One of the biggest trends in today’s patisserie is unicorn-themed cakes, which you can easily recognize by their use of pastel rainbow colors, shimmering details, and playful decorations. Whether you’re baking for a birthday, some special event, or just because—who needs an excuse for cake, right?
What You’ll Learn in This Article:
→ The perfect color palette for unicorn-themed cakes
→ Techniques for creating smooth ombre effects with buttercream
→ Ideas for adding sparkle and shine with edible decorations
→ How to achieve professional-level piping for those magical unicorn swirls
→ Making Your Cake Both Beautiful and Yummy
Color Palettes That Pop: Choosing Your Unicorn Shades
The first step to making any unicorn cake is its vibrant but soft color palette. Think of blue, pink, purple, and yellow; a pastel palette that will evoke the essence of unicorn magic. To make it loud without going overboard, start from a white or pale-colored buttercream base and work in these pastel shades. And a pro tip: Gel food color is good to work with because it is very highly pigmented—meaning you will get bright colors without affecting the consistency of your frosting
Just simply layer on the ombre effect by piping your buttercream from light to dark, and then you want to mimic the same action over and over with a cake scraper. It smooths the layers and creates the ombre unicorn fade. This won’t only have your cake singing with color, but the method is pretty forgiving if you are new when it comes to blending colors.
Adding Sparkle and Shine: Because Unicorns Are Extra
And, of course, no unicorn cake is complete without a touch of sparkle! Edible glitter and luster dust are your besties here. Dust a little gold or iridescent shimmer onto the edges or lightly all across the top of your cake for really magical glimmer. If you want to take it a step further in terms of statement, try edible pearls, metallic baby dragees, or even small star-shaped sprinkles.
More fun additions include candy shards made with isomalt to manipulate into glistening, crystal-like pieces or soft wings in order to give your cake that dreamy look. Just remember, though—take care with isomalt, for it can get super hot when melting.
Swirls: Mastering Your Piping Game
Alongside them, the swirly buttercream decoration is the most important: it forms the mane or tail of the unicorn. To achieve that iconically perfect unicorn swirl, tip options are something like Wilton 1M. The trick to this is to alternate your colored buttercream in the piping bag: that is, layer different shades side by side, or even twist two piping bags together for a multi-color effect as you pipe.
This property is all about getting the correct consistency: firm enough to hold a good shape but not that the buttercream doesn’t pipe out easily. If it’s too soft, then your swirls may droop when it’s warm. The same is the case if your buttercream is too firm—lip too firm buttercream can be hard to achieve in a smooth pipe and may even crack. So, test on a practice surface first.
With this icing, your cake is now ripe with color and shimmer. Then finish the cake with fondant ears, a golden fondant horn, and maybe some mini marshmallows or meringue kisses. A horn can be made using a piece of gum paste or fondant shaped into a cone and then dusted with edible gold paint.
Care to have even more fun with these? How about creating a pair of small, startled, or clever looking googly eyes from black and white fondant? Sprinkle some edible confetti sprinkles around the sides or bottom.
Baking With Heart: Delicious Inside and Out
The decorations may be the life of the party, but taste sure does matter just as much. A soft vanilla sponge with a hint of almond or, say, a light lemon cake fits just right with the slightness of a unicorn theme. Fill your cake with a creamy buttercream or a light mousse so that you could turn down the sweetness from your decorations. And voilà! So go ahead and sprinkle some of that unicorn magic into your kitchen. Let your imagination go wild. Happy baking!
