While there are larger and more complex versions of this kind of cake out there, we wanted to create one that was doable and wouldn’t leave you stuck in the kitchen for hours on end. This design is easy to make at home and doesn’t require hard-to-find ingredients or super cake decorating skills. To give you some decorating options, we made two different unicorn cakes — one with a buttercream exterior (the purple horn), the other covered with fondant (gold horn). MORE: The Best Hand Mixers of 2019 To make this cake, we layered three round vanilla cake with a sweet buttercream frosting. Once the cake is frosted, we decorated with colorful fondant and sprinkles. To achieve the colorful horn, paint a waffle cone with frosting and roll in the sprinkles of your choice. We chose purple and gold for our two designs. To make these affordable unicorn cakes, you can start with your favorite white cake recipe (we used Sally’s Baking Addiction’s Vanilla Naked Cake). Add food coloring (we used pink) to color the layers of cake. For the icing, we used Sally’s silky and sweet buttercream frosting. Looking for other celebration recipes? Try these!
Funfetti Japanesse Pancakes Healthy Creamsicle Twinkies Homemade Wendy’s Frosty with 3 Ingredients
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Make cake batter as directed
Add food coloring to turn the batter into your desired color
Pour cake batter into baking pan lined with parchment paper on the bottom
Spread batter smooth and bake
Begin buttercream frosting by adding butter to mixer
Add confectioner’s sugar and other ingredients to frosting
Mix buttercream to proper consistency for this unicorn cake
Slice a thin layer off the top of each cake to create a flat surface
Remove the top layer of cake
Add a small amount of buttercream to parchment paper on cake stand
Place first cake layer onto frosting on the cake stand
Spread frosting evenly on top of first cake layer of unicorn cake
Place second cake layer on top and repeat frosting
Spread frosting evenly on final cake layer
Apply buttercream frosting to sides of cake
Smooth buttercream on all surfaces and begin decorating, OR…
For a smoother look, place fondant over entire surface of cake
For this method, drape fondant over entire pink unicorn cake
Smooth the fondant down the sides of the cake
Use side of hands to press edges of fondant in at base of cake
Cut excess fondant away from base of the unicorn cake
Remove excess fondant
Seal fondant at bottom of cake
Coat just the top of the cake with buttercream frosting
Roll out a small amount of white fondant for ears
Cut ear shapes out of fondant using cookie cutters
Roll out pink fondant for smaller part of ears
Cut ear shapes from pink fondant
Remove cut out shapes for pink unicorn cake
Apply buttercream frosting to cut out fondant shapes
Stack pink fondant shape on top of white shape to create ears
MORE: Strawberry basil kombucha waffles are brunch perfection for special occasions
For unicorn horn, apply frosting to ice cream cone
Roll cone in sparkly sugar to create the unicorn horn
Make sure entire cone is covered thoroughly with sparkly sugar
Place horn on cake, and cut slits for ears
Insert fondant ears into slits
Apply sprinkles to cake
Place candy sour straps on cake by pressing one end and twisting
Layer candy sour straps to create mane on pink unicorn cake
Apply sugar sprinkles or beads to base of cake
How adorable is this pink unicorn cake?!
More ideas on this theme — and the cake recipe!
If you want more unicorn-themed fun, check out these unicorn noodle spring rolls, some rainbow-colored pasta — plus a huge collection of 100 (free!) magical unicorn coloring pages you can print, and these 10 affordable unicorn crafts! Unicorn cake is even better with our healthier homemade Wendy’s Frosty! Bonus: We show you how to dye it rainbow colors! Yield 12 servings Courses Desserts
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature5 to 6 cups confectioners’ sugar5 to 6 tablespoons heavy cream1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract1/4 teaspoon salt
Unicorn decorations:
1 package fondant icingPink food coloringBlack food coloringEdible sparkly sugarIce cream coneAssorted sprinklesCandy sour straps
Make your own buttermilk: You can substitute whole milk mixed with 1-1/2 teaspoons of white vinegar or fresh lemon juice for buttermilk.
