Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Every year our street has a 4th of July block party. It is always a lot of fun with lots of kids, water balloons, a softball game and fireworks. This year I offered to bring a dessert. With so many kids there, I thought it would be a great idea to make something fun and festive. I haven't had ice cream cone cupcakes since I was about 6 years old, but they are so cute, I couldn't resist. I have to say, this is probably the most adorable dessert I have ever made! The kids at the party thought they were so cool and gobbled them up! And they tasted pretty good too. The red and blue sprinkles made them perfect for July 4th, but they could be decorated for any event. I can't wait to have an excuse to make them again!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

1 cake mix + ingredients required for mix (I chose Betty Crocker yellow cake mix)

24 ice cream cones (flat bottom)

Mini chocolate chips

Frosting (I made Hershey's Chocolate Frosting- see Chocolate Layer Cake for recipe)

Decorations- I used red and blue sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Arrange 12 cake cones in a muffin tin.

3. Sprinkle about 1 tsp of mini chocolate chips into each cone. This helps prevent them from being top heavy and is a sweet surprise at the bottom of the cone!

4. Make cake batter according to package directions.

5. Fill each cone with batter just up to where the cone begins to widen. Don't overfill.

6. Bake for 18 minutes. Watch them rise in the oven! Mmm!

7. Cool completely on a wire rack (be careful, they like to topple over). While they are cooling, repeat with the second set of 12 cones.

8. Frost and decorate. I loaded my favorite homemade chocolate frosting into an icing bag and made swirls with a #32 decorators tip and topped them off with red and blue sprinkles.

9. Serve. Don't make too far in advance or the cones will get soggy.

10. If you have leftover cake batter, make some regular cupcakes or a mini cake (I made one in my loaf pan).

Difficulty: Medium-hard

Debbie's Rating: 9.5- taste was good and appearance was great!

Hirsh's Rating: 9

Sutton Court Kids Rating: "Mmm...these are awesome!"