Funfetti Ice-Cream Cone Cupcakes

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Are ice-cream stand runs a part of your summer evenings? They sure are for us. We live close to a lake with beautiful walking paths. Normally, we walk the 4 mile path and sometimes at the end reward ourselves with ice-cream cones at the stand across from the park. Favorite treat! I shared this on Instagram recently.

I've wanted to make cupcakes in an ice-cream cone since it started warming up but I never found an occasion for it until my 12-year old niece was in town a few weekends ago for a softball tournament. She was staying with us and I figured we could make these together for her softball team and that's exactly what we ended up doing.

Despite being so excited to bake these, I did no research on how-to bake cupcakes in ice-cream cones and they were a technical nightmare I must admit. I made funfetti vanilla cupcake batter and baked them in mini ice-cream cones (mistake #1). I placed the cones in regular muffin pans (mistake #2) and they were very shaky and difficult to transfer in and out of the oven. Some of the cupcakes overflowed since the cones were so tiny and I had too much in there. I topped with whipped vanilla frosting and decorated with sprinkles.

In the end, I was very glad with how looked and the girls loved them. It was the best treat after a long weekend of softball games. The cake recipe is the same I used here and here and it is always a fluffy, moist vanilla cake and the confetti adds a crunchy layer as you bite into the cone. 

Even though I loved how these mini ice-cream cone cupcakes turned out, I learned a few lessons for the next time I make them (luckily you will learn from my mistakes):

• Use JUMBO ice-cream cones (unless you want mini cupcake cones)
• Bake in ice-cream cone cupcake pans like these from Kupcake Konz : they were made for this purpose and seems to be very easy for transportation too. A great tutorial here. (FYI: I was not paid for this...I just found them online and they seem like a great idea :) ).
• I found this cool trick that could have saved me some fallen cones. Simply wrap the cones with foil to hold the cones in place in the baking pans.
• Do not overfill or you will have an overflowing mess. 

Hope you will try these ice-cream cone cupcakes on your next summer get together! They are a fun project for kids as well :)

Red, White and Blue Cake

Happy Monday!! I am recovering from a very long and fun weekend. But I'll share with you details of the bridal shower later in the week. For now, here is one of my stress-baking cakes from last week. Did I tell you that I am a stress baker? Whenever, I get overwhelmed with things, I pull up a recipe I have not made before or attempt an idea in my head and just go to town in the kitchen. Always helps calm my nerves.

This is an easy Red, White and Blue cake for the upcoming July 4th weekend celebrations. It's not too early to start planning. I got the idea for this cake when I saw the sprinkles at the check out counter of my grocery store. They always place the most mundane items along the check out, don't they? I had to sneak it into the cart before Mr J could see otherwise I would have received his favorite remark "you have a million other sprinkles you don't even use". Just like the speeches I get when I fall in love with yet another pair of shoes! Oh well, he saw them when we were unpacking the groceries and it was too late. Did I mention I have a shopping problem too?? Hmmmm, this is becoming a confessional so let's focus on the cake. 

I baked the cake just so I could decorate it with the sprinkles so I went with a simple vanilla butter cake with whipped vanilla bean frosting. It's a great recipe for a moist fluffy cake and I loved how it complemented the creamy vanilla bean frosting. I also made a batch of blue vanilla macarons to top the cake for a little extra touch and I wasn't sure how they would look on top of a cake. But I love how they add some character to this simple cake. 

For an upcoming July 4th weekend event, I would probably bake a more summer-y cake flavor like this lemon cake or strawberry lemonade cake though and keep the decorations the same. I love these sprinkles...can you see the cute little stars? My favorite.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

After several weeks of trying vanilla cupcake recipes, I am happy to share that I have found the ONE. This recipe gives a flavorful vanilla cake that is moist but yet light and fluffy. It is simple and I love it. It will become my go-to vanilla cake. The recipe is from Glory of Glorious Treats.

I have been taking the Wilton decorating courses. In Course II, we are learning how to make flowers with royal icing and it is difficult. But I am sure with lots of practice I will get the hang of things.

Back to the star of this post, the vanilla cupcakes!! They are the best and I will be re-making them soon again.