We all love ice cream—whether it’s because of the various flavors, its ability to cool you down on a hot day, or just because you need a sweet treat. But the real question is: what cone do you prefer, a waffle cone or a cake cone?
The waffle cone was invented in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair by Ernest Hamwi. He was a Syrian concessionaire who sold a crisp, waffle-like pastry known as a zalabia. The vendor next to Ernest was selling ice cream but unfortunately ran out of dishes to hold it. Seeing the ice cream vendor’s problem, Hamwi quickly took a zalabia and rolled it into a cone shape. He then handed it to the ice cream vendor, who scooped ice cream into the cone. The cone cooled quickly, allowing the ice cream to sit nicely inside so it could be served to customers.
While the invention of the waffle cone led to the mass production of edible cones, the cake cone—a wafer-like cone with a flat bottom that allows it to stand upright—was invented in 1888 by Agnes B. Marshall. She was an English cookbook author who created recipes for “cornets with cream,” which used baked wafers filled with ice cream. This idea inspired the earlier concept of the cake cone.
