Patriotic Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 18 ice cream cake cones
• 15.25 ounce white cake mix PLUS ingredients listed on the back of the box
• blue and red gel food coloring

Buttercream Frosting

• 2 cups unsalted butter softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 8 cups powdered sugar
• 8 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Garnish

• maraschino cherries stem on
• red, white, and blue sprinkles

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Prepare the dry cake mix according to package instructions.
3. Separate the cake batter into 3 equal bowls. Add a small amount of red food coloring to one bowl, and a small amount of blue food coloring to another, leaving one of the bowls plain.
4. Place cake cones into a cupcake pan. Alternating between colors, pour the batter into your ice cream cones filling until they are about 3/4 full. It’s easiest to add the batter into piping bags or ziptop baggies with the corners snipped off.
5. Remove the cones from the oven. Once the cones are partially cooled, hold them upside down and poke a small hole into the bottom side of each of the cones to let steam escape and prevent them from becoming soggy. Allow the cupcakes to fully cool off before frosting. Cool in the pan or on a wire cooling rack.

Making the Frosting

1. Beat softened butter in the bowl of a standing mixer using the whisk attachment until light and fluffy.
2. Add in powdered sugar. Mix slowly, gradually increasing the speed so that the powdered sugar stays in the mixing bowl.
3. Beat in vanilla extract.
4. Add 4 tablespoons of the heavy cream and whisk on high speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 3-4 tablespoons more of heavy cream, beating until desired consistency is achieved (about 5 minutes).
5. Divide the frosting into three bowls (about 2 cups each bowl).
6. Leave one bowl as white frosting. Add a small amount of red food coloring to the second bowl and mix to combine. Then, add blue food coloring to the third bowl and mix to combine.
7. Add each frosting to their own individual piping bags fitted with a tip. Pipe on all three of the colors to one cone or alternate between the cones using a single color.
8. Garnish with red, white, and blue sprinkles and top with a maraschino cherry.