Almost looks like ice cream.
Making desserts for parties is always fun, especially when you have a themed party. Remember the the Lalaloopsy Cake Pops? Those were for a Lalaloopsy birthday party and a lot of fun to do (besides the amount of work of course). A while ago a cousin asked me if I would make some cupcakes for her daughter’s birthday party. The theme was Carnival. Oh my! What to do with that? I immediately thought of colours of course, fun and something different. A little bit of browsing the internet and thinking about what my cupcake cook books had in store I found the recipe.
Actually, the recipe was last but the design and execution was developed really quickly. I wanted to make cupcakes that looked like ice cream, because you can buy that at any carnival for sure. (Something with cotton candy would have been cool but give me some time and I probably will figure something out.) My cupcake cook book “125 best Cupcake recipes” by Julie Hasson had a “recipe” for cupcakes in ice cream cones. However, I didn’t used the suggested white cupcakes but rather the Yoghurt-Lemon cupcakes, sounds more fun.
Ingredients Cupcakes:
– 1 1/4 cup flour
– 1 tsp, baking powder
– 1/4 tsp. salt
– 1 cup sugar
– 1/2 cup butter
– 1 egg
– 1/2 cup plain yoghurt
– 2 tsp. grated lemon zest
– 3 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Tip 1: The recipe said I should melt the butter and let it cool down. I didn’t do that. It also says you should use 1/2 tsp. lemon oil or extract, I have neither and find it not necessary either. Lemon zest and juice are usually enough. Oh, and as usual, I didn’t use quite as much sugar as the 1 cup the recipe calls for.
Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In the mixer, blend butter and sugar until fluffy and smooth, add egg and beat shortly. Add the yoghurt, lemon zest and juice and beat until smooth. Finally, add the dry ingredients and beat until just smooth.
The one in the background is not so nice and full.
Now it’s time to separate your batter into as many colours as you want. I had 5 in total: yellow, red/pink, green, blue, and purple. Add food colouring (natural or artificial, whatever you prefer) until you reach the desired colour. Use a muffin/cupcake tin to “hold” your ice cream cones.
Tip 2: Use the ice cream cones that can stand by themselves. That way it will be easier to bake. I also saw ice cream bowls made of waffles and I might use those next time. It would look more like a cupcake I would guess.
Fill the ice creme cones, alternating colours and make sure you fill them almost completely. It is ok if they have a little bump after baking. If you want you can swirl the different batters with a skewer (a toothpick might be too short) to make it look fancier.
Bake at 180°C for 25 min or until a skewer comes out clean and the cupcake springs back. Set them aside so they can cool off completely.
The batter spread nicely.
Ingredients Frosting:
– 1 1/3 cup icing sugar
– 1/2 cup butter
– 1/3 cup whipping cream
– 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Beat together sugar, vanilla and butter until smooth. Slowly add whipping cream and beat on high speed until fluffy. Then separate the mix and tint it with the same colour as your cupcakes. Use a piping bag and big star tip to make a swirl like ice cream. Either you use the colours separately or you can combine them by filling them into the piping bag around the edges. Experimenting is the key here I guess, some cupcakes had almost only one colours, others had almost all colours. Finish off with different sprinkles, like stars, or round ones, maybe you have some animals (more carnival themed).
I love the colour on this one.
Tip 3: I wasn’t quite happy with the vanilla frosting when I mixed it but through the piping bag it was ok. If you have a really nice, smooth frosting that you love, use it. The key with this one is to use really all the sugar and carefully (e.g. slowly) add that whipping cream.
Happy baking!
Baking in Saskatoon 
The Carnival Cupcakes is such a unique cupcake! I really loved the colors you have employed for the cake, so bright and cheery =)
these sound wonderful…. Pinned them so that i have the recipe the next time my nieces and nephews come to visit… I think they will like these… Thanks for sharing them on foodie friend friday.
These cupcakes look so pretty! They would be great for a kids’ party! Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday!
These do look like ice cream! Amazing! Thanks for sharing at Foodie Friend’s Friday! Please come back next week and share another great recipe!
Where do you find those cones
Those are regular ice cream cones and can be found in any grocery store.
Those are regular ice cream cones. Simply check your local grocery store. It should be in the dessert isle.
If you had used 1/2 teaspoon of lemon oil, the taste would have been way too intense. I measure out lemon and orange oil with a glass eye dropper and the most I’ve ever used in any recipe was 3 drops, a far cry from 1/2 tsp.! Citrus oils are very expensive and must be kept in cool, dry and dark places to preserve their strength, but oh, what a difference they can make to a recipe! I buy the small bottles because I use them so rarely and am most fond of the lime, lemon and orange oils since I make lots of fruit-based desserts and muffins.
I will have to look at the recipe again. Maybe it is a typo, or maybe it actually says 1/2 tsp. I will look.