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Celebrate With Donald With This Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes Recipe

Celebrate Donald Duck’s birthday with these delightful Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes, a treat as spirited and colorful as Donald himself! These whimsical cupcakes are baked right in ice cream cones, bringing a fun twist to classic desserts—much like Donald’s playful personality.

Topped with sprinkles, each bite is a delightful mix of cake and cone, reminiscent of Donald’s cheerful and sometimes unpredictable nature. Perfect for parties and sure to bring a smile to every face, these Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes are a sweet nod to everyone’s favorite feisty duck.

Three ice cream cones with white soft-serve swirls, adorned with colorful sprinkles, stand in a row. The cones are placed on a blue and white striped surface with additional sprinkles scattered around.
Credit: Favorite Family Recipes

These Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes are the perfect thing to make for birthday parties or any other activities with kids. Rather than cook a cupcake inside a liner, the cupcake cooks inside a store-bought ice cream cone. As if that wasn’t fun enough, you get to decorate them!

The Perfect Birthday Party Cupcake

There are SO many reasons this is the best cupcake for birthday parties! Because the cupcake is baked into a cone, there are no wrappers to clean up or dozens of kids with icing on their hands wandering around your home. Unlike its frozen counterpart, these ice cream cone cupcakes won’t melt, so they can be easily enjoyed outdoors in full sun.

Plus, it’s so easy to customize the color of your icing and toppings to work with the party theme. For example, a Frozen themed party would look so cute with light blue icing and snowflake-shaped sprinkles on top of your ice cream cone cupcakes.

These cupcakes are just as easy to make as other cupcakes, but they look way cooler. You can make the cake from scratch if you want, but I like to keep things simple and use a cake mix. My kids like them the same either way.

If you are searching for a party cupcake that stands out—this is the one!

Ingredients

  • Ice cream cones – flat bottomed (we find the Keebler brand works best)
  • Box cake mix – any flavor

Buttercream Frosting:

  • Butter – softened
  • Pure Vanilla Extract
  • Salt
  • Powdered sugar
  • Milk
  • Sprinkles – optional

Kid-Friendly Cupcakes

My kids (and I) love these ice cream cone cupcakes because there is no wrapper to peel off and icing doesn’t end up all over their hands…and clothes…and walls, you get the picture. Plus, the shape of the cone makes it easy for younger children to eat and enjoy too.

A cheerful cartoon duck in a sailor outfit gestures toward three ice cream cones topped with whipped cream and colorful sprinkles. Celebrate Donald's Birthday with this Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes recipe, as the treats sit upright on a blue and white striped surface with scattered sprinkles around them.

Ice Cream Cone Topping ideas

My favorite part of this cone cupcake are the toppings. Icing is swirled on the top to give the appearance of ice cream. Then, you can start decorating! There are an unlimited amount of toppings to choose from, but some of our favorites include:

  • Sprinkles
  • Mini M&Ms
  • Mini chocolate chips
  • Edible glitter
  • Chocolate flakes
  • Shredded coconut
  • Toasted nuts
  • Candied fruit slices

Fun and Fancy Variations

Chocolate cupcakes – the classic, (almost) everyone loves a chocolate cupcake! Mix it up with fun toppings, or let the kids decorate their ice cream cone cupcakes themselves!

Vanilla cupcakes – again, a tried and true classic. It doesn’t get better than rainbow sprinkles on a vanilla cupcake.

Funfetti – use funfetti cake mix to create a little burst of excitement in each cone! Somehow, funfetti just tastes better because it has sprinkles in it.

Pineapple upside-down – use yellow cake mix as your base and pineapple pieces in the frosting to recreate this delicious treat!

Special sundae – drizzle chocolate sauce on the vanilla buttercream frosting and put a cherry on top, and you have yourself a sundae.

Tips and Tricks to Make Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

After making this cone cupcake recipe countless times for parties and gatherings, I have learned a lot of insider tricks to share with you all.

  • Make sure your cone is flat-bottomed so it will bake correctly. The one that has worked best for me is the Keebler brand.
  • Only fill each cone ¾ full, or your ice cream cone cupcake will overflow while baking.
  • It can be helpful to have a second pair of hands to hold your cone while you fill it with cake mix.
  • To fill the cones easier and with a lot less mess, put the cake batter into a gallon size zip-lock bag and cut out the bottom corner. Squeeze the batter into each cupcake until it is ¾ full.
  • To make the icing look like ice cream, start on the outside edge of the cupcake and spiral around the outside base, then make concentric circles towards the middle. Pull it off forming a peak like a soft serve ice cream cone!
  • If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use the same ziplock bag trick as above.
  • Make sure your icing is still wet when you decorate, or your toppings will not stick into the icing. If the icing hardens before you have a chance to finish, spritz them lightly with water to moisten, then get to work on your ice cream cone cupcakes.
Two Ice Cream Cones filled with cake batter
Three ice cream cones with white soft-serve swirls, adorned with colorful sprinkles, stand in a row. The cones are placed on a blue and white striped surface with additional sprinkles scattered around.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes are the perfect party cupcake. The cupcake cooks inside the cone making a fun ice cream illusion that doesn’t melt.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Decorating Time 15 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings: 24 cupcakes
Course: cake, Dessert
Cuisine: American

Ingredients
  

  • 24 ice cream cones flat bottomed (we find the Keebler brand works best)
  • 1 box cake mix any flavor
Buttercream Frosting
  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 pounds powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup milk (add up to an extra tablespoon of milk if frosting is too thick)
  • candy sprinkles optional

Equipment

  • Mini Muffin Pan

Method
 

  1. Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Step 2: Place ice cream cones into the cups of a mini muffin pan.
  3. Step 3: Prepare cake mix according to box directions.
  4. Step 4: Fill each ice cream cone no more than ¾ full of batter, they will overflow if too much batter is inside! (Helpful Hint: To fill easier and with a lot less mess, put the cake batter into a gallon size zip-lock bag and cut out the bottom corner. Squeeze the batter into each cupcake!) Bake for 15-18 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  5. Step 5: Meanwhile in separate bowl, beat butter with mixer until fluffy.
  6. Step 6: Add vanilla, salt, powdered sugar and milk.
  7. Step 7: Continue beating until smooth.
  8. Step 8: To pipe on frosting to look like ice cream, start on the outside edge of the cupcake and spiral around the outside base making concentric circles towards the middle and then pull it off forming a peak like a soft serve ice cream cone. (For a big swirl, use same zip lock bag method used to fill cupcake batter.)
  9. Step 9: If using candy sprinkles, be sure to add them immediately after frosting so they will stick before the frosting dries. If the frosting does dry, you can use a fine mist spray bottle and mist them with water and then add sprinkles.

Notes

For a cupcake that tastes homemade – and not from a box, use these ingredients instead of what is listed on the box mix.
Dry boxed cake mix, 4 egg whites, ⅓ cup oil, ¾ cup milk, ½ cup sour cream. Mix wet ingredients together then blend in cake mix.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you make ice cream cone cupcakes a day ahead?

These ice cream cone cupcakes are best eaten the day they are made because they will go a bit soggy if they are sitting for SO long. But if you have to, you can bake them the night before and serve them the next morning, and in between, keep them in the fridge loosely covered.

What if I’m not a fan of buttercream frosting?

We have a delicious recipe for cream cheese frosting that also works great with these cupcakes!

Interested in more Disney Recipes?

A plate of cupcakes with pink frosting, chocolate sprinkles, and topped with raspberries is on the left. On the right is an animated image of a queen in a red, black, and yellow dress from a classic story, holding a heart-shaped object.
Credit: Favorite Family Recipes

From a yummy Dole Whip recipe to a Mini Cupcakes Recipe for Your ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Celebration, these recipes will transport you to the Disney Parks and movies. Check out Disney foodie favorites on our recipe page!

This post originally appeared on Favorite Family Recipes.

Echo Blickenstaff

Echo lives in Pleasant Grove, Utah with her husband, Todd, who works in advertising, and her four kids: two girls and two boys. She deploys her accounting degree as the blog’s resident problem solver. In her time outside the kitchen, Echo loves to get away from the phones and busy schedules and spend quality time with the family. Anywhere’s great – but getting out into nature in the mountains or on the beach – is the best kind of getaway.

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