Unicorn Cake - Easy, Cute, Colorful, Fun! (2024)

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I am so excited to share this sweet rainbow unicorn cake with you. This simple cut-out cake reminds me of my childhood birthday cakes.

My mom used to have a Baker's Coconut Cut-Up Cake recipe booklet. The little cookbook featured cakes that were made by cutting apart a 9x13-inch sheet cake or two round or square cakes to create simple animal shapes like lions, ducks, giraffes, and dogs. They were so cute!

These cut-apart cakes were popular years before shaped cake pans were available and the designs were easy enough for any home cook to recreate.

Today, I'm going to show you how to make a white and pink unicorn cake using this easy technique.

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Make a cake mix using the package instructions. Divide the batter equally among 6 bowls.

Color one bowl using red gel food coloring. Add a few drops of coloring at a time, stirring until red.

Color the remaining bowls of cake batter using orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple coloring.

Spoon the colored batter into individual disposable pastry bags. Twist-tie the ends to keep them closed.

Pipe swirls of purple cake batter into the cake pan.

Then, pipe blue swirls over the purple swirls.

Next, add green swirls.

And top that with yellow swirls.

Pipe orange swirls over the yellow.

And finally, add red swirls.

Bake the cake according to the package instructions, and then let it cool completely.

Remove the cake from the pan and flip it upside down. Cut the cake in half.

Then cut one half in half again. Then, cut one of those halves into three long rectangles.

Cut about an inch off of two of the rectangles. Those will be a snack along with the other long rectangle.

Cut a white cardboard cake board into a simple unicorn shape using the cut-out cake as a guide.

I set my board on a black background so the cake would pop against the dark color.

Arrange the cut-out rainbow cake pieces over the cake board creating the unicorn's body, head, and legs.

Fill disposable pastry bags fitted with #21 open star tips with pink and white frosting.

Pipe white frosting stars in rows over the top of the cake covering the unicorn's body.

Pipe white frosting stars over the sides and top of the cake. Leave about an inch at the bottom of each leg.

Also, leave room on the unicorn's head for a pink snout. Pipe pink frosting stars over the unicorn's legs to create the hooves.

Pipe pink frosting stars over the unicorn's snout area on its face.

Roll about 4 ounces of modeling chocolate into a ball.

Then shape it into a cone and twist it to add grooves.

Set the white modeling chocolate horn on a piece of paper towel. Brush edible gold luster dust over the horn.

Cover the entire surface of the horn with gold luster dust. Cut the bottom edge so that it is at an angle (not shown).

To make the unicorn's ears, you will need white and pink modeling chocolate and two teardrop cookie cutters. Use one that's about 2 ¼ inches long and another that's about an inch long.

Roll out the white modeling chocolate and cut it using the larger teardrop cutter. Roll out the pink and cut it using the smaller cutter. You can also simply use a knife or kitchen shears to cut out the shapes.

Brush a very tiny amount of water onto the center of the white ear.

Stick the pink teardrop piece on the white piece.

Roll about an ounce of purple modeling chocolate into an 8-inch by ⅓-inch log.

Roll out blue, green, yellow, orange, and red logs too.

Cut the logs so one length is about 5 inches and the other is 3 inches.

Flatten the longer strips into one piece. The sides should stick together. If not, use a tiny bit of water.

Shape the flattened logs into a curved tail and cut off the tips.

Make the cuts so the tail has nice pointed ends.

Flatten the other logs into one single piece.

Cut the ends of that piece too (not shown).

Roll out black modeling chocolate and cut out a thin half-moon and some eyelashes. Set them onto the head of the unicorn.

Add the mouth and nose. Also, attach the ear and the horn using a dab of frosting.

Stick the rainbow mane into the back of the unicorn's head.

Stick the tail into the back top edge of the unicorn's body.

Tips

• To make your cake easier to remove from the pan, line it with parchment paper.
• To make your cake extra moist, swap out ¼ cup of sour cream for ¼ cup of water.
• Be sure to use egg whites, not whole eggs so that your cake batter is bright white which will be easier to color blue and purple.

Storage

Cover and store this unicorn theme cake at room temperature for up to 3 days.

You can store leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer but do not store the cake in the fridge with the modeling chocolate decorations. The moisture from the refrigerator will make the modeling chocolate decorations moist and sticky.

Unicorn Cake

A tie-dye rainbow cake cut up into pieces then assembled and decorated to look like a unicorn with a rainbow colored candy clay tail and mane.