So, to baby-step myself into the cake decorating group, I made cupcakes and decorated those.  However, I still wanted to challenge myself so here’s what I did.  I’ll give you the critiques at the end.

HOW TO MAKE BEAR CUPCAKES IN A CONE:

Step 1: I used a cupcake mix in a box as well as packaged icing.  I told you, I was being easy on myself.  Mix together the cupcake batter and get your cones.

Step 2: Fill in a muffin tin with foil in each slot.  It doesn’t need to be perfect, just tight enough to keep the cone from falling over.

Step 3: Fill cones with cupcake batter and place in muffin tin.  I did 12 because the box said it made 12 cupcakes.  However, it would have been better had I stuck with 8. The cupcakes would have rounded up over the top of the cone which would have made decorating easier and presentation a little better.

Step 4: Bake cones and let them cool completely.  I actually let them cool for a day and a half  because I didn’t want the icing to harden up too much while waiting for the party.

Step 5: With chocolate icing, ice the top of the cones to make an even decorating surface.

Step 6: Using a pastry bag, icing tips, and chocolate icing, pipe a brown muzzle onto the cone.

Step 7: Make a batch of black icing by mixing white decorating icing (I added water to make it thinner) and black icing coloring.  This took a lot longer than I thought it would but I also wasted quite a bit of icing by making too much.  However, if you don’t make enough the first time around it can be very hard to match colors so it’s better to err on the side of caution.

Step 8: Using a pastry bag, tips, and black icing, pipe on eyes and a nose.

Step 9: Change tips but use the same icing bag and pipe on the mouth on top of the brown muzzle.

Step 10: Use light cocoa candy melts (these can be found in your cake decorating section of almost any grocery store) for the ears.

Critiques: These turned out to be fairly tasty but rich.  The only major critique was that the cones get really chewy when you bake them.  I bought cheap cones, so I think if I were to do it next time I would probably buy a higher quality brand and go with a waffle cone as it might handle the baking a little better.  Overall, my experience was a success and I look forward to trying my hand at more cake decoration in the future. Baby-step by baby-step I will join the ranks of cake decorating moms!