Last week, as I was thinking over what I was going to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner at my mom’s house, I decided to ask my kids what they would like to contribute to the party. They love helping me in the kitchen anyways – I thought that this would be a great time for them to learn how to give up their time preparing something in love for others. They loved this idea and were ready to get to making something before even deciding what it was they were going to make. Finally – the idea of cupcake cones came to light. I mean, of course it did – they are both under 8 years old. I immediately thought back to the cupcake cones my mom had made for me to take to school on my 6th birthday. They were a hit – funny how some things come back around. My kids, who thought they had discovered a brand new idea, giggled when I told them about how I used to LOVE cupcake cones when I was about their age. They love hearing stories about when Mommy was a little girl. As we pulled out all of the ingredients to prepare their winter cake cones I began to wonder how my mom had gotten the cake inside of a cone without it spilling in the oven – something I never considered as a kid. Details.
I finally came up with a brilliant idea of covering a deep bread pan in aluminum foil and cutting several X’s into it with a knife. This allowed me to slide the cones into the X’s and keep them in place as I filled them. I also did the same trick over a cupcake pan – but found that with the shallowness of the cupcake tray the cake cones were a bit too wobbly for transport. Find something deeper than a cupcake pan – but if it has to, a cupcake pan will work.
Cover a pan with aluminum foil. Cut X’s into the foil to hold cones upright.
After securing the cones into place with the foil, I prepared my box cake mix according to the box instructions and filled the cones up to the line inside the cone – about half way.
Fill cupcakes half way.
Next I baked them for the same amount of time as the box described – but kept an eye on them for early browning. This is how they came out – the cake cooked all the way through the cone but was not very predominate outside the top of the cone. Apparently not fluffy enough for my daughter.
I thought the cones turned out perfect. My daughter, however, wanted the cupcakes to be more plump on the top of the cone – so we tried a second technique. For our second batch we placed cupcake liners in the pan and filled them 1/4 full. Next we placed the cones face down into the cupcake mix and baked as normal. I decided to leave one cupcake without a cone for a test subject – I needed to be able to see when the cupcakes were finished baking.
Surprisingly, the second method worked just as well as the first and removed the need for aluminum foil while baking. The cake was more plump on the top of the cone and the cake mix still went all the way through the cone. The only down fall of the second technique was that I still needed to create an aluminum foil stability system to transport them to my moms for Thanksgiving dinner.
The cupcakes were a hit! My youngest niece even thanked my kids for bringing those delicious cupcakes cones – everyone had smiles from ear to ear.
After picking out your favorite baking technique – check out this easy to follow recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1 Boxed Cake Mix
- 1 Cup Milk
- 1/2 Cup Oil
- 3 Eggs
- 24 Cake Cones
- 2 Containers of Vanilla Frosting
- Sprinkles (optional)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350. Prepare batter according to box directions ( I substitute the water for milk to get a more decadent cake flavor).
- Either fill the cones half way with batter or fill cupcake liners 1/4 way full and place a cone on top.
- Bake for 12-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow cones to cool completely.
- Fill a bag with frosting and pipe in a circular motion to look like soft serve. Add sprinkles and serve.
What treat do you miss from your childhood? Is it still a “thing”?
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