In a few days, Peter Cottontail will be hoppin’ down the bunny trail… so we better have some carrots ready for him! But not just any carrots. Really, how many boring carrots can one bunny eat? I say we go for sparkling carrots with a surprise inside!
Hi, it’s Carrie Sellman from Half Baked, the cake blog for sweet inspiration. I’m happy to be back at HWTM today, sharing a different kind of carrot recipe – just in time for EASTER! Sure to make your little egg-hunters squeal with delight, these carrots are actually cupcakes!! Cake batter is baked inside an ice cream cone, topped with icing and then coated in orange candy and oodles of sprinkles. Edible grass provides the finishing touch on top. Just look inside!
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SPARKLING CARROT CUPCAKES – A DIY TUTORIAL
by Carrie Sellman
makes 12 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS:
– Ice Cream Cones (12)
– Chocolate Cake Batter (made from mix or from scratch)
– Buttercream Icing (store bought or homemade)
– Orange Candy Melts (2 packs)
– Orange Sprinkles (2 jars)
– Green Edible Candy Grass
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place an oven-safe wire rack on top. Stand ice cream cones upright in slots of wire rack. Cones must fit snuggly or they will fall over when baking. Some batter may leak out the bottom of cone while baking (but that’s why we’re lining our baking sheet with parchment).
2. Fill each cone 2/3 of the way full with cake batter. Bake approximately 15 minutes at 350 degrees, until toothpick comes out almost clean. Let cool completely.
3. Top each cone with a small mound of icing. Return to wire tray and place in freezer for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, melt orange candy coating in a tall microwave-safe container. Heat in microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power. Stir. Repeat until candy is completely melted.
5. Dip chilled cone into melted orange candy, holding the pointed end of cone with your fingers (icing goes down). Cover as much as possible. Pull up and out of candy coating slowly.
6. Before candy coating hardens, hold cone over a bowl and coat with orange sprinkles. Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle until all areas are covered. Let excess sprinkles fall into bowl so you can reuse.
7. Set cone onto parchment paper, icing side down, until hard. This is a good time to touch up any areas you missed, especially the tip. They firm up quickly and will actually be quite solid once set. Do not worry if they are a little wonky or knobby. Real carrots aren’t perfect either!
8. Using a toothpick, make a small hole in the top center of the carrot. Insert a few pieces of edible grass and trim to desired length.
ENJOY!
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STYLING IDEAS:
– Stand carrots upright in a popcorn cone holder. I attached a white wooden fence to my popcorn holder for an extra little touch. Spoon crushed Oreo crumbs around the carrots to look like dirt.
– Bake extra cake batter in a loaf pan. Cover this cake with icing and crushed Oreo crumbs. Use this as your ‘display stand’ by inserting carrots into cake.
– Simply lay carrots on a plate covered with crushed Oreos or extra edible grass.
– Place carrots in individual cellophane bags and tie with a green ribbon to create favor or portable treat.
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71Comments
Amazing idea Carrie!!!
Fun idea! I love that you used the word: WONKY!
The place I buy my candy melts has 2 different size bags…so what is the OZ on each bag??
I can’t wait to make these for my grandkids!!! and my adult friends too!! gonna use a loaf pan to bake a small cake to stand them in!! Love this!!!!
How cute, thank you so much for sharing this. I’m going to make these for my grandkids which will make me # 1 grandma to them lol. Thanks.
Pam
This is way harder than you make it sound. I tried to make this for my baby’s first birthday and it was a huge mess, disaster. The chocolate has to be slightly cooled or it won’t set properly on the cones and it will just slide right off…super annoying when you have spent a ton of money on all the things needed for this and then it doesn’t work out in the end!
Can these be left out a room temperature once the icing has hardened?
Do you think I could lay them on their side and display them on a platter lined with crushed Oreos?
These are absolutely adorable and so creative! Thanks for posting!
Sharing on my blog!
http://www.practicalbonnvivant.com
These are fabulous! Thanks so much for posting! I’ll be sharing you and your art on my blog!
http://www.practicalbonvivant.com
do the orange candy melts taste like oranges, the fruit? these are ADORABLE, but I’m not a huge fan of chocolate & fruit flavor combinations…
I made these for my daughter’s first birthday. I’m glad I did a test run a week before though! My wire rack wouldn’t hold the cones upright no matter what I tried, so I cut a dozen inch-wide holes in cardboard and covered with foil. Not only did it hold the cones perfectly, the foil caught any drips, so the 9×13 pan I put the cardboard on stayed clean!
I’m not sure how you ended up only using two bags of the candy melts, I went through 5 1/2, and had a heck of a time keeping it at the right temperature. (Maybe I just need more practice)
I bought a large plastic flower pot and set a plate in it and filled it with crushed oreos. HUGE hit at the party!
I’m so glad I came across this cute recipe let me just say I was a hit at my daughters school with all the office people and teachers! This was such a fun thing to do that I’m so doing it again for Easter dinner for all the family. Great idea thank you for sharing this!
Just wondering, but will this work with the other kind of ice cream cones? the ones that aren’t waffle cones.