Today, there are many different types of ice cream cones on the market. Some are baked into cone or cup shapes while others are rolled into cone shapes. Before the invention of the ice cream cone, people would lick ice cream out of dishes called penny lick ice cream glasses as the treats were sold for one cent apiece. Wafer, waffle, sugar and bowl are some of the most popular types of ice cream cones.

Wafer ice cream cones are also sometimes called cake cones. They are often lighter in texture and thinner than the other types and are sometimes made with cake flour to create an even more delicate composition. Wafer cones may be pointed or cup-shaped.

Waffle cones are very popular ice cream cones. They have the texture produced by a waffle iron and are usually rolled and formed into a cone shape. Waffle cones are often thick and may even be double rolled for extra strength and thickness. Chocolate waffle cones often have some melted chocolate added to the batter and are very dark in color.

Sugar ice cream cones are the sweetest type of cone as they have the most sugar added. White sugar and molasses are usually used to make sugar cones, but some times brown sugar is used to produce a slightly darker cone. Like some waffle cones, sugar cones may also be double rolled.

Bowl ice cream cones aren't really cone-shaped but are bowl-shaped. The fun of these is eating ice cream in an edible bowl because then you can eat the bowl too. Other novelty cones may be available such as a pig trough shape.

Before the cone shape was used to hold ice cream it was associated with much fancier desserts. In the eighteenth century cone-shaped pastries called coronets, or little horns, were filled with fruit creams and ice creams to serve at dinner parties. Waffle coronets and flavored whipping creams were added later. An Italian man was thought to have started selling ice cream in cones in Manchester, England in the mid-1800s. The ice cream cones became known as Hokey Pokeys and made the former fancy type of coronet into an inexpensive version that could be sold on the street to passers-by.