Make easy no-churn vanilla ice cream, scoop it onto an ice cream cone, then decorate it using chocolate to look like panda bears. These cute Panda Ice Cream Cones will make a fun treat for a birthday party or a zoo-themed event.
It's still ice cream season around here. Well, really, when is it not ice cream season?
Summer is a perfect time to enjoy ice cream and to have some fun crafting something cute. These Ice Cream Cone Pandas are adorable and they taste great too. Kids of all ages will love this sweet treat.
These decorated ice cream cones can be made using store-bought vanilla ice cream or easy-to-make no-churn ice cream using the recipe below.
If you've not yet tried the no-churn ice cream recipe, you really should. It takes minutes to make and doesn't require an ice cream machine. You'll be so surprised at how easy it is to create ice cream at home.
Ingredients
ice cream - Use your favorite store-bought vanilla ice cream or make homemade no-churn vanilla ice cream using heavy whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla flavoring.
ice cream cones - Use sugar cones. They can be plain or dipped in chocolate.
black candy melts - You could also use dark cocoa candy melts but I like the black color on these panda cones.
candy eyes - ¼-inch eyes will work the best.
You can purchase the Treatology Flavor System and other items needed to create these panda bears from Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)
Wilton Treatology Flavor Sy...Shop on Amazon 
Wilton Treatology Flavor Co...Shop on Amazon 
¼" White And Black Icing ...Shop on Amazon 
Wilton 12-Inch Disposable D...Shop on Amazon 
Wilton Black Candy Melts® ...Shop on Amazon
Instructions
Make no-churn vanilla ice cream.
Whisk 2 cups of heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks and stir in a can of sweetened condensed milk along with a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Originally, I made this recipe with 10 drops of Wilton's Vanilla Custard flavoring. Sadly, this flavoring is no longer available, so use vanilla extract or any flavoring you like.
Pour it into a freeze-safe container and freeze it for at least 4 hours. That's it!
Make panda bear features using black candy melts.
To make the decorations for the panda bears, you'll need to melt about 4 ounces of Wilton's Black Candy Melts then pour it into a disposable pastry bag.
Pipe two ears, two black eye patches, a nose, and a smile for each ice cream cone bear onto a piece of parchment paper.
When you pipe the round ears, be sure to drag a small amount of candy off one side of the circle to create something to stick down into the ice cream.
On the other candy pieces, it's best to create a small spike on the top of each so that you have something to stick into the ice cream to hold the candy in place. This will happen naturally as you lift the pastry bag off as you pipe.
Add candy eyes.
One batch of ice cream makes enough to create 5 cones, so you'll need five sets unless you are like me and you eat too much of the ice cream and you only have enough for 4.
Once you've piped out the decorations onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, pop them in the freezer for about 4 minutes. Remove and flip them upside down.
Allow the candy pieces to warm up to room temperature for about 10 minutes, then use a bit of the melted candy coating to attach two tiny candy eyes onto the black eye patches (the black fur around the panda's eyes.)
Decorate the ice cream cones.
Now the fun part. Fill your ice cream cones with ice cream and top with a nice rounded scoop. Pop them back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes then remove one at a time and attach two ears, two eyes, a nose, and mouth. Refreeze until ready to serve.
I used chocolate-dipped ice cream cones, mostly because I grabbed the wrong box at the store, but I do like how the added chocolate looks. Any cones will do.
You can now create an entire menagerie of decorated ice cream cones including these panda bears. See the picture and links below the recipe to make ice cream cone bears, monkeys, goldfish, eagles, puppies, and more.
See all of my fun Recipes for kids, here.
Recipe
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
- 4 ounces Wilton Black Candy Melts
- 10 tiny candy eyes
- 5 chocolate dipped ice cream cones
-
Whisk heavy whipping cream and Vanilla Custard flavoring to stiff peaks.
-
Stir in sweetened condensed milk.
-
Heat candy melts on high in the microwave for 10-20 second increments, stirring after each until melted.
-
Pour candy melts into a disposable pastry bag.
-
Set a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.
-
Pipe 10 ears, 10 eye patches, 5 noses, and 5 smiles for each panda bear cone onto the parchment paper.
-
Freeze for about 4 minutes.
-
Let sit for 10 minutes, then peel off paper and turn over.
-
Use melted candy coating to attach a candy eye to each eye patch.
-
Fill 5 ice cream cones with ice cream.
-
Top each with a rounded scoop of ice cream.
-
Freeze for 10 minutes.
-
Remove one cone at a time and insert 2 ears, 2 eyes, 1 nose and 1 smile.
-
Freeze until ready to serve.
You can store the chocolate decorations in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Add the decorations to the ice cream cones just before serving.
CREATE MORE FUN ICE CREAM CONES
Orange Goldfish • Vanilla & Chocolate Eagles • Chocolate Cashew Puppy Dogs,
Pink Bubble Gum Pigs • Chocolate Banana Monkeys • Toasted Coconut Cheesecake Polar Bears,
Banana Minions • Cotton Candy Cookie Monster Cones • Vanilla Bunny Butt Cones,
Chocolate Turkeys • Mint Frogs• Vanilla Custard Pandas
- Irresistible Sweets with Dixie Crystals® - July 13, 2024
- How to make peanut butter? - February 15, 2024
- OREO Penguins - December 20, 2023
Trisha says
this is adorable! TS
Beth says
Thanks, Trisha. I love this cute pandas.
Beth says
Me too!
Karen @ Sugartown Sweets says
What I find amazing are the cutey-cute treats you consistently dream up! I would definitely subscribe to Hungry happenings on YouTube! Love the pandas. 🙂
Beth says
That's great to know, Karen. I really need to get on the bandwagon and learn how to take and edit videos. I really think it would be helpful to my readers to see videos of my creations.
The Partiologist says
I have to say, all the ice cream treats you have created are pretty chill and I love that you added panda's to the collection! Love Hani's creation too!
Beth says
Pandas are just so cute, and they were fun to recreate out of ice cream. Thanks, Kim:)
Hani/haniela's says
I love these, they are so adorable! Great tip about the spikes on the chocolate transfers.
Thanks for another great collab. You are amazing Beth.
Love the new site!
Beth says
Thanks so much for inviting me to collaborate with you Hani. It's always great to work with such a wonderfully talented blogger like you:) I love your panda milkshakes too!