An ice cream cone (England) or poke (Ireland) is a brittle,

cone In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the '' apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines ...

-shaped

pastry Pastry refers to a variety of Dough, doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury Baking, baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often descr ...

, usually made of a

wafer A wafer is a crisp, often sweet, very thin, flat, light biscuit, often used to decorate ice cream, and also used as a garnish on some sweet dishes. They frequently have a waffle surface pattern but may also be patterned with insignia of the foo ...

similar in texture to a

waffle A waffle is a dish made from leavened Batter (cooking), batter or dough that is cooked between two plates that are patterned to give a characteristic size, shape, and surface impression. There are many variations based on the type of waffle iron ...

, made so

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

can be carried and eaten without a

bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, storing, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom, forming a seamless curve ...

spoon A spoon (, ) is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a table setting, place setting, it ...

. Many styles of cones are made, including

pretzel A pretzel ( ; from or , ) is a type of baking, baked pastry made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical form, with the ends of a long strip of dough intertwined and then twi ...

cones, sugar-coated and chocolate-coated cones (coated on the inside). The term ''ice cream cone'' can also refer, informally, to the cone with one or more scoops of ice cream on top. There are two techniques for making cones: one is by baking them flat and then quickly rolling them into shape (before they harden), the other is by baking them inside a cone-shaped

mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal ...

History

19th century

Cones, in the form of wafers rolled and baked hard, date back to Ancient Rome and Greece. When exactly they transitioned to being used for desserts, and ice cream in particular, is not clear. Some historians point to France in the early 19th century as the birthplace of the ice cream cone: an 1807 illustration of a Parisian girl enjoying a treat may depict an ice cream cone and edible cones were mentioned in French cooking books as early as 1825, when Julien Archambault described how one could roll a cone from "little waffles". In 1846, the Italian British cook

Charles Elmé Francatelli Charles Elmé Francatelli (180510 August 1876) was a British chef, known for four cookery books popular in the Victorian era, including ''The Modern Cook''. He trained in Paris under Marie-Antoine Carême , Antonin Carême and became one of Lon ...

's ''

The Modern Cook ''The Modern Cook'' was the first cookery book by the Anglo-Italian cook Charles Elmé Francatelli (1805–1876). It was first published in 1846. It was popular for half a century in the Victorian era, running through 29 London editions by ...

'' described the use of ice cream cones as part of a larger dessert dish. The earliest certain evidence of ice cream cones come from ''Mrs A. B. Marshall's Book of Cookery'' (1888), written by the English cook

Agnes B. Marshall Agnes Bertha Marshall (born Agnes Beere Smith; 24 August 1852Jenkins, Terry: "The Truth about Mrs Marshall", ''Petits Propos Culinaires 112'', November 2018, pp. 100-112. – 29 July 1905) was an English culinary entrepreneur, inventor, and cel ...

. Her recipe for "Cornet with Cream" said that "the cornets were made with almonds and baked in the oven, not pressed between irons". Marshall is consequently often regarded to have been the inventor of the modern ice cream cone.

20th century

In the United States, edible vessels for ice cream took off at the start of the 1900s.

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal ...

s for edible ice cream cups entered the scene in 1902 and 1903, with two Italian inventors and ice cream merchants. , from

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, patented a novel apparatus resembling a cup-shaped

waffle iron A waffle iron or waffle maker is a kitchen utensil used to cook waffles between two hinged metal plates. Both plates have gridded indentations to shape the waffle from the batter or dough placed between them. The plates are heated and the iron ...

, made "for baking biscuit-cups for ice-cream" over a

gas range A gas stove is a Kitchen stove, stove that is fuelled by flammable gas such as natural gas, propane, butane, liquefied petroleum gas or syngas. Before the advent of gas, cooking stoves relied on solid fuels, such as coal or wood. The first gas sto ...

. The following year, , from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, patented an improved design with a break-apart bottom so that more unusual cup shapes could be created out of the delicate waffle batter. At the

St. Louis World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 mill ...

in 1904, after an ice cream vendor ran out of paper cups, a Syrian concessionaire named Ernest A. Hamwi offered a solution by curling a waffle cookie into a receptacle for the ice cream. This is believed by some (although there is much dispute) to be the moment where ice cream cones became mainstream. Hamwi started his own cone-making company a few years later. Abe Doumar and the Doumar family of

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

, also claim credit for the ice cream cone. At 16, Doumar began selling

paperweights A paperweight is a small solid object heavy enough, when placed on top of papers, to keep them from blowing away in a breeze or from moving under the strokes of a painting brush (as with Chinese calligraphy). While any object, such as a stone, ...

and other items. One night, he bought a waffle from another vendor, , who was transplanted from Ghent in Belgium to Norfolk. Doumar rolled the waffle on itself and placed a scoop of ice cream on top. He began selling the cones at the St. Louis Exposition. After his "cones" were successful, Doumar designed and had manufactured a four-iron baking machine. At the

Jamestown Exposition The Jamestown Exposition, also known as the Jamestown Ter-Centennial Exposition of 1907, was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Commemorating the 300th anni ...

in 1907, he and his brothers sold nearly twenty-three thousand cones. After that, Abe bought a semiautomatic 36-iron machine, which produced 20 cones per minute and opened Doumar's Cones and BBQ in Norfolk, which still operates at the same location. In 2008, the ice cream cone became the official state dessert of

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

Commerce

By 1912, an inventor by the name of Frederick Bruckman, from

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, perfected a complex machine for molding, baking, and trimming ice cream cones with incredible speed. Inventions like this paved the way for the wholesaling of ice cream cones. He sold his company in 1928 to

Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco' ...

, which is still producing ice cream cones as of 2017. Other ice cream providers such as

Ben & Jerry's Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc., trading and commonly known as Ben & Jerry's, is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, the company went from a single ice cream p ...

make their own cones. File:Scan of "Romance of the Ice Cream Cone" article, Page 1, Western Confectioner magazine, September, 1917.jpg 01.jpg, Page 1 of a September 1917 article in ''Western Confectioner'', describing Frederick Bruckman's "Real Cake Ice Cream Cone Machine" File:Scan of "Romance of the Ice Cream Cone" article, Page 2, Western Confectioner magazine, September, 1917.jpg 02.jpg, Page 2 of same article

Prefilling

In 1928, J. T. "Stubby" Parker of

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, created an ice cream cone that could be stored in a grocer's freezer, with the cone and the ice cream frozen together as one item. He formed The Drumstick Company in 1931 to market the product, and in 1991 the company was purchased by

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

. In 1959, Spica, an Italian ice cream manufacturer based in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, invented a process whereby the inside of the waffle cone was insulated from the ice cream by a layer of oil, sugar and chocolate. Spica registered the name Cornetto in 1960. Initial sales were poor, but in 1976

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

bought out Spica and began a mass-marketing campaign throughout Europe. Cornetto has since become one of the most popular ice creams in the world. In 1979, a patent for a new packaging design by David Weinstein led to easier transportation of commercial ice cream cones. Weinstein's design enabled the ice cream cone to be wrapped in a wax paper package. This made the cones more sanitary while also preventing the paper wrapper from peeling off during transportation, or from becoming stuck to the cone.

Gallery

File:Cherry ice cream cone.jpg, A cherry ice cream cone File:Sugar cones.jpg, Sugar cones File:Krone-is med jordbær.jpg, Unwrapped pre-filled cone File:Soft Ice cream.jpg,

Soft serve Soft serve, also known as soft ice, is a frozen dessert and variety of ice cream, similar to conventional ice cream, but softer and less dense due to more air being introduced during freezing. Soft serve has been sold commercially since the lat ...

ice cream in a wafer-style cone File:99_ice_cream.jpg, A

99 Flake A 99 Flake, 99 or ninety-nine is an ice cream cone with a Cadbury Flake inserted in the ice cream. The term can also refer to the half-sized Cadbury-produced Flake bar, itself specially made for such ice cream cones, and to a wrapped product marke ...

ice cream cone File:Ice cream cone.jpg, Sugar cone dipped in rainbow

sprinkles Sprinkles are small pieces of confectionery used as an often colorful cake decorating, decoration or to add Texture (food), texture to desserts such as chocolate brownie, brownies, cupcakes, doughnuts or ice cream. The tiny candies are produced ...

File:Eiswaffeln 2008 PD 1.JPG, Waffle cones File:抹茶北海道霜淇淋, 108 MATCHA SARO 抹茶茶廊, 一〇八抹茶茶廊, 108 MATCHA SARO, 台北 (15256851000).jpg, A

green tea ice cream or matcha ice (抹茶アイス ''matcha aisu'') is ice cream flavored with matcha, or green tea. It is popular in Japan and other parts of East Asia. Matcha ice cream has been available in the United States since the late-1970s, primarily in Jap ...

cone File:Ice cream waffle cone.jpg, Chocolate soft-serve ice cream with

in a waffle cone from

Dairy Queen International Dairy Queen, Inc. (DQ) is an American multinational fast food chain founded in 1940 and currently headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota. The first Dairy Queen was owned and operated by Sherb Noble and first opened on June 22, ...

History

19th century

20th century

Commerce

Prefilling

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading