The Most Delicious Wrapping on Earth: Ice Cream Cones
It is not only the tasty and flavored ice cream which contributes to a delicious dessert. It is the combination with a crunchy, maybe chocolate-dipped or fancy-shaped ice cream cone or cup makes your dessert even more attractive.
By Aleksandar Stajcic
No matter if the cones and cups are rolled or molded, if the ice cream is an industrial filling or provided by the local ice cream parlor – ice cream in a wafer cone is a year-round treat that is popular throughout the world.
The possibilities of ice cream cone products range from the industrial sugar cone, cones with a heart-shaped rim, to small “mini cones”. Trays, cookie cones or fantasy shapes like flower cones are also feasible. And the filling does not always have to be ice cream. It’s also possible to fill the cones with chocolate or aerated masses like marshmallow.
When it comes to production, the processes behind rolled and molded products are different. Franz Haas Convenience Food and Cone Equipment offers a proven concept: rolled wafer cones with a sugar content of about 35–55 per cent of the flour content (sugar cones) can be produced using fully automatic baking ovens. After mixing, the batter is deposited at the oven head onto the lower plates of baking plate pairs, which are mounted to a baking tong chain. The upper and the lower plates close and run through the baking chamber. After one circulation, the baking plates open, the sheets are taken off by a mechanical system and rolled into cones in a rolling device under the application of pressure. The finished cones are cooled and transferred to an automatic stacking device, where they are stacked in pre-selected amounts, possibly also sleeved (put into paper or aluminum foil cones) and moved in rows to a take-off table.
The molded wafer
Molded wafer cones and cups can be produced using semi- or fully-automatic baking machines. In case of semi-automatic production, the batter is poured manually by means of a dosing device into the cavities of the lower mold of the baking machine. The upper mold with the cone cores is raised and lowered several times with the cone cores dipping into the batter before the molds are fully closed, and the products are baked. After that, the individual elements of the lower mold are separated from each other horizontally. The cones are released and fall into a collecting container below the baking mold. In case of automatic production, the batter is poured after mixing by a depositor into the lower halves of open baking molds, which are mounted to a link chain. The upper molds with the cone cores are lowered and moved up and down several times to let steam escape before final closing. Then, the baking molds run through the oven. After one circulation, the upper molds with the cone cores are raised and a stripping knife removes the baking residues from the lower molds. Next, the parted lower molds open, the cones or cups are pushed downward by an ejector and slide via a chute to a stacking device. This device stacks the cones and moves them to the packaging table. In addition, it is also possible to provide a sleeving machine.
You can read more on development, high precision and easy handling in wafers production in the latest issue (Spring) of our print magazine Biscuit World!