The funfetti cake itself has a light and tender crumb with a mild vanilla flavor. It’s frosted in a light and silky smooth vanilla buttercream and then decorated with rainbow swirls over the top and back to resemble a unicorn mane, with eyes, horns, and ears! If you’re looking for a cute and impressive birthday cake to make someone feel extra special, look no further than this popular unicorn cake! Depending on your icing and general baking skills, this unicorn cake can appear to be a daunting task, but it’s actually quite simple to make and can easily be decorated with different colors and candies to cater to your special occasion.
Make Your Frosting Ahead of Time
Because of the high quantity of fat and sugar in buttercream frosting, you can make it well ahead of time. It can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 month! If you decided to leave it in the fridge until ready to use, let the frosting sit out at room temperature for about 1 day (depending on how much is in the container) until it’s soft. Then you can give it a quick mix in a mixing bowl until it’s smooth and fluffy again.
Start With a Crumb Coat
The first step to frosting a layer cake is making the crumb coat, which literally is a coat of thin frosting across the cake that will seal in any loose crumbs. The frosting should be very lightly coated on the cake, enough where you can see the cake through the frosting. This step is important because it keeps those loose crumbs from getting into the top coating of frosting.The next step is to let the cake chill for 10-30 minutes before continuing. This will harden the crumb coat and really keep the crumbs from going anywhere. I prefer to stick my cake in the freezer instead of the fridge because it will set up really quickly!The final step is frosting the cake with a thicker layer of frosting. I recommend using a large offset spatula, which is specifically designed for achieving smooth, streak free sides. You can also use a pastry scraper or even a butter knife, however the sides will not be perfectly smooth and clean.
How to Decorate a Unicorn Cake
Time for the most fun part of making this cake! Decorating a unicorn cake doesn’t have to be difficult, here is how I decided to decorate this one:
Bright colored buttercream: I used pink, yellow, green, blue, and purple to create the whimsical rainbow swirls, but you can use any colors or combination of colors you want!Sugar cone horn and ear: I chose to use small sugar cones as they are easily accessible and perfectly resemble the unicorn features.
You can also add some candies like cotton candy, marshmallows, or any other fun candy to the base or mane of the unicorn if that interests you!
How to Make a Unicorn Horn
The unicorn horn looks so fancy but is actually simple to make! A few sugar ice cream cones are painted gold and used to give this unicorn cake its signature unicorn quality. I used Wilton edible gold spray that you can find at most cake or party stores like Michael’s in the cake section. A few tips for painting the cones:
Spray them outside! This spray comes in an aerosol can and can really be messy. If you spray it inside you risk the chance of everything around you getting covered in gold glitter, including yourself!Spray them in a plastic bag or box: You can place the cones in a plastic bag or box which can help keep the glitter from getting on other things as well.
Got Leftovers? Freeze Your Cake!
Do you have extra slices that you want to store for later? One of my favorite tricks is to first place the leftover slices on a plate or baking tray and then freeze them for 10 to 15 minutes until solid. Then I wrap each slice twice in plastic wrap. You can store these wrapped slices in the fridge or freezer for a single serve slice of cake whenever you’re hungry for one!
Make Ahead Instructions
You can bake the cake layers ahead of time, wrap each one twice in plastic wrap, and then store them in the freezer. When you are ready to assemble the cake, let the layers sit out at room temperature to thaw and make them easier to work with, about 10-15 minutes.
More Brilliant Birthday Cakes
Homemade Vanilla Cake Red Velvet Cake Chocolate Layer Cake Black Forest Cake Rainbow Cake
1 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (225g) all-purpose flour 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (260g) granulated sugar 11 tablespoons (141g) unsalted butter, room temperature 2 large eggs, room temperature 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3/4 cup (160g) buttermilk, room temperature 1/3 cup (55g) sprinkles 1 large egg white, room temperature
For the buttercream
2 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature 5 cups (500g) powdered sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 tablespoons whole or 2% milk
To decorate
Americolor Gel lemon yellow Americolor Gel soft pink Americolor Gel leaf green Americolor Gel sky blue Americolor Gel violet Americolor Gel super black 3 ice cream sugar cones Wilton edible gold spray
Add the powdered sugar. Mix on low speed until combined, then increase the speed to medium-high and continue mixing until white and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Set aside about 2 1/2 cups of the frosting in a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap. This frosting will be used for decorating the unicorn cake. Add the next layer and spread another layer of frosting, about 1/2 cup. Place the last cake layer up-side-down, so the top of the cake is smooth and flat. Make sure that the cake layers are centered, and the top of the cake is level. This thin layer of frosting is called the crumb coat and helps catch any loose crumbs on the outside of the cake so that the final layer of frosting doesn’t have any crumbs caught in it. Place the two cone ears and the full cone horn in a plastic bag or box. Spray the cones generously with the gold spray. Turn them with your hands as needed and continue spraying until they are completely coated. Set them aside on a paper towel standing up to dry. In 5 small bowls, add about 1/2 cup of buttercream to each bowl (from the 2 1/2 cups you reserved for decorating). Add a very small drop of yellow, pink, green, blue, and purple to each bowl and stir to combine. In a large 2-inch piping bag, cut the tip and fit it with a large star piping tip. Grab 5 (18-inch) disposable piping bags. Fill each bag with one of the colored bowls of buttercream. Use the dull edge of a butter knife or plastic scraper to scrape the buttercream down towards the tips of the bags to remove any excess air and flatten it in the bag. Then working down the backside of the cake, pipe more rosettes and dollops of buttercream over the entire back, moving slightly towards one side to make it look like the mane of the unicorn is flowing around the side. Finally, turn the cake around and pipe a few more on the top edge of the cake down 1 inch of the front. Pipe six lines on top of each moon for the eyelashes. I recommend pulling the whole cake out a few hours before cutting and serving to allow the cake to come back to room temperature which makes it easier to cut. Did you love the recipe? Give us some stars below!
