Here's an easy cake for any unicorn lover in your life! If you're planning a unicorn party, this Unicorn Cake is going to be the star of the dessert table!
Prep Time20 minutesmins
Cook Time1 hourhr
Total Time1 hourhr20 minutesmins
Course: cake, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6servings
Author: Eating Gluten and Dairy Free
Ingredients
Cake:
1cupgranulated sugar
¼cupvegetable oil
2large eggs
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
¼cupdf sour cream
1 ¼cupsgluten free flour - I used Cup for Cup or Bob’s Red Mill but you can use any gf blend
1 ½teaspoonbaking powder
½teaspoonsalt
⅔cupdairy free milk- I used almond milkbut you can you any df alternative
Frosting:
1cupdairy free buttersoftened to room temperature- we almost always use Earth’s Balance buttery sticks, but Country Crock’s plant based has been good for baking goods too
4cupsconfectioners sugar
2tablespoonsdf heavy whipping creamSilk is the df brand we use
2teaspoonsvanilla extract- always check that yours is safe
Blue frosting color: 2 teaspoons butterfly pea powder
Purple frosting color: 1 teaspoon each butterfly pea powder and beetroot powder
Decoration:
Unicorn horn cake topper and eyelashes found on amazonsee link in post
Instructions
First of all, gather all of your ingredients together ready to start baking the cake. Then preheat the oven to 350°f.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and oil. Whisk together until fully incorporated. You can use an electric mixer or a hand mixer for this.
Add the sour cream and milk and make sure everything is combined.
In another mixing bowl, combine and mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually mix the dry ingredients Into the wet ingredients until a smooth batter remains. This is where you will help to make the cake batter light and airy.
Spray the two 6” cake pans with cooking oil and pour an evenly divided amount of cake batter in each pan ready for baking.
Place the pans on a baking sheet for convenience and cook at 350°f for 20 minutes. To find out if the cakes are cooked, test the center of the cakes with a toothpick. You will want the toothpick to come out completely clean.
Once cooked, remove and set aside to completely cool before removing the cakes from the pan. Use a wire rack to help the cool.
Make the frosting
While the cakes are cooling, add the df butter, 3 cups of confectioners sugar, and half of the df cream and vanilla to a mixing bowl. Mix until creamy, gradually adding and alternating the remaining sugar, cream, and vanilla to get a smooth consistency. Once the ingredients are mixed, increase the speed of your hand or stand mixer to high and whip the frosting for 5 minutes.
Divide the frosting in half. Set aside 1 half. Divide the other half into thirds. You will use each third to make the pink frosting, blue frosting, and purple frosting.
To mix the pink color, add beetroot powder 1 teaspoon at a time until the desired color.
To mix the blue color, add butterfly pea powder 1 teaspoon at a time until the desired color.
To mix the purple color, add 1 teaspoon beetroot and 1 teaspoon butterfly pea, and until the desired color.
Divide the remaining ½ of the white buttercream by removing ⅓ and setting aside for mess-ups.
Time To Create The Unicon Cake
Once the cakes are fully cooled, using a cake or bread knife slice off the risen center of the cakes. This will give you a smooth flat surface to work with.
Place the bottom layer on a flat surface. Add a thin layer of buttercream frosting and evenly spread leaving a ½” thickness.
Flip the other cake upside down and on top of the frosted cake.
Completely frost the two layers of cake with a thin layer of white buttercream frosting. Smooths frost as desired but maintain the edges of the cakes.
Now apply more buttercream frosting to thicken the layer and form the base of your cake.
Insert the cake topper with the golden horn in the center of the cake. Place the eyelashes in the front of the cake center to the cake topper. I used tweezers for this.
To pipe the unicorn mane, add the three colored frostings to piping bags and use decorative piping tips. For the pink, and purple, I used the drop flower piping tip that comes in the set. For the blue, I used the small round tip.
Start with pink. Pipe and use a large rounding motion, and front to create a large, round flower.
Next with the purple. I piped using slow motion squeezing a little of the frosting out of the piping bag onto the cake until it was a small flower. Use the purple to fill in where the pink didn’t.
Last of all for the blue, use the round tip. Use a similar process as the purple to create a dot. Use the blue to fill in spots where the pink and purple aren’t.
Continue to pipe floral dots flowing from the back of the topper down and swooping to one side as a lane would lay to create the mythical creature. Randomize the placement of the colors.
Notes
You may see a traditional stick of butter pictured in these images. This recipe has been tested using gluten free and dairy free ingredients as well as traditional gluten and dairy including ingredients. It will work with either allergen free or traditional ingredients.