Sparkling Unicorn Cake

No unicorn party is complete without a Sparkling Unicorn Cake! Decorated with a mane of colorful stars and swirling rosettes, this magical cake is great for birthday parties or fun baby showers. Mix and match icing colors in your decorating bags to create unique effects, or use a spatula to stripe colors within the bag. The bottom layer is covered with pearlized gold sugar, so it literally is a sparkling centerpiece for your sweet table! For best results, make the ears and horn a day in advance so they have time to dry properly.

Prep3 hr 34 min
Total Time11 hr 30 min
Skill LevelAdvanced

Amount25-30 servings

Ingredients & Tools
Instructions

Instructions

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One day in advance, make the horn and ears. Using the fondant roller with purple guide rings, roll out some gum paste. Use leaf cut-outs to create two ears. Place in a cornstarch-dusted drying rack, flipping one ear over to create a mirror image. Next, make the horn. Roll two 1 3/8 in. balls of gum paste. Roll into two elongated cones, about 6 1/4 in. long. Using a damp brush, attach the narrow end of the cones together; twist gum paste together. Insert a lollipop stick into the base, going in about 2/3 of the way up the cone. Place in cornstarch-dusted drying rack alongside ears. Let them dry overnight.
Prepare cake batter following the recipe or cake mix instructions, bake two 6 in. cake layers and two 8 in. cake layers until a toothpick in the center comes out clean Cool completely before using the cake leveler, trim the two 6 in. layer to 2-1/2 in. high. Fill and stack layers on 6 in. cake circle for 5 in. high cake. Trim both 8 in. cake layers to 1 1/2 in. high. Fill and stack layers on 8 in. cake circle for 3 in. high cake.
Frost cakes. Using white frosting and spatula, ice 6 in. cake and smooth the top and sides completely. Tint 3 cups frosting gold by adding 7 black, 12 orange, and 45 yellow drops of Color Right food coloring. Using gold frosting and spatula, ice 8 in. cake smooth.
Decorate 8 in. cake. To prevent sticking, sprinkle powdered sugar on gold iced cake where the 6 in. circle cake will be placed. Place the 6 in. cake circle on top of 8 in. cake. Place cake on or above a cookie sheet. Carefully press gold pearlized sugars onto the top and sides of the 8 in. cake. Re-use any sugars that fall onto the cookie sheet.
Helpful Hint: To elevate cake, place empty 6 in. cake pan on a cookie sheet. Place 8 in. cake on empty 6 in. pan.
Prepare 8 in. cake for stacked construction; stack cakes.
Paint ears and horn. Using decorating brush and metallic gold paint, paint the inside of the ears and horn. Insert into 6 in. cake.
Tint remaining frosting. Tint frosting light pink, red-pink, medium pink, light purple, pink-purple and medium purple using the Color Right Performance Food Coloring Kit combinations provided. To get just a touch of color, squeeze one drop of color onto plastic wrap, then using a toothpick, add a small amount of color to the frosting.
- Light Pink: 1/2 cup white frosting + touch of P
- Red-Pink: 1/2 cup white frosting + 2P + touch of R
- Medium Pink: 1/4 cup white frosting + 2P + touch of B
- Light Purple: 1/2 cup white frosting + touch of B + touch of P
- Pink-Purple: 1/4 cup white frosting + 5P + touch of B
- Medium Purple: 1/2 cup white frosting + 5P + 2B
Prepare decorating bags with tips 2D, 4B, 16, 18, 21 and 199. Fill as desired with tinted frosting, mixing and striping bags with complementary colors.
Using rosette and star piping techniques, pipe the unicorn’s mane.
Pipe the unicorn’s eyes. Tint 1/4 cup of frosting black by adding 9 black drops of Color Right food coloring. Prepare the decorating bag with tip 3 and black frosting. Pipe eyes on front of cake.
Using remaining white frosting, attach star sprinkles to create the cheeks of the unicorn.