Strawberry Ice Cream Cupcakes in an Ice Cream Van

When we had a barbecue last weekend I made these cupcakes purely so I could show off my new cake stand!
 

It’s from a company called Talking Tables and looks like an ice cream van, complete with ice cream cones and a sign where you can make your own slogan.

It costs £16.50 on their website, though I got it for slightly less as I bought it at a cake show about 18 months ago. This is actually the first time I have been able to use it, as I was moving house last summer and staying with my boyfriend’s family temporarily (as we had a gap between selling and buying a house) so all my belongings were in storage. Then I was waiting for the summer so finally I have the chance to use it!

 

 

 

It comes flat-packed and is made of cardboard but is very sturdy, and stands up by itself. There are three tiers; two have flat surfaces and the top tier has holes. Paper ice cream cones are provided, which you can fill with sweets; I also baked some ice cream cone cupcakes (see below) which I popped into the holes.

 

 

I personalised the little cardboard sign that comes with it – I think children would love this. I’m 36 and was pretty taken with it myself!

 

 

I’ve made these ice cream cone cakes before and used the same recipe this time, though I added some strawberry flavouring to both the cake batter and the buttercream.

 

 

 

I also decided to try out my Duo Colour icing kit from Lakeland, which I’ve had for a while but never used. It looks quite complicated but is actually very easy so I will explain how to use it. The plastic coupler actually splits into two pieces, and the disposable piping bags have two sections. Snip off a little triangle at the bottom of the piping bag and pop each part of the coupler into a different section of the bag. Squeeze them so that they clip together and place your chosen piping nozzle over the top, with the coupling ring around the outside, which will hold it in place.

Put each colour buttercream into one half of the piping bag – I used plain which was yellow from the butter, and pink to go with the strawberry flavour. Pipe as you would normally, but you will find that the icing squeezes out of both sides at once, creating a two-tone effect. It’s a little hard to explain but pretty easy to do, and the pack does come with instructions! You can also buy replacement bags once you have used up the ones it comes with. I think the two-tone effect looks cute on the ice cream cupcakes.

The ice cream van looked very cute out in my garden!

 

 

 

 

I’m sharing these with the Food Year Linkup, hosted by Charlotte's Lively Kitchen - there are various events this month these ice cream cupcakes would be great for, including Breast Cancer Care's Strawberry Tea and Marie Curie's Blooming Great Tea Party.
 

 

I'm also sending these to Love Cake, hosted by Ness at JibberJabberUK as her theme is midsummer madness.