Melted Icecream Cupcakes

Growing up, my mom used to make Ice cream Cone Cupcakes to bring into school for Birthday treats. These used to be my favorite thing to bring in and share. Now that I have a kid of my own, I wanted to make sure I could make them too.

Through the process of making them a few times, messing them up once or twice, I came up with a great idea. Melted ice cream cupcakes: Taking a mistake and making it on purpose.

So here is the process.

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There is an art to messing up properly. Don't get down if you don't create the perfect mistake the first time round. :)

One box Chocolate cake mix - I used the Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate - One box will make 24 cupcakes

Eggs 3 - may vary depending on your cake mix

Oil 1/2 cup - may vary

Water 1 1/4 cup - may vary

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24 Keebler Icecream cones - flat bottom not sugar or waffle cones

Frosting - One can of vanilla

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Cream filling - Makes enough for 36 cupcakes approx

2 egg whites

2 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup shortening

1 tsp vanilla

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Pastry bag and tips

9x13 metal pan

Mixing bowl

Mixer

spatula

Spoon

Measuring cups

microwave safe bowl

Pre-heat your oven to 375.

Make the batter according to the cake mix box. I wanted a cake mix that was going to be runny and sort of stay runny. That meant it had to contain actual chocolate pieces. I used a triple chocolate cake mix that contained tiny chocolate chips

To make it, I needed: 3 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1 1/4 cup water.

Your cake mix may be different.

This step is important for how much you add to the cones. If you add too much, it will not work. If you add just enough, it will spill out (which is what you want here), or if you add to little, it will make a small ice cream cone that most people strive for.

Leaving the batter down about 1/2 inch from the top will give you the nice look of a cupcake. We don't want that but I added a picture showing it anyway.

Putting the batter all the way up to where the cone flares out will give you overflowing cupcakes which is what I want here. (See the picture with the red arrow). Know that Funfetti cupcakes do not work for regular or spilled. They just never come out.

Filling it completely to the top will give you a mess that will not come out well. The cones will likely fall over and create a bigger hot mess in your oven, not a finished product.Also, the batter will not cook all the way through before the tops burn.

Here are a few pictures I have borrowed showing cupcakes that were completely filled vs not filled enough. I didn't feel like making several more batches to show you what you needed to add so I googled a few other people's tries.

So to review. Fill the cone until the flare out at the top. Space them out. 12 fit into a 9x13 pan without touching or running out of the pan. You could also use a muffin pan to contain them if you like but I wanted the option for the batter to run down and look like a spill, as well as being able to scrape off that spill and keep it intact. Hard to do in a muffin pan. Your pan needs to be flat on the bottom, not a nice rounded glass pan. Metal seems to work best for this.

The cones will be heavier now and should stand up right fairly easily. Still be careful not to tip them over when moving them to place them in the oven.

The oven is preheated at 375. The cones are filled. Now put them in the oven for 20 minutes. At about 6 minutes they should start to overflow.

You can put a large cookie sheet below the pan on the next rack down. There is a chance a cone will fall over and cause a rather large mess in your oven should you not. Your choice. I didn't, and I cleaned my oven the following day when a cone was too close to the edge and spilled onto the edge and then out of the pan, but didn't tip over. My oven needed cleaned anyway.

The cones might still look slightly gooey at 20 minutes. If you used the chocolate cake I did, that is normal due to the chocolate chunks. Take them out, let them cool and they should be fine.

While they are cooling, lets make the filling. This step is optional if you don't want filling

2 egg whites, 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 3/4 cup shortening.

Beat the egg whites on high with a hand mixer until still peaks form.

Add in everything else and mix for at least 2 more minutes until very smooth and there are no chunks left.

Put in a pastry bag with a tip to apply the filling. It is fairly thick so you will need a tip that it can push through.

Puncture the top of the cupcake with the tip and squeeze in the amount desired.

On several of the cones I actually punched through the side of the cone where the mix had run out and softened the cone to keep the top looking intact for the final product

Once the cupcakes are cooled, are filled with filling if you chose to do so, you need to add the melted frosting.

Put a glob of frosting in a bowl in the microwave. It will take less than 30 seconds to melt. At 30 seconds, it will actually be boiling, at least mine was.

Be careful with the hot frosting. You want it runny and not thick.

Dip the cones into the frosting, spinning them a bit to get good coverage. Set them down on your platter and the frosting will do it's thing and seek it's own level.

A note here. The frosting will not become like it was before you microwaved it. It stays sort of sticky and gooey forever. This adds to the effect of the melted ice cream cone but know this in advance. You will need napkins. Who said eating melted ice cream wasn't messy anyway?

Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

I found that 12 cupcakes fit nicely on the cake protector case I got for our wedding and have never used.They worked nicely for a work party I brought them to.

Enjoy your melted creation.