Tuesday, June 9, 2009

My Very First How to!

How To Make Pickles and Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

So many people had asked me how to make these that I went ahead and documented the whole thing so I could make a tutorial. I made these for my friend Natalies Baby Shower, the theme was Pickles and Ice Cream! So here is how we did it.


Step One: Baking

Place ice cream cones in your cupcake baking pan using aluminum foil to create and extra wall to hold them upright. The foil will not brown the cones so use as much as necessary to hold up each cone.


Use any cake mix that would normally allow you to make cupcakes and follow directions per the box. I used my favorite funfetti mix for these cupcakes.


Fill each cone with the batter but only fill to the middle of the cone to allow for rising. Spoon batter into cones slowly as it will seep into the nooks and crannies at the bottom of the cone after a few seconds.


Follow baking guidelines from box but keep an eye on them as they may take slightly less time than normal cupcakes. Mine were two minutes faster than the box stated. Once you can stick a toothpick in and pull it out without any residue than they are finished.


They should rise to the top of the cone, if you used too much and they are overflowing up and out of the cone use a sharp knife to level them off and save the extra cake as a snack for yourself.



Step Two: Display

You obviously can't serve these on a regular plate or cupcake tower as they are unstable and would fall over. You can make your own display holder by using a cardboard box and some wrapping paper. I got these perfectly sized boxes from my local liquor store, they are used to store cases of beer and they are the perfect size! You'll want to measure around using a cone and make your holes a little bigger than the bottom of the cone. cut them out of the box allowing for at least 12 holes per box.


Wrap the box like a gift then from the underside, cut an "X" into each hole with an exacto knife.


Fold the excess paper under the box and secure with scotch tape.


Now you have a nicely decorated holder for your ice cream cupcake cones!



Step Three: Decorating and Storing

Using fondant that can be found at your local baker or cake shop I rolled out three balls of green fondant. One is for the outside of the pickle, one for the inside and one for seeds. I had also considered using one color and making individual sized solid pickles using the same fondant but just the one color. Use your imagination.


Like rolling sushi I made the darker color wrap around the inner color and created an easy to cut roll.


Once it was rolled I cut the pickle slices using a sharp knife and hand rolled little seeds to add to the top of each slice. After I finished I chilled these so they would firm up a bit.


Next I used a pastry bag and a large star shaped tip to ice the cupcakes like ice cream cones (soft serve). I put them quickly into the freezer to firm up so that the icing would not slide off.


Once in the freezer I added a pickle slice to each cupcake as the finishing touch.


Then Walla! I have an interesting and delicious desert for my pickles and Ice cream themed Baby Shower. I think in the future I would make these for a regular party, only I would add jimmies to make them look more birthday party-ish.


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