How to Decorate a Unicorn Cake
A showstopping cake is a must for any celebration, and this spectacular unicorn cake will be sure to provide the wow-factor. If you're turning another year older, what could be better than a unicorn birthday cake?
The sponge base of the cake is created using a very handy unicorn-shaped tin so you won't need to worry about any cake carving – simply add your cake batter to the tin and bake.
Project and instructions by Lucy Bruns
You will need
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Is $ 7.49 , was $ 11.00
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Is $ 5.49
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Is $13.47
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Is $ 6.49
How to make
* Unicorn Cake Tin
* Renshaw Ready to Roll Icing 1kg - White
* Renshaw Ready to Roll Icing 250g - Pink and Black
* Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste 250g - White
* Gel Food Colouring - Purple, Pink, Turquoise and Yellow
* Piping Bags and Large Open Star Nozzle
* 10cm Circle Cutter or Template
* A Knife
* A Rolling Pin
* Cling Film
* Vanilla Buttercream Icing 1.2kg
* 14" Round Cake Drum
* Edible Gold Lustre Powder
* Confetti Sprinkles
* 8oz/225g Margarine/Soft Butter
* 8oz/225g Caster Sugar
* 4 Medium Eggs
* 8oz/225g Self-Raising Flour (plus 1 tbsp for flouring the tin)
* 1tsp Baking Powder
* 2tsp Vanilla Extract
* Lemon Extract or Clear Alcohol
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
In a stand mixer or with an electric whisk, beat together the margarine/butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time along with the vanilla extract. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and mix until the flour is just incorporated
Top Tip: Stop mixing as soon as all trace of the flour has disappeared – over-mixing will result in a heavy, dense cake.
Grease and flour the unicorn cake tin and pour in the cake mix, levelling it on top.
Bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 45-55 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the deepest part of the cake comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool.
Put the cooled cake on a large cake board and cover the whole cake with a crumb coat of buttercream.
Roll out the white icing 4mm thick in an oval shape, large enough to cover the whole cake.
Drape the icing over the cake and use your palm to smooth it all over the cake and down the sides.
Use your fingertips to smooth into the crevices to bring out the shape and details.
Cut away the excess icing around the base with a sharp knife.
Roll out a small amount of pink icing and, with a 10cm circle cutter, cut out a round for the snout and use a large piping nozzle to cut a circle for the cheek.
Attach to the cake with a little cooled, boiled water.
Trim away excess icing at the base of the snout.
Make one ear from a thick triangle of white modelling paste, approximately 6cm high, with a smaller pink icing triangle for the inside of the ear – attach the pink part with water.
Leave the ear to dry but don't attach it to the cake at this point.
Use black icing to make an elongated teardrop shape for the eye and add a couple of eyelashes. Fix in place with a little edible glue or water.
Make the unicorn horn by rolling two long sausages, approximately 20cm, from the remaining modelling paste.
Taper the two sausages at one end to make a long gradual point.
Twist the two sausages around each other, sticking them together with a bit of water, and roll into a pointed horn shape.
Cut the bottom flat with a sharp knife and insert a cocktail stick into the base of the horn.
Leave it to dry for a few hours, preferably overnight.
When the horn is dry, it is ready to paint gold. Mix a little edible gold lustre dust with a teaspoon of lemon extract or clear alcohol to make a thick 'paint' and paint all over the horn.
Top Tip: Give it an hour or so to dry, then dust the horn with a dry brush dipped into the lustre powder to make the horn extra shiny!
Divide the buttercream equally between four bowls.
Colour each bowl a different pastel shade using the food colouring.
Lay out a piece of cling film 40cm long. Pipe or spoon four lines of each coloured buttercream in the middle of the cling film.
Roll the cling film up and wrap into a sausage shape and twist the ends shut.
Fit a piping bag with a large open star nozzle. Insert the buttercream sausage into the piping bag and feed one of the twisted ends of the cling film through the nozzle and pull through. Snip off the cling film poking through the nozzle with a pair of scissors.
You are now ready to pipe!
Pipe lots of buttercream curls all over for the unicorn's mane. Scatter over unicorn confetti sprinkles and nestle the icing ear in position in the buttercream.
Lastly, insert the horn at the top of the head.
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