Unicorn Cake

  • Makes : 1
  • Difficulty level : Difficult
  • Type : Dessert

Made using our Lakeland Hemisphere Cake Tins

Ingredients

  • For the cake
  • 625g margarine plus extra to grease
  • 625g caster sugar 
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract 
  • 1 tsp baking powder 
  • 11 medium eggs 
  • 625g self-raising flour sifted, plus extra to dust
  • For the buttercream and filling
  • 200g unsalted butter unsalted
  • 450g icing sugar 
  • splash of milk 
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract 
  • 6 tbsp jam 
  • To decorate
  • 1.5kg white icing 
  • 250g modelling paste 
  • 2 tsp clear alcohol, such as vodka 
  • A small amount edible silk powder 
  • A small amount sprinkles 
  • wooden skewer, about 30cm long 
  • small food-safe cake decorating brush 
  • A few drops food colourings in yellow, orange, pink, green, blue and purple until the right shade

Method

  1. A day or two before making the cake, cover a 12″ cake board with a layer of the white ready-to-roll icing, then store in a cool, dry place to harden. Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas 3. Grease and flour two Large Hemisphere Cake Pans.
  2. Make the cake: mix the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. One at a time, beat in 7 of the eggs, then mix in half of the flour and half of the baking powder. Beat in the last 4 eggs (one at a time), vanilla extract and the remaining flour and baking powder. Divide the mixture equally between the tins and bake for approximately one hour until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave in the tins until completely cool.
  3. Make the buttercream: beat the butter until light and fluffy then gradually stir in the icing sugar, vanilla extract and enough milk until the buttercream is a spreadable consistency.
  4. Cut each cake horizontally, spread one of the cut edges with jam and a thin layer of the buttercream, then put each cake back together. Spread the large, flat side of one of the cakes with any remaining jam and a little more buttercream. Put the cake halves together to create a sphere, then trim a small amount from the bottom of the sphere to create a flat base. Spread a little buttercream onto the flat base and place the cake onto your iced cake board.
  5. Cover the whole of the sphere with a thin, smooth crumb coat of buttercream and place the cake in the fridge for an hour to harden. Set the remaining buttercream aside until needed.
  6. Ice the cake: roll out the ready-to-roll white icing to a circle at least 40cm diameter. Place onto the cake and, using your hands, gently smooth from the top downwards before trimming any excess from the base.
  7. Make the horn: roll out a 30cm sausage of modelling icing, tapering it to a point at one end. Starting halfway up the skewer, wrap the modelling icing sausage around the skewer ─ begin with the fattest end, spiralling it up around the skewer so the pointed end is at the top of the horn. Set aside to harden. Shape two ears from the modelling icing and set aside to harden. When the horn and ears are set, mix the clear alcohol with a little gold Edible Silk Powder to make a paint. Using a small brush, paint the horn and the inside of the ears, then leave to dry. Set the remaining paint aside.
  8. Divide the reserved buttercream into 6 bowls and mix with the different icing colourings, adding a small drop of colour at a time until your desired shade is reached. Lay a sheet of cling film approximately 30cm long onto a work surface, then spoon or pipe all of the coloured icing on, in long rows, side by side we did ours in the following order ─ green, yellow, orange, pink, purple then blue. Roll the cling film up into a large sausage, snip off one end, then place snipped end down inside a large piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.
  9. Decorate the cake: pipe a mane over the top of the unicorn’s head and down one side. Place the ears onto the cake, then insert the skewer into the cake so the horn sits in the middle of the forehead.
  10. HINT - We iced the mane at the back of the cake, then placed the horn and then finished the forelock/fringe around the horn.
  11. Decorate the mane with Unicorn Sprinkletti and, lastly, paint on the eyes using the reserved gold paint. Add a ribbon trim to your cake board, and you’re done!