ice cream cupcakes-ish

after an exhaustive and exhausting search in all shops near me for flat bottomed ice cream cones to make proper ice cream cupcakes I had to admit defeat; getting my cake hat on, hah, I ALWAYS have my cake hat on...(hmmm, I so want a hat of cake...oooh imagine mini hats, made of cake! plans are formulating)....sorry, anyway, cake hat was on and I decided to make them ice-creamy by doing big old frosting and adding a wafer & sprinkles on top....and lo...

I experimented with a new chocolate cupcake recipe, and it is super nice, I used to always use the magnolia one but for some reason it was always very temperamental for me. Often it felt too airy leading to odd cupcakes that went a bit bubbly, and then could sink...tante irritato (sorry just seen Angels & Demons and have gone all fake-italiano). This recipe is very very easy as it is a 'dump it all in and blend' method, my first attempt at one too. Chocolate Cupcakes - makes 20 Ingredients 250g plain flour 450g caster sugar 65g cocoa powder 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 12 fl oz milk 113g butter, softened 2 tsp vanilla extract 2 large eggs Method 1. preheat oven to 180C (170C fan) 2. sift dry and add wet ingredients - except the eggs - straight into your mixer bowl 3. mix on low speed at first to avoid flour cloud, then increase to high for 2 minutes 4. add the eggs and beat again for another 2 minutes, scrape bowl and beat quickly to combine any random bits 5. fill your cupcake cases (or ice cream cones if your quest if more fruitful than mine) 2/3rds full and bake for 20-25 minutes 6. remove and leave to cool before icing Vanilla Buttercream Ingredients 226g butter, softened 750g icing sugar, sifted 2 fl oz milk 1 tsp vanilla extract Method 1. beat butter until very creamy, scrape bowl down 2. add most of the icing sugar, then the milk and vanilla - beat on a low speed (I cover my mixer with a tea towel to avoid getting mess everywhere), then increase the speed to incorporate well 3. add the rest of the icing sugar and beat again first on a low speed, then increase to high and leave for a few minutes to get a very creamy, fluffy frosting (at this point you could add cocoa, or remove half and add to make chocolate too) 4. fill a piping bag fitted with a large star tip (I have lost mine hence the round tipped piping :( meh) and pipe ice cream 99 style toppings on the cooled cupcakes. To get a high mound I make first a base of frosting, then pipe another cone on top, with a little wrist flick to get the classic ice cream tip! 5. finally pop in your wafers, I pushed mine down into the cake a bit for security, then add sprinkles of your choice! yum yum yummy yum! I'd love to serve these with a hot fudge sauce...oooooooh just think of it!