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Updated on April 30, 2020 by · This post may contain affiliate links ·

Realistic Unicorn Cake

Skill level: Intermediate

Unicorn cakes are super trendy right now, and what better way to embrace this trend than to innovate on it. Liz Marek returns for her take on the unicorn trend, with a realistic, 80s-tastic neon unicorn bust cake.

This cake features real horse anatomy, a glowing isomalt (or Jolly Rancher) unicorn horn, beautiful sparkly eyes and a neon-rainbow unicorn mane.

Wow your clients and up your cake game with this stunning cake design, sure to be a show-stopper at your next event.

1:19:09 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

  • How to sculpt a realistic unicorn bust out of cake
  • Learn how to create a gravity-defying cake structure
  • How to get bright, neon colors that work together
  • Learn how to airbrush a pearlescent color onto the unicorn
  • How to save time by using simple techniques to achieve beautiful results

Tutorial Chapters

  1. Scaling images for cake decorating 0:10
  2. Making the structure 6:19
  3. Cutting foam board 8:47
  4. Stacking the cakes 11:13
  5. Adding bottom of mouth 18:42
  6. Carving down the cake 24:28
  7. Refining the face 32:28
  8. Adding cake clay 33:26
  9. Adding the crumb coat 40:17
  10. Making the ears 44:18
  11. Adding ganache 46:57
  12. Smoothing out ganache 49:07
  13. Covering the cake in fondant 50:15
  14. Making the nostrils & mouth 56:42
  15. Placing the ears 58:45
  16. Making the unicorn horn 59:34
  17. Making the eyes 1:05:29
  18. Placing the eyes, eyelids, & eyelashes 1:07:25
  19. Airbrushing 1:10:19
  20. Placing the horn 1:14:25
  21. Decorating the cake board 1:14:48
  22. Adding the mane 1:17:18

Sculpted Unicorn Cake Tutorial

Something I've been wanting to do for a while now was a sculpted horse head cake. I love horses and one aspect of anatomy that every great artist can achieve is (A) sculpting human anatomy and (B) sculpting horses!

When the unicorn cake trend started, I had a feeling it was going to be here to stay, and while the simple unicorn cake style is right up my alley, I felt like I could innovate on this by taking it a step further and making a realistic horse head. I hope you like this design and draw a lot of inspiration from it, as well as learning the anatomy of a horse head.

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About Liz Marek

Liz Marek is a professional cake artist, sweet and savory recipe developer, and the founder of Sugar Geek Show, where she teaches cooking, baking and cake decorating through detailed tutorials, food science explanations, and kitchen-tested recipes. She has been creating recipes and teaching baking techniques since 2008, helping bakers of all skill levels gain the confidence to make professional-quality desserts at home.

Liz is known for breaking down complex cooking and baking concepts into simple, approachable methods. Her work focuses on helping people understand not just how a recipe works, but why it works. Through Sugar Geek Show, she shares step-by-step recipes, cake decorating tutorials, and practical baking guides designed to make professional techniques accessible to everyone.

Over the years, Liz has taught thousands of students through online tutorials, classes, and educational content focused on real kitchen results. Her recipes are carefully tested and written to help people succeed the first time they make them.

When she’s not developing recipes or teaching baking techniques, Liz also hosts curated travel experiences for women through her travel brand Soul Sisters.

You can find Liz’s latest recipes, baking tutorials, and food science tips at Sugar Geek Show.