That's a lovely cake. I would try to cut the cones with a serrated knife, I think. I wonder if a Styrofoam cone or some other kind of "filler" would help keep the cones from collapsing. Hmmmm.

Is the frosting on those cones royal icing or buttercream. I've had little luck freezing royal icing, it has an odd texture when it's thawed and I can't seem to keep the condensation from marring the frosting, no matter how well I wrap. I've only tried to freeze cookies frosted and decorated with royal icing, though, not decorations or other things. Buttercream does freeze relatively well, so you might have more luck with that.

Good luck, I'll be interested to know how this turns out.

Annie

Thanks, Annie. The cone-trees are just for decoration. They will not be eaten. I have no idea what is being planned to use as frosting. Southern Living uses an Apple Cider Frosting on the cake and on the cone-trees (ingredients below).

While contemplating what would be best for this project (besides copious quantities of wine or milk punch), I, too, thought having some styrofoam cones might be useful. Better yet, why not just frost the styrofoam cones? As I said, this isn't for eating, it is just for show.

If it isn't going to be eaten, is there a cheaper choice of ingredients that will give the same appearance as buttercream frosting?

Apple Cider Frosting Ingredients

APPLE CIDER FROSTING

1 cup apple cider

I cup butter, softened

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 (32-oz.) package powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 to 5 Tbsp. whole milk

If you're not going to eat any of this why don't you just let them dry and keep them that way? And, why would you use such an expensive frosting for decorations?

Well, if I knew they weren't going to be eaten, I wouldn't use real butter or apple cider, that much is certain. Probably shortening, because it stays whiter than butter, and you won't need flavoring at all, also helping to keep the white color. You might add some meringue powder to help "stabilize" the buttercream and help it crust over.

Annie

Y'all got my point exactly - frosting is expensive for something that is not going to be eaten. In fact, I vaguely wondered if we could use white paint and shortening. That's a joke folks! I'm not putting white paint in my mixer.

Good point about not using butter or flavorings in order to keep the color a purer white.

And if they are not going to be eaten, you are also right there is no need to freeze. I wonder if the cones will hold up to being frosted for a couple of weeks if they aren't frozen? I wonder if they'll hold up if they are frozen. Styrofoam cones are sounding better and better!

Royal icing, after it dries, can hold up for years.

(Anyone remember the molded sugar eggs we used to make -- or were given -- all decorated with royal icing?)

The cones should be fine sitting around. If you want to be sure, take them out early and let them dry out.

I think Annie is right about the shortening. It's shelf stable, isn't it? And mixed with enough sugar, it should pipe like buttercream, right? For me, it would be all about the texture. I find royal icing a lot harder to pipe.

...but...are the any kids who will beg to eat the trees? And if so, wouldn't real buttercream and freezing be better? Or would you rather say they're for looks only.

Caulk pipes pretty well, but I think you want to keep this theoretically edible, right?

to cut the cones, I would leave them out of the package and let them absorb some moisture from the air so they are a tiny bit "soggy/stale". Of course, I am in the PNW so that's what happens to things; if you're in the desert, maybe another method of getting them soft would work. I'd be inclined to cut into them with kitchen shears around the edge of the perimeter and then snap or cut off little pieces.

Oh, right. I'm so used to out=dry that I forgot the soggy alternative. Olychick's idea of letting them sog up is great. After you cut them, you can put them in the oven on low heat and dry them out again. :)

If you just use royal icing, they'll keep for ages and if someone has a nibble, there's no danger.

That's such a pretty cake.

Royal icing is easy to pipe if it has the right consistency. Keep extra icing well covered so it doesn't dry out in between refilling the piping bag. Let the cones dry then place on the cake before serving. Don't bother freezing them.

Thanks for all the advice. This is an adult-only party, so kiddies won't be begging for a pretty, but, you are so right - you never know when an adult will sneak a nibble. We'll keep it nominally edible although not necessarily tasty.

We live in a fairly high humidity area. How will that affect royal icing? Will buttercream fare any better?

OK., here's what you do:

First of all, you do NOT cut ice cream cones to size. The average size of a cone is 6-inches (in height).

You simply stack the cones to get the height you like. And 'glue' the cones together with dots of Royal Icing.

There is a way to cut the cones neatly. But, while a simple process, the details would take me forever to explain (my PC is down, and I'm on my phone), plus, there's a risk more instructions would only overwhelm, and put you over the edge.

In regards to which icing to use, I'd recommend Royal icing. Royal icing , when done right, has the consistency of stiff meringue. And is extremely easy to pipe from a pastry bag and leaf tip.

Royal icing will set hard. But NEVER freeze royal icing. It turns rather 'spongy' and ruins its texture. Plus, royal icing dries fast, and lasts a very long time. Long enough that the cones will still look stunning by the time you're ready to toss them in the trash.

I have pictures of Christmas cone trees I made years ago, with how-to photos, which I was planning to blog about, and never did.

But the trees are simple enough, that you won't need a pictorial.

BTW, I do not recommend the use buttercream for this projet.

Buttercream is great tasting, and easy to work with, and can be frozen, true. But, once out of the freezer, buttercream instantly starts to soften. Meaning, that even with a delicate touch, the decorated trees will get smooshed before they reach the cake.

With TG just days away, it might be a while before I get my computer up and running. But hopefully, these tips will ease your worries.

Sol

Thanks, sol. Here I thought this was a *new* idea but you did it years ago! And you brought up something I had failed to consider - how are we going to handle these things! We will have to transport them several miles. Royal icing might be best since it apparently dries hard or at least hard enough to handle gently.

Okay, it may just be me who has a hard time piping royal icing other than thin lines. Any tips or good recipes for the correct consistency to use with leaf tip?

Well, BB, I hate to break it to me, but cone trees have been around since the advent of ice cream cones. I wonder who the first person was, who looked at an ice cream cone and thought "hmmm . . . a tree . . ."

Btw, I should also add that you could use rolled fondant, rolled buttercream and. myriad of other mediums for the trees. And if using royal icing, you could eschew the pastry bag and tip, and apply the icing to the trees thickly (like 'spackle') and pull the 'branches' with the tip of a spoon or offset spatula.

Sol

Cool idea to use royal icing like spackle! Unknown to me, my partner in this folly has already made her "special" buttercream frosting. I may try the royal icing on my own just in case this goes down as a #fail! And also to expand my horizons. :-)

Good luck, bbstx. I was focusing on the freezing and it never occurred to me that if it wasn't eaten it would be safe to just sit out. Sol's idea of stacking cones is a very good one, as long as you want them all bigger than 6 inches, and far easier than trying to cut them too.

Working with royal icing isn't difficult for me, as long as I can get the consistency right. Somehow it's always too thick or too thin, and then I adjust. Or it gets dried out before I'm finished. When it's right, though, I can pipe trays full of flowers or whatever and then just pry them off the parchment and use them when I need them, they do indeed keep forever.

Annie

Well, we made the trees this morning using buttercream frosting. My job was to place the silver dragees using needle-nose tweezers. They are going to freeze them until a week from Friday. Fingers crossed! They looked pretty cute. I should have taken a picture. Rats!

And here they are fresh out of the freezer yesterday!

I do not know the ingredients in my neighbor's buttercream icing, but it dries hard. We were able to pick the trees up without any trouble. One nubbin fell off and I ate it. Although it was crunchy, it was very tasty!

This is the cake table set up for the party. The lights were turned down for the actual party. It looked a bit magical. The venue was an old restored train station.

Three trees are on the strawberry cake. The remainder are scatter among the cakes. As Sol suggested, we stacked cones for taller trees. The white poinsettias on the two white cakes and the snowflakes are fondant and were made by a professional baker.

It was a lovely party. The party food was catered by someone new to me. It was very good!

The table looks beautiful, bbstyx, and the trees are lovely. I'm glad they worked well frozen, it gives me something to remember when I'm decorating.

Annie