Devil’s Food Cupcake Ice Cream Cones

The cupcake pic shown yesterday was an experimental piece of this recipe I've gotten after watching an episode of Chef at Home during my recovery period. Chef Michael Smith whipped up a batch of Devil’s Food Cupcake Ice Cream Cones for a Halloween Party which of course looked soooo simple on screen. I was thinking of sending a batch of these cupcakes for my boiboi's birthday celebration at the kindy, but I might change my mind since I still have a month more to experiment.

The laziness in me did not even read the recipe carefully earlier and some sort got into panic mode after I started measuring the ingredients! First the cake part... eh, how come no flour one??? I had to check the recipe again online which really does not contain any flour... so I strived on. The next thing I knew, darn... how much is 4 packages of gelatin??? Urghhh I had to checked online again for the amount which I came to a rough estimate. If you're from Canada, can you please let me know what's the weight for 1 package of gelatin... mamabok, any idea??

Anyway, the cake does rise nicely but as it neared the last bit in the oven, some of them got overflowed. However, this flourless cake tasted FANTASTIC! All test bunnies loved the chocolatey and fudgy cake. Since I only have 12 cones, the rest of the batter I baked them into cupcakes which is fine but some did overflowed cos I filled them up quite full. Best is to fill them half way through. There were concerned of the cones toppling over but it didn't happened even though some bloggers did mentioned theirs did.

Tip: For an easier job, pour the batter into a jug or a pyrex measuring cup or any vessels with spout before pouring the batter into the cones or paper cups.



As for the marshmallow topping, as far as I remembered, I didn't recall Michael using any marshmallows. I think there must be a flaw in the recipe as the ingredient did mention about them but no where in the method said anything about adding marshmallows. I did have them on hand but I omitted the marshmallow. I know I have bad memory but certainly NOT that bad haha...

I did as it instructed, whisking the mixture but I think I've under used the amount of gelatin (2 tbsp, so I think it needs more than this amount). It took me more than one hour of whisking with my Kitchen Aid, of course with many breaks in between as the motor seems to be heating up and I was too chickened to just my precious to go on and on without any breaks. And that too, it refuses to come to a stiff peak, so I gave up. The topping came out to be ok and I can just spoon it instead of piping them on.

As always, I tend to use less sugar in my cakes which made this combination worked so well. The SWEET marshmallow topping complimented the cake hand-in-hand. If you don't mind testing flawed marshmallow topping recipe, do give this a try...

Devil’s Food Cupcake Ice Cream Cones

For the Cake:
8 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1-cup butter
1.5 cups brown sugar
1-tablespoon vanilla
6 eggs
1-cup cocoa
2 dozen flat-bottomed ice cream cones

For the Marshmallow “Ice Cream” topping:
24 large marshmallows
2 cups of water
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of corn syrup
4 packages of gelatin
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of other optional flavour extract, lemon, orange, rum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the Cake:
Melt the chocolate and butter together in a medium bowl set over a simmering pot of water. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, vanilla, eggs and cocoa. Mix well.

Place ice cream cones on a baking sheet and fill with batter, leaving a small space at the top to allow for the rising of the cake. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely before adding the marshmallow.


For the Marshmallow:
Pour the water, sugar and syrup into a small pot. Sprinkle the gelatin over the surface of the mixture and gently whisk the mixture until the gelatin and sugar dissolves.

Bring the mixture to a simmer, heating it just long enough to melt the gelatin and sugar. It does not need to come to a simmer but it does need to get hot to the touch. Rub some of the mixture between your fingers. If it does not feel gritty and the mixture is very hot move on to the next step.

Add the vanilla and optional flavoring and using a stand mixer begin whipping the mixture on high. At this point you have two options. You may whip until the marshmallows look like soft whipped cream and the bowl feels cools to the touch then pour it into a lightly oiled 9x13 baking pan until it sets then cut it into squares. You may also continue whipping until the marshmallow resembles a stiff meringue and easily holds its shape in stiff peaks then pipe it out.

As the marshmallow cools the gelatin begins to firm up allowing the mixture to absorb air and increase in volume. To test the degree of whipping dip, a spoon into the mixture then remove it and invert it. Watch how the mixture slumps off the spoon. For best results it should be beaten past the point that it holds a soft peak almost to the point that it has stiffened and holds a stiff peak…

Working quickly spoon the marshmallow into a zippered plastic bag and cut off one corner. Pipe onto top of ice cream cones, and garnish with candy sprinkles.

Source: Chef Michael Smith

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