I go to my mom’s place with one single light bag, but I always come back with 5 heavy ones!

You can’t blame me for it – because right now, I stay in the middle of no where. And in Trivandrum, my native, you get everything is within a 2 km radius.

So this time, in addition to my heavy backpack filled with everything under the sun, I had a yoga mat in one hand and a wooden piece on the other. Now, this piece was made as part of a door which never got done, so now it’s serving as a backdrop for my photographs.

Coming to think of it, I should have bought a can of paint and brush as well from there ;-)

My son walked in front of me, with a newly bought cricket bat in one hand. And pack of 100 ice cream cones in the other :)..

Try as my father might, he wasn’t able to persuade the kid to let him carry something. The kid wanted his bat and there was no way he would part with the cones!

I would have ended up spending ten times the cost of the cones for commutation alone, if I were to buy this in Chennai. Not to mention the 30 km travel one way!

So with about a hundred ice cream cones, it was time I tried something. Funnily, making ice cream never went into my mind! It was cakes that caught my attention.

Because of the pointed end, it was tough baking them. For the first batch, I lined a cooling tray with foil and cut holes for the cones to go in. But only a few stood straight, most of them titled and hence didn’t rise much. Some of those even had batter pouring out. Lesson learnt : don’t go for shopping leaving the cones in the oven!

For the second batch, I tried baking them in a stainless steel glass. These came out fine.

It’s difficult to check whether its done or not as the cones are too tall to put in the skewer. So I just let them bake for about 15 minutes and took them out. The cones will be soft and not crunchy as it has been baked. And they make a statement. No doubt about that.

So the next time you are having a party, consider making these. They are sure pleasing to the eye! 

Recipe Source: Chow Times – Moist Chocolate Cake

This is an easy to put together simple cake, but it’s not the tastiest one around. 

Ingredients:

•  Flour                     :         1.5 cups
• Baking soda        :          1 tsp
• Salt, a pinch
• Cocoa powder    :         3 tbsp
• Water                     :          1 cup
• Sugar                      :          1 cup
• Vanilla extract    :          1 tsp
• Vinegar                  :           1 tbsp
• Oil                             :           1/4 cup

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa together until no lumps remain. Use a big bowl for this.
3. Mix wet ingredients together in a smaller bowl. Water, oil, vinegar, vanilla. Add sugar and mix until it dissolves. A whisk would do this job.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix/whisk until no lumps remain.
5. If you are baking this as a single cake, bake in a greased 9″ round pan for about 35 minutes (the time varies from oven to oven, so check when its around 30 minutes). For cupcakes, you need to bake for about 20 minutes or so, checking once it crosses the 15 minute mark.
6. I used ice cream cones for baking the cake. I used a tablespoon to fill the batter into the cone. You can also pipe the batter into the cone, which is easier. Fill till its 3/4th full.
7. For baking, I would suggest sturdy paper cups (I used stainless steel cups). Wrap the mouth of the glass with foil (no cling wrap please, it will melt!!). Cut a small ‘X’ mark in the middle and put the cone through. You can check the below picture for the glass.
8. I baked for about 15 minutes. Be careful when you take these out, because the glass in which you baked also will be very very hot.
9. Pipe with butter cream and decorate with sprinkles if desired.
10. For serving, I used a rectangular tall thermocol piece I had. I poked a hole here and there and made the cones stand on those. Else you can foil wrap a rectangle base board box and the cut ‘X’ and push 1/4 th of the cones through. You can see the board in the below picture.
11. I got about 15-18 cone cakes with this batter. The size of the cone matters, so the number may not be the same if tried with a different cone.
12. An easier way would be to bake muffins with cones placed upside down on top. this way, when the muffin rises, it fills the cone. But it won’t fill all the way through, but you will have a good dome.

This recipe was one of the first cakes I baked and it does bring back some old memories (remember, not all memories are pleasant :D. Some are real embarrassing ones).

Sending this cake to Blogging Marathon 33 under the theme ‘Eggless Cakes’. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for more details. Two more interesting cakes coming tomm. and the day after :-).

Linking this cake to Valli’s Cake Mela and Vardhini’s Bake Fest.