Ice cream cone cupcakes

Never mind the weather, here is some indoor baking fun - making cupcakes inside ice cream cones.

Makes 21

For the cupcakes:

250g unsalted butter, softened

250g caster sugar

5 medium eggs

250g self raising flour

2 tsp vanilla extract

21 flat-bottomed ice cream cones

For the topping:

250g unsalted butter, softened

500g icing sugar

3-4 tbps water

2 tsp vanilla extract

To decorate:

7 flake chocolate bars, each cut into 3

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C and put the ice cream cones into cupcake tins. You might need to make them little foil collars to stop them falling over during baking.

Make sure to buy the flat-bottomed cones – these Askeys cones are on sale in most supermarkets.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the vanilla extract and the eggs one by one. Fold in the flour gently.

Fill each ice cream cone about halfway up – you can either spoon in the mix with a teaspoon or put the mix in a piping bag and pipe it into the cones. Bake for 20-22 minutes until golden brown, then allow to cool on a wire rack. The cupcake will have baked the length of the cone. The ice cream cone doesn't burn or leak or go greasy. For reasons I can't explain it just acts like a cupcake case.

Make the frosting by beating all the ingredients together with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. You can either add a ball of frosting with an ice cream scoop, or pipe a Mr Whippy effect using a large closed star nozzle like this.

Finish off the cupcakes by pushing a third of a flake chocolate bar into the frosting and adding sprinkles if you’re that way inclined. Enjoy!