Unicorn cupcake

Unicorn inspired food is all the rage now, and I can totally see why. From unicorn frappuccino at Starbucks to unicorn grilled cheese – they all have one thing in common – they’re super instagram worthy!

And what’s not to love about them? They’re so colorful they can brighten up anybody’s day.

Recently I noticed a lot of people posting about unicorn cakes. As much as I love decorating cakes, I cannot eat it all and I definitely do not have enough butter to make enough buttercream frosting to decorate it all. As a compromise, I decided to make unicorn cupcakes instead.

Ever since I made the hydrangea cupcakes, I’ve been obsessed with making buttercream frosting with mixed colors. These pastel colors are absolutely beautiful when combined!

In order to make the horn and the ears for the cupcake, I used homemade marshmallow fondant with some of it dyed pink for the inner part of the ears. To make the horn, I took some white fondant and rolled it into 2 thin cone shapes. Then, I twisted them around each other to form a horn. When it got too long, I just cut off the rest. I then dipped a toothpick in some water and inserted it into the ends of the horn so that I can insert it into the cupcake later. In order to make the golden horns, I mixed some gold lustre dust in a bit of water to form a little paste and painted it onto the horns. Allow to dry for an hour.

To make the ears, cut the white and pink fondant into circles. You can use a small cookie cutter to do this but since I didn’t have one, I used the opening of some piping tips instead. The white fondant circles should be larger than the pink ones because they form the main part of the ears.

Now, the fun part, the actual icing! I used 3 colors here – pink, pale yellow, and light blue but you can use any pastel color you want. Divide your icing into 3 bowls and add the food coloring separately. Add very little food coloring at a time if you want to achieve that light pastel color.

Now, add the colored icing onto plastic wrap, line by line.

Roll your saran wrap up into a tube. Just before you put it into the piping bag, cut off the end of the saran wrap so that the icing can come out.

Just before you start piping onto the cupcake, be sure to squeeze out a bit of the initial icing first until you see the colors starting to look mixed – otherwise, you’ll just get one solid color.

Now, you’re ready to assemble! I used a vanilla cupcake as the base for my unicorn cupcake but any cupcake base will do. You can frost your cupcake using giant swirls, or a combination of small rosettes. It’s totally up to you and what look you’re going for. I personally liked the pointed flower look. I’m definitely going to be making more of these in the future! Perhaps for a future birthday or life event party? 😀

Unicorn cupcake

by cookingwithteamj

Category Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 21/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 large egg white, room temperature
• 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/8 cups whole milk

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

15 minutes

Total Time

35 minutes

Instructions

• 1. Preheat the oven to 350F and line your muffin tin with cupcake liners.
• 2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, beat together eggs and egg whites.
• 3. Cream butter and sugar on medium speed in a stand mixer with paddle attachment until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally to ensure everything is well incorporated (~ 5 mins).
• 4. Add the eggs in a bit at a time. Ensure the eggs are well incorporated before adding the next batch. Add vanilla extract and continue mixing.
• 5. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture in 3 additions. Add the milk in 2 additions, alternating between flour and milk until all ingredients are well incporated.
• 6. Divide the mixtures into the muffin tins using an ice cream scoop or until the muffin tins are about 2/3 full.
• 7. Make for about 12-15 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool before you begin frosting your cupcakes

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Tags

Baking,

Cupcake,

unicorn,

vanilla

*Recipe was adapted from Bobette & Belle cookbook