Unicorn Cake

Skill level: Newb

Unicorn cakes are huge right now and Liz Marek tackles her own unique take on this trend. This unicorn cake features a rounded top, a clean white ganache covering, a candy cane unicorn horn and a bright, delicious buttercream mane.

3:33 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

• How to cover a cake in white ganache
• Liz Marek's unique technique to create an amazing candy cane design on the unicorn horn
• How to create the bright unicorn mane

Tutorial Directions

1. For the cakes I used Yolonda Gampp's vanilla cake colored with hot pink food coloring and my chocolate cake recipe.
2. The buttercream is my easy buttercream
3. I cut the domes off my 6" cakes after chilling them in the fridge overnight and then stacked them evenly, alternating the colors.
4. I then added a 6" dome for the top so my unicorn has a rounded head instead of flat.
5. I always wondered why the unicorns had flat heads
   while my cake is chillin' I make my unicorn horn.
6. I used my white chocolate ganache recipe for the glaze and let it cool to 98 degrees (about body temperature) before pouring.
7. The horn is shaped with modeling chocolate and a skewer is inserted. I let it rest for 10 minutes or you could make this a day ahead.
8. I melted down enough white candy melts to fill a drinking glass and then set some aside to color. I used wilton candy food coloring. You cannot use regular food coloring or you chocolate will seize up and there isn't anything you can do to save it.
9. Drizzle some colors over the top of your melted chocolate in a random pattern and then dip your horn straight down. As you pull up, twist your horn to create the swirl! Very easy and super cool! Let it drip for a couple of minutes then stick it into some foam to dry.
10. After my cake has chilled, I put on the final coat of buttercream. I am using a tall bench scraper and a buttercream smoother to get everything super smooth. Once I'm done, back into the freezer to chill again.
11. To make the ears, I use more modeling chocolate but you could use fondant if you want. I form into a flattened circle and then cut in half. Point the ends and hollow out the middles to form ears. Then I insert a skewer and dust the insides of the ears with a little pink
12. To glaze the cake, I put a large cake pan down with a 4" cake pan turned upside down in the center. The chilled cake goes on top and I pour my white chocolate ganache over the whole thing and let it drip. Because the cake is chilled, the chocolate will begin to set and when it stops dripping, you can trim up the bottom and move the cake to a cake board.
13. Once the cake is on the board you can add the ears and the horn.
14. To make the eyelashes, I used plain fondant colored a brownish yellow and then painted it with gold dust mixed with everclear.
15. To make the buttercream, I used progels (turquoise, pink and yellow) and let them set for about an hour to intensify the color. I rolled out some plastic wrap and placed the buttercream in three lines. Rolled up the buttercream, snipped the ends and placed it into a piping bag with a star tip. Now you can pipe the hair!
16. The last thing to do is clean up the bottom edge with some sprinkles and you're all done! Happy Unicorn cake making!