epicureantease

When I was a little girl, I attended a going away party for another little girl whose mom made ice cream cone cupcakes. Cupcakes baked inside an ice cream cone. Genius!! I remember thinking then what a cool idea that was. Although I don’t remember the specifics of whether the cupcakes were white or chocolate or how they were decorated and I certainly don’t remember the little girls name, the cupcake memory has stuck with me for 30+ years!  Along with the memory that the little girl was soon to be moving to San Francisco. For some reason that really bothered me. So I told her I was moving to New York! HAHAHA! I never claimed to be rational 100% of the time! 😉

Our dear family friend Adelines 92nd birthday is today. Can you believe it, 92!? If you’ve been following for some time, you know that Adeline is not only a very special woman, but that we celebrate her birthday every year come the end of October, beginning of November with a ladies luncheon hosted by the birthday girl herself.

Re-reading last years post for Adelines 91st  brings tears to my eyes. Both happy and sad. A lot has changed in a year. A LOT! A year ago Adeline was a very spry 91 years young! I swear she packed more energy than most of us can muster on a good day! Earlier this summer Adelines body began to realize it was the age it is and she started to experience a roller coaster of health issues that brought with it a list of limitations.  Even with these limitation, Adeline continues to be one of the most amazing people I’ve been blessed to call a part of my life. She doesn’t allow the changes she’s experiencing to get her down.  Sure she has the normal complaints any of us would have if having to deal with a whole new set of health concerns, but she continues to move forward.  I was by her bedside at one of her recent hospital stays when her minister asked if she’d like him to pray with her. She said she’d like that, so he asked what she’d like to pray about. Tears welled up in my eyes and quickly streamed down my face as she asked that they pray for others. Pray for those who are facing hard times. Pray for those who need help. It didn’t dawn on Adeline to pray for herself, it took the minister asking  if there were any prayers she’d like said for herself that Adeline expressed having peace. Shes had a full life filled with solid family ties and friendships. She expressed a readiness for what the Lord has in store for her.  Knowing Adeline has strong faith and has put her life in the Lords hands gives comfort, but thinking about the day we lose such a special woman brings great sorrow.

On a very warm, late October afternoon, 10 of us brought the party to the birthday girl! Between hearing frantic calls from a room down the hall for a nurse as someone was choking, to seeing the room changed over across the hall for what we assumed was due to someones passing, to Adeline thoroughly enjoying her homemade pickles while asking who made them (she made them!! We suspect she was fishing for compliments! 😉 ),  we all enjoyed each others company while lunching on salad, homemade pickles, homemade soup, french bread and a hefty side of laughter.

Yummy salad!!

Adeline’s delicious homemade pickles!

We had a little miscommunication in the Campbell household. I brought my set of 4 bowls down to my parents that match my moms set of 8. When she was packing them the morning of the party, I thought she was packing mine too. Wrong. I ended up leaving my set behind in moms kitchen which meant that I got to eat my soup out of one of the facilities bowls!! So did my mom. LOL!! 🙂

For dessert, we had  Ice Cream Cone Cupcake Sundaes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream and cookies. 🙂

Ice Cream Cone Cupcake Sundaes!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes
(courtesy Martha Stewart)

For Cupcakes –
12 sugar cones (I used regular cones)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk

For Decorating –
Swiss Meringue Buttercream (recipe below)
Gel-paste food color, optional
Melted Chocolate – I used Mrs. Richardson Hot Fudge! 🙂
Chopped roasted salted peanuts
Maraschino Cherries
Assorted candy sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove center of a 12-inch tube pan and cover with a double layer of heavy-duty foil. Use a skewer or paring knife to poke 12 small holes in the foil, 2 1/2 inches apart. Gently place a cone in each hole, pushing it down until only about 1 inch of cone is showing. NOTE: since I didn’t use sugar cones, I placed my cones in a cupcake pan and didn’t have any problems with them tipping.

2. Make cupcakes: sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of  milk, and beating until combined after each. Fill each cone with 2 to 3 tablespoons batter. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool completely. NOTE: my cupcakes ended up baking for close to 30 minutes before the tester came out clean. It may have been that I filled the cone to the bottom of the first cone rim, without measuring out the batter or that I used regular cones instead of sugar. Don’t be alarmed, some batter dripped down the side of the cone during baking.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes hot outta the oven! I baked off the cupcakes the night before so there would be plenty of time for cooling.

3. Decorate cupcakes: tint some of the buttercream pink with gel-paste food color, if desired. Use an ice cream scoop to place buttercream (untinted or pink) on top of cupcake, then top with sprinkles. For “soft-serve” cones, use a pastry bag fitted with only a coupler (or a large plain tip) to pipe buttercream in a swirl over cone, then top with multicolored sprinkles; or for “sundae” cones, drizzle melted chocolate over buttercream, then sprinkle with peanuts and top with a cherry. For soft-serve “twist” cones, fill a pastry bag fitted with an open-star tip with untinted and chocolate buttercreams, placing them side by side in bag; pipe two-toned swirls. Serve immediately. NOTE: I didn’t read the above note on the recipe when I was making my cupcakes! LOL! But I went with a soft-serve sundae look. I use a large plastic freezer bag with a small hole cut at the bottom and insert the decorating tip of my choosing for piping. I piped the frosting on to the cupcake to look like soft-serve, then melted and cooled the hot fudge. The fudge needs to be melted enough for drizzling, but cool enough not to melt the buttercream. A little bit of melting is ok, it makes the cupcake look more “ice cream cone” realistic. I sprinkled with sprinkles and then topped with a maraschino cherry!

Swiss Meringue Buttercream!

Swiss Meringue Buttercream
(courtesy Martha Stewart)

5 large egg whites
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips.)

2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.

3. With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day.

NOTE: chocolate variation: using a flexible spatula, fold 4 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled, into buttercream mixture in step 3, along with the vanilla extract.

All packaged and ready for transport! We only had one minor casualty on the ride! 🙂

I feel truly blessed to have had Adeline be a part of my life and am so very happy that I was able to celebrate her 92 years of life with her last Saturday. This year Adeline will be having multiple celebrations as not everyone was able to join us last Saturday. I wont be able to attend the next celebration, however as Adeline stated, “I will be seeing you again, Allison!!” You better believe you will, Adeline!! 🙂

“When I count my blessings, I count you twice.” 🙂

My mom, sister, Adeline and I. Celebrating Adeline’s 92nd!

Adeline perfecting the “Queen Wave”! 🙂