ensure a snug fit.

Make a quantity of buttercream frosting. You can either make all the "ice-cream" the same color or you can divide the mixture and color to resemble ice-cream flavours. I made mine resemble choc mint, so I colored the buttercream green and stirred in grated chocolate.

Frost the cupcake ice cream cones, bringing the frosting down to the top of the waffle cone. If desired, you can decorate with chopped nuts, chocolate, sprinkles or fruit. You could even try dipping in melted chocolate.

Have fun and be creative!