This Unicorn Cake is rich, delicious, and perfect for a celebration or birthday. This cake is sure to make everyone at your next party say “wow.”
So go ahead and indulge in your inner child – nobody will judge you (too much). After all, who can resist a giant pink unicorn head on top of a fluffy vanilla cake? Not us, that’s for sure!
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❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Budget-Friendly – No need to spend $50 or more on a custom cake from a bakery, this cake is easy to decorate even for a beginner.
- Customizable – It’s easy to change out the colors of this Pink Unicorn Cake to match your party colors.
- Delicious – The cake is made with all easy-to-find ingredients and tastes great.
- Fun – This Unicorn Cake will make anyone excited to celebrate their special day even more! It’s perfect for kids, tweens, teens, and adults.
🛒Ingredients
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White cake
- white cake mix
- Egg whites
- water
- canola oil
- Blue, Purple, and Pink gel food coloring
Vanilla Frosting
- unsalted butter, softened
- powdered sugar
- heavy whipping cream
- vanilla extract
- Blue, Black, Purple, and Pink gel food coloring
See the recipe card below for quantities.
🔪 How to Make Unicorn Cake
Cake directions
- Preheat oven to 350 and spray cake pans with pam baking spray.
- Using a hand mixer and large bowl, beat all cake ingredients until combined and smooth.
- Divide the cake batter into 4 bowls.
- Mix in a few drops of blue food coloring into one bowl.
- Min in a few drops of pink food coloring into the second bowl.
- Mix in a few drops of purple food coloring into the third bowl and leave the fourth bowl, as is.
- Alternate the batters by scooping in ¼ C of batter into each cake pan on top of each other to create a tie-dye effect.
- Place into the oven and back for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting directions
- Using a standing mixer, beat all ingredients except for the colors until combined and smooth but stiff with peaks.
- Scoop 1 C of frosting into each of the 3 medium bowls and mix in a few drops of blue, pink, and purple into their own bowls and scoop a color into their own piping bags.
- Then, scoop ½ C of frosting into a small bowl and mix in a few drops of black food coloring. Scoop frosting into the small piping bag.
Building the Cake directions
- Place one cake layer onto the cake board and cut the dome off the cake to make an even layer
- Repeat step with other two layers
- Scoop 1 C of white frosting into 1 side of the large piping bag
- Then, ccoop the red and pink frosting into the large piping bag and set it aside
- Scoop 1 C of white frosting onto the bottom layer and spread evenly
- Place the second cake layer on top and spread evenly 1 more cup of frosting Place the last layer of cake on top
- Use the remaining white frosting and frost the entire cake
- Using the blue, pink, and purple piping bags, start piping the “Hair” for the unicorn on the top and around one side of the cake to create a “Mane”
- Using leftover pink frosting, frost the plastic ears
- Outline the ears with white frosting and blue frosting
- Place the horn, ears onto the cake
- Use the black frosting to pipe out the detail of the eyes Place the cake in the fridge to harden the frosting before enjoying it!
Hint: If you don’t have piping bags on hand, you can use storage bags with the tip of the corner cut off instead.
🍴 Substitutions
Don’t have everything you need on hand to make this Pink Unicorn Cake recipe? Here are some of my favorite tried and true swaps for this recipe.
- Butter – Salted butter can be used in place of unsalted butter for the frosting.
- Cake mix – Homemade cake mix can be used in place of box cake mix. Just make sure that you use a white cake mix so that the colors of the cake stand out.
If you love homemade cake recipes you may also enjoy this Circus Cookie Cake recipe.
🥄 Equipment
- 3 – 9inch round cake pans
- 1 – 10inch round cake board
- 3 large piping bags with star tip
- 1 small piping bag with number 5 tip
- 4 medium mixing bowls
- Plastic Unicorn cake topper horn and ears
🥫 Storage
Store your Unicorn Birthday cake at room temperature for up to three days or in the fridge for up to five days.
If you live in an environment where the temperature is warm and it is warm in your house, then you will need to always store this cake in the fridge.
💭 Tips
- Be sure to use baking spray not cooking spray. If you do not have baking spray you can grease and flour your baking pans.
- If you have some hot pink sprinkles on hand or even just some multicolored sprinkles, you can add them to the cake to give it a bolder look. This cake also looks really cool with edible glitter sprinkled over it.
- When you are baking this cake, make sure that your ingredients are room temperature before starting on the frosting for a smooth frosting.
- Do not use liquid food coloring in place of gel. The liquid will make your frosting too runny, you need gel to make this recipe.
⁉️ FAQ
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Yes, you can freeze this cake. Just make sure that you wrap it up really well in cling wrap and foil before putting the cake into an airtight container. Can be frozen up to three months.
Yes, you should let your cakes cool for 15-20 minutes before removing them.
Yes, you can use store-bought frosting instead, but you will need at least three cans of white frosting for this cake.
🍽 More Cake Recipes
Do you enjoy cake recipes, try these delicious recipes:
🧾Unicorn Cake Recipe
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Unicorn Cake
Equipment
- 3 9 inch round cake pans
- 1 10inch round cake board
- 3 Large piping bags with star tip
- 1 small piping bag with number 5 tip
- 4 medium mixing bowls
- Plastic Unicorn cake topper horn and ears
Ingredients
White Cake Ingredients
- 2 boxes white cake mix
- 8 large Egg whites
- 2 ½ cups water
- 1 cup canola oil
- Blue Purple and Pink gel food coloring
Vanilla Frosting Ingredients
- 3 cups unsalted butter softened
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 5 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Blue, Black, Purple and Pink gel food coloring
Instructions
Cake Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 and spray cake pans with pam baking spray
- Using a hand mixer and large bowl, beat all cake ingredients until combined and smooth
- Divide the cake batter into 4 bowls
- Mix in a few drops of Blue food coloring into one bowl
- Min in a few drops of pink food coloring into the second bowl
- Mix in a few drops of purple food coloring into the third bowl and leave the fourth bowl, as is
- Alternate the batters by scooping in ¼ C of batter into each cake pan on top of each other to create a tye dye effect
- Place into the oven and back for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
- Allow to cool completely
Frosting Directions
- Using a standing mixer, beat all ingredients except for the colors
- until combined and smooth but stiff with peaks
- Scoop 1 C of frosting into each of the 3 medium bowls and mix in a few drops of blue, pink and purple into their own bowls and scoop a color into their own piping bags
- Scoop ½ C of frosting into a small bowl and mix in a few drops of black food coloring. Scoop frosting into the small piping bag
Building The Cake
- Place one cake layer onto the cake board and cut the dome off the cake to make an even layer
- Repeat step with other two layers
- Scoop 1 C of white frosting into 1 side of the large piping bag
- Scoop the red and pink frosting into the large piping bag and set aside
- Scoop 1 C of white frosting onto the bottom layer and spread evenly
- Place the second cake layer on top and spread evenly 1 more cup of frosting Place the last layer of cake on top
- Use the remaining white frosting and frost entire cake
- Using the blue, pink and purple piping bags, start piping the “Hair” for the unicorn on the top and around one side of the cake to create a “Mane”
- Using leftover pink frosting, frost the plastic ears
- Outline the ears with white frosting and blue frosting
- Place the horn, ears onto the cake
- Use the black frosting to pipe out the detail of the eyes Place the cake into the fridge to harden the frosting before enjoying it.
Notes
- Be sure to use baking spray not cooking spray. If you do not have baking spray you can grease and flour your baking pans.
- If you have some hot pink sprinkles on hand or even just some multicolored sprinkles, you can add them to the cake to give it a bolder look. This cake also looks really cool with edible glitter sprinkled over it.
- When you are baking this cake, make sure that your ingredients are room temperature before starting on the frosting for a smooth frosting.
- Do not use liquid food coloring in place of gel. The liquid will make your frosting too runny, you need gel to make this recipe.
- I put frosting on the ears to make them match my cake. You can skip this step if you prefer.