Lakeland Ice Cream Cone Maker

Despite some bad reviews, I purchased mine and waited for it to be delivered. It arrived and I unpacked it with anticipation of cones to come. I used a mixture I took off the web - 60ml egg white, 85g of caster sugar, 0.5 tsp caramel flavouring, pinch salt, 90g flour and 30g melted butter. Mix it together, heat your matchine up to 6, that's the 6th dot. 1 rounded dessert spoon in centre, close lid and cook for 4 to 5 mins. Lift out with a pallet knife, roll round the former, mind they're hot. So easy even I can do it but then again I'm a bloke.

Having recently been diagnosed with Coeliac Disease, I was hoping for good things from this machine. I was not disappointed. I used the recipe that came with the machine. I traded gluten free flour for ordinary, added two extra tablespoons of milk and the results were excellent. Next, I shall try making some for my son, who isn't Coeliac, but is Vegan!

I bought this as a Father's Day present for my husband who is into ice cream making. There are a number of things that are not good about this unit. Firstly the lid doesn't stay open well, which is dangerous if it fell closed when your hand was in the way. It doesn't cook evenly, with the top plate hotter than the lower. It also cooks faster at the back than the front. This means that some bits of the cones remain chewy rather than crispy. The recipe that came with the machine is too thick and makes the cones hard to roll. There are other recipes online so this is less of a problem.

Good fun but each cone takes about 4 minutes to make. The cone maker is well made but the lid falls closed unless it is held or propped open. It could do with some type of catch as if it falls on your fingers not only is it heavy but very hot when in operation. I used the recipe provided in the instruction manual but was not impressed. A recipe on the epicurious website was better, it uses egg whites not whole eggs. One tablespoon of mixture was plenty. A smaller cone maker would be good as well as the large one. It takes time to get used to making the cones but I think worth the effort.