Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and place ice cream cones upright in a cupcake pan. I just place my cones directly in each cupcake cavity and don't have problems with it falling over but if you're worried about that, just use foil to support the base of each ice cream cone (you can see I did this in the bottom right cone in the photo in the post as an example).
2. Combine butter, canola oil, and sugar in a large bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until creamy and well-combined.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Stir in vanilla extract.
5. In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
6. Using a spatula and gently hand-mixing, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined after each addition. Halfway through stirring in the flour, add sprinkles, if using. The batter should be smooth and completely combined, but avoid over-mixing.
7. Evenly divide batter into your prepared ice cream cones (I use an ice cream scoop to neatly portion the batter), filling each ice cream cone ¾ of the way full (I fill mine to the first ridge in the cone, see second photo in post. Do NOT overfill) and bake on 350F (175C) for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Do not overbake or they will be dry!Always be careful transferring your cupcake pan to and from the oven so that the ice cream cones don't topple over.
8. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Ice Cream Cone Frosting

1. Combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer) and use an electric mixer to beat until creamy.
2. Sprinkle salt evenly over the butter/cream cheese mixture and add vanilla extract. Stir well to combine.
3. Gradually, with mixer on low speed, add powdered sugar until all sugar has been combined. If using a stand mixer, be sure to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.
4. Remove approximately ½ of the batter to a separate container and add cocoa powder to the remaining batter. Stir until cocoa powder is well-incorporated and icing is even in color. If frosting is too thick, add a splash of heavy cream or milk to thin it.
5. To decorate your cupcakes, place your white frosting in one piping bag and your chocolate in another. Snip the end off of each disposable piping bag and place both piping bags in a separate (preferably larger) piping bag that's been fitted with a Wilton 2D (or similar, I also like the Ateco 846) tip.
6. Always squeezing from the top, squeeze your frosting onto a plate or into one of your used frosting bowls until both colors are evident when you are piping. 
7. Pipe vanilla/chocolate swirls on top of each cupcake -- remember that the frosting is pretty sweet so don't go overboard with the amount of frosting per cupcake, 2 swirls is usually plenty!
8. Top with sprinkles if desired and serve.