Chef's C man and Queen E

Since my nephew has been staying with me when there is no school/summer he has been referred to as C-man a time or two. He is kinda a bit of a sidekick/shadow and enjoys cooking too. I attribute this to the fact that his momma loves to cook, and therefore he is willing to help out here too. Since his sister was unexpectedly not here we changed the day a bit and he picked a "treat" to make. Littlest tends to hang with any big kid who will let her, especially when Cousin K is busy or gone so she put on her chef hat atop the demanding crown.    
This choice was not a new item for me, but it has been several years since I did it. I personally didn't like it because it seems to need icing on the insides instead of the top alone but if the kid chooses it I am glad to oblige. All of the kids happily at more than one so I guess it gets a thumbs up from them. Since littlest has food allergies I make cake from scratch. It requires no eggs, soy flour and soy protein, dairy or peanuts (she is only allergic to soy and egg). Originally I planned on cutting it in half but cooking with kids distracts me (big surprise I know) so I ended up having to do the full recipe when I forgot to half several things.

Here is the recipe for my homemade cake. I find it is just as easy as a box cake and tastes really good.
3 cups flour
1 tbsp cocoa (only if you want chocolate, I omit most times)
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt

 Sift flour and put all dry ingredients together in bowl. Then add rest of ingredients below, beat well with mixer. Put in ungreased pan of your choice. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 min depending on pan size.
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups cold water
1 tbsp vinegar
3/4 cups oil

If you haven't ever cooked the cake in ice cream cones then I suggest sticking foil inside the cupcake pan to help stabilize the cones. I also fill them more than 3/4 so it rises just above the cone. For an added bonus C-man snuck a piece of candy in each. It was adorable watching him be stealth about putting away the remaining candy so no one saw it. Then blocking the view to the kitchen when one of the other kids walked by too. I sure do hope these kids, all of them mine included carry sweet memories of days just like this.