How many calories are in a cake cone?
One plain cake cone weighs about 4 grams and carries 17 calories. Per 100 grams the same wafer runs 417 calories, which sounds heavy until you notice that 100 grams is roughly 25 cones. The cone is the cheapest part of the dessert; the scoop on top is where the calories live.
On this page
- Cake cone quick facts
- US servings from one cone to one ounce
- Waffle cones and store-brand cones
- What the cone actually adds to the day
- How does a cake cone compare?
- Most popular cake cone brands
- FAQ
Cake cone quick facts
The record behind every figure here is SR Legacy 175000, "Ice cream cones, cake or wafer-type". It is the flat-bottomed, honeycomb-textured wafer cup you pull out of a sleeve of a dozen at the grocery store, and it is measured empty. USDA carries the same values in its survey database as FNDDS 2707931, "Cookie, cone shell, ice cream type, wafer or cake"; the numbers are identical, so the choice between them changes nothing except that the SR Legacy entry also gives an ounce measure.
Two rows you would see on a box are missing below. USDA does not publish added sugars or trans fat for this record, so neither line is shown rather than guessed at. Cholesterol is 0 mg per 100 g, and potassium is 112 mg per 100 g, which comes to 4 mg in a single cone.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cake cone (4 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 417 | 17 | — |
| Total fat | 6.9 g | 0.3 g | 0% |
| Saturated fat | 1.22 g | 0.0 g | 0% |
| Carbohydrate | 79 g | 3.2 g | 1% |
| Dietary fiber | 3 g | 0.1 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 6 g | 0.2 g | — |
| Protein | 8.1 g | 0.3 g | 1% |
| Sodium | 256 mg | 10 mg | 0% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
US servings from one cone to one ounce
Nobody eats cake cones by the hundred grams, which is exactly why the per-100 g column misleads people. A hundred grams is about 25 cones, our own arithmetic from the 4 g cone weight rather than a USDA serving. The ounce line below is a USDA household measure and lands at 118 calories, which is still around seven cones.
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cake cone | 4 g | 17 kcal |
| 3 cake cones | 12 g | 50 kcal |
| 1 large waffle cone | 29 g | 121 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28.35 g | 118 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 417 kcal |
The three-cone line is our own scaling from the USDA 100 g figure, not a USDA serving; it is there because a kid rarely stops at one, and because 50 calories is the honest cost of that habit. If you are logging a dessert, log the ice cream carefully and treat the cone as a rounding line.
Waffle cones and store-brand cones
Cone type matters far more by weight than by recipe. USDA gives the wafer batter one density, 417 calories per 100 g, and then lets the size do the work. A large waffle cone is 29 g of pressed, rolled batter against a 4 g cake cone shell, so it lands at 121 calories, about seven times the cake cone. That gap is dough, not sugar.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical piece | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cake cone, plain | 417 kcal | 1 cone (4 g) | 17 kcal |
| Large waffle cone | 417 kcal | 1 cone (29 g) | 121 kcal |
| Cone shell, FNDDS record | 417 kcal | 1 cone (4 g) | 17 kcal |
| Keebler cake cones | 400 kcal | 1 cone (5 g) | 20 kcal |
| 365 Whole Foods organic cake cones | 375 kcal | 1 cone (4 g) | 15 kcal |
| Food Club cake cones | 444 kcal | 1 cone (4.5 g) | 20 kcal |
The store brands sit in a narrow band: 15 to 20 calories a cone, 375 to 444 calories per 100 g. Buying the lightest box on the shelf saves you five calories per cone, which is not a decision worth making at the register. The sugar cone, the pointed one with the crosshatch pattern, has no separate USDA record, so it gets no number here; by weight it sits between the cake cone and the waffle cone.
What the cone actually adds to the day
Sodium is the row that surprises people who read the per-100 g column and stop there. At 256 mg per 100 g the wafer looks salty for a dessert item, but one cone is 10 mg, which rounds to 0% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value the FDA sets. You would need more than two cones to reach a single percent of it.
Carbohydrate behaves the same way. Per cone it is 3.2 g, or 1% of the 275 g Daily Value, of which just 0.2 g is sugar. The cone is essentially a small amount of baked flour, which is why MyPlate counts wafer products as refined grains rather than as a sweet. Protein is 0.3 g and fiber 0.1 g per cone, both too small to matter to a day's total.
The practical read: if you are watching calories, the cone is not the lever. Swapping a 121-calorie waffle cone for a 17-calorie cake cone saves more than 100 calories in one move, and it is the only meaningful choice on this page. Everything else about the cone is noise next to the scoop.
How does a cake cone compare?
All three neighbors are dry baked goods at roughly the same density, which is why the ounce comparison is the fair one.
| Item | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cake cone | 417 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 118 kcal |
| Pizzelle | 417 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 118 kcal |
| Gingersnaps | 416 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 118 kcal |
| Marshmallow cookie with coconut | 421 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 119 kcal |
Those ounce figures are our own arithmetic from each USDA 100 g value, not USDA servings. Pizzelle share the cone's exact numbers because they are the same batter on the same kind of iron, just pressed thicker.
Our take: by the ounce these four are interchangeable, all within one calorie of each other, so density tells you nothing useful. Fat is where they split, from 6.9 g per 100 g in the cone and the pizzelle to 16.9 g in the coconut marshmallow cookie. The cone wins on the only measure that counts in real life, which is that a serving of it weighs 4 grams while a serving of cookies weighs an ounce.
Most popular cake cone brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Keebler Cake Cones | 400 cal |
| Three Twins Organic Cake Cones | 400 cal |
| 365 Whole Foods Market Organic Cake Cones | 375 cal |
| Food Club Cake Cones | 444 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Cake cone FAQs
How many calories are in a cake cone?
A standard cake cone is 17 calories for a 4 g wafer, which works out to 417 calories per 100 g. That per-100 g figure covers roughly 25 cones, so it never applies to anything you would actually eat in one sitting. One cone is well under 1% of a 2,000-calorie day.
How many calories in a cake cone with ice cream?
The cone contributes 17 calories. USDA's cake cone record covers the empty wafer only, so the scoop is not counted in any number on this page. Whatever your ice cream carton lists per half cup is what you add to those 17 calories, and it will dwarf the cone.
Cake cone vs waffle cone calories?
A large waffle cone is 121 calories against 17 for a cake cone, about seven times as much. Both run 417 calories per 100 g in USDA's data, so the density is identical. The gap is weight alone: 29 g of pressed batter versus a 4 g wafer shell.
How many carbs are in a cake cone?
3.2 g of carbohydrate per 4 g cone, which is 1% of the 275 g Daily Value. Of that, 0.2 g is sugar and 0.1 g is fiber; the rest is starch from the baked batter. Three cones together come to 9.6 g of carbs.
How much sugar is in a cake cone?
0.2 g of total sugars per cone, from 6 g per 100 g. That is a rounding error next to the 50 g Daily Value set for added sugars, though the two are not the same measure. USDA does not publish an added sugars figure for this record.
Are cake cones vegan or dairy-free?
USDA's record shows 0 mg cholesterol per 100 g, which points to a batter without egg or dairy fat, but the record lists no ingredients. Brands differ, and some add milk solids or whey. Read the panel on the box rather than assuming, especially with store brands.
Are cake cones gluten-free?
A 4 g standard cake cone is baked from wheat flour, so it is not gluten-free. The USDA record carries nutrient values only, not an ingredient list, so it cannot confirm any specific box. Gluten-free cones do exist and say so on the front of the package.
How many calories in a Keebler cake cone?
20 calories per cone on the Keebler label, based on a 5 g cone and 400 calories per 100 g. That is three calories more than the generic USDA cake cone because the cone is a gram heavier, not because the wafer itself is richer.
Similar foods
- Beignet — 188 cal per beignet
- Honey Bun — 358 cal per 3 oz bun
- Donut — 320 cal per doughnut
- Crescent roll — 114 cal per crescent roll
- Croissant — 231 cal per medium croissant
- Apple Fritter — 455 cal per fritter
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the dessert and BodyPal counts the cone and the scoop together.
