A cupcone (the common US term), is a small

cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...

generally proportioned to serve one person, specifically baked in a flat bottomed

ice cream cone An ice cream cone, poke (Ireland/Scotland) or cornet (England) is a brittle, cone-shaped pastry, usually made of a wafer similar in texture to a waffle, made so ice cream can be carried and eaten without a bowl or spoon, for example, the Hong Kon ...

. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations, such as

sprinkles Sprinkles are very small pieces of confectionery used as an often colourful decoration or to add texture to desserts such as brownies, cupcakes, doughnuts or ice cream. The tiny candies are produced in a variety of colors and are generally used ...

, are common on cupcones. The consumable vessel design of a cupcone makes for a completely edible and self-contained snack food with no waste.

History

Although the origins of the recipe and the first use of the term are unclear, cupcones and cupcake cones have been a party favorite in recent history. The term cupcone is used to describe a cupcake product cooked in a flat bottomed ice cream cone instead of a paper cup in order to eliminate the waste paper after consumption. The cupcone takes its name from the common recipe of a cake whose ingredients were measured by volume, using a standard cup, instead of being weighed. Recipes whose ingredients were measured using a standard-sized cup could also be baked in cups; however, they were more commonly baked in tins as layers or loaves. In later years, when the use of volume measurements was firmly established in home kitchens, these recipes became known as ''1234 cakes'' or ''quarter cakes'', so called because they are made up of four ingredients in equal ratios; butter, sugar, eggs and flour. They are plain yellow cakes, somewhat less rich and less expensive than

pound cake Pound cake is a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. Pound cakes are generally baked in either a loaf pan or a Bundt mold. They are sometimes served either dusted with powd ...

, due to the reduced proportion of butter. The names of these two major classes of cakes were intended to signal the method to the baker; "cup cake" uses a volume measurement, and "pound cake" uses a weight measurement. Cupcones can be used interchangeably with cupcakes that are often served during a

celebration Celebration or Celebrations may refer to: Film, television and theatre * ''Celebration'' (musical), by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, 1969 * ''Celebration'' (play), by Harold Pinter, 2000 * ''Celebration'' (TV series), a Canadian music TV serie ...

, such as children's

birthday parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...

. Additionally, they can be served as an accompaniment to afternoon tea. Cupcones are a more convenient alternative to a full-sized cake as they don't require utensils or division into individual portions.

Notes and references

{{Cakes , state=autocollapse American cakes