MAKES 24 // HANDS-ON 45 min // HANDS-OFF 40 min

INGREDIENTS
For the cupcakes
24 flat-bottom ice cream cones
300g sugar
250g butter, room temperature
4 eggs
250 ml milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
250g cake flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
Food colouring, 3 colours
For the icing
500g icing sugar
250g butter, room temperature
2 tbsp milk
Food colouring, 3 colours

METHOD
For the cupcakes
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Cover 2 muffin trays with foil. Cut a 2 cm cross into the middle of each hole and press a cone, open-side up, through it.
3. Cream sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Add milk and vanilla and beat well.
4. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into the wet mixture and mix.
5. Divide between 3 bowls. Add a few drops of food colouring to each bowl.
6. Layer 1 tbsp of each batter into each cone. The last layer should be 2 cm below the top.
7. Bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool before icing.
For the icing
1. Cream icing sugar and butter. Add milk and beat until fluffy.
2. Divide between 3 bowls. Add a few drops of food colouring to each and mix well.
3. Use a round piping nozzle and clean piping bag. With a spoon, add the first colour of icing to the bag. Keep it to one side without pushing it into the tip. Take a clean spoon and add the second colour, allowing it to touch the first and keeping a space open for the final colour. Add the third colour. Try to keep all the colours even and level in the bag. Gently push the colours together until they just start to combine.
4. Seal the end of the piping bag by twisting it. Squeeze a bit of icing out into a spare bowl, until all 3 colours appear at once. Ice the cupcakes by starting in the centre and making a swirl.