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Vegan Unicorn Cake

Writer's picture: Marisa's Vegan RecipesMarisa's Vegan Recipes

Some of you may already know that last week I was trying to decide which of my lemon cake recipes to make my mums birthday cake with. I managed to make a decision and make my mum this Vegan Unicorn cake for her birthday!


My mum loves unicorns! She buys my daughter alot of unicorn things and we all buy her alot too. So of course I knew how to decorate my cake.


I am so proud of how this cake came out! It took me all day to make and then I had to take it to my sisters house; 20 minutes drive usually but I drove so slowly to make sure it made it there in one piece. I was so scared it would fall over or slide forwards.


The whole family were so impressed, I'm so glad they were! I wanted to make the perfect cake for my mums birthday!


My gran used to make a lemon cake everytime we saw her, when we were younger, so I had to make a lemon cake that came almost close to being as good as hers. Of course it was never going to be as good though.


I made the butter icing, that covers the outside and the mane is made from, using sugar & crumbs lemon and elderflower icing sugar and flora butter.

I have used many different brands of butter but flora is 100% the best, it is the only butter that makes thick butter icing that keeps it's shape once it has been piped.

The other brands I have tried has to be kept in the fridge for a very long time and usually will melt after 20 minutes out of the fridge. I definitely recommend it!


I made the butter icing inbetween the cake layers a vanilla butter icing, I didn't want to completly overload with lemon flavours.


The syrup in this is used to keep the cake full of lemon flavour and moist while you do all the decorating.


This cake is so impressive and it's perfect for anyone's birthday cake, no matter their age!

It is so sickly you don't need a big slice. It's perfect for a party as it really goes around!


If you need any help with the look of the cake you can look at my pictures to see how I've done it, I've tried to take them from all angles.


Please remember to tag me if you make any of my recipes @marisasveganrecipes on facebook and instagram



















You can see the eyes and nose so well in this photo. It should give you a better idea of how to make them.











This picture shows the side of the unicorn's mane, so you can see how I've done this.











This picture shows how I've done the mane at the back.









This shows the hair band I made for the unicorns mane.








Unicorn Cake - 10 Generously


Ingredients


Lemon Cake;

7 Cups Plain Flour

1/2 Cup Cornflour

5 tbsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric

Zest from 2 Lemon

Juice from 2 Lemon

4 Cups Granulated Sugar

1 â…“ Cup Vegetable Oil

3 1/3 Cup Milk - I used Oat milk but any plant based milk will work.

4 tbsp Apple Sauce

2 tsp Vanilla Essence

2 tsp Lemon Extract - You can buy this in Morrisons. I'm sure you can find it in other supermarkets too.


Syrup;

Juice from 2 Lemon

5 tbsp Granulated Sugar


Lemon & Elderflower Butter Icing;

500g Lemon & Elderflower Icing Sugar - This is a sugar & Crumbs Icing Sugar - https://www.sugarandcrumbs.co.uk/shop-by-brand/sugar-and-crumbs/icing-sugar.html

220g Butter - I used Flora. I have tried many different plant based butters previously but this seems to be the only one that creates a thick butter icing that holds its shape once it's been piped.

Pink, blue, yellow & Red food colouring gel. You can of course choose colours that you prefer.


Butter Icing;

160g Butter - I use Flora. Please see above for the reason why.

400g Icing Sugar

1-2 tsp Vanilla Essence

Pink food colouring gel. You can of course use a colour better suited to you.


Decoration;

Fondant - White, black, pink, purple - You can of course change the colour of the horn from pink and purple to any colours you would like.

Gold Spray


Method


Lemon Cake;


* Preheat the oven 180C, prepare 2 cake tins. I used two springform tins roughly 20cm wide.


* In a large bowl sift the flour, cornflour, baking powder and turmeric.


* Add the lemon zest.


* In the middle of the dry ingredients add the lemon juice, sugar, oil, milk, apple sauce, vanilla and lemon extract. Mix well until smooth.


* Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.


Syrup;


* Once the cake is out of the oven start your glaze.


* In a small saucepan place the lemon juice and sugar.


* Bring the mix to a boil, to melt your ingredients.


* Lower the temperature and simmer the mix for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.


* Once the cake is cut and you are ready to decorate, brush the syrup on top of all 4 pieces.


Both Butter Icings;


* Cream together the butter and icing sugar.


* Use the Pink food colouring to make the vanilla butter icing to the shade you would like.


* Take roughly 2 tbsp of the elderflower butter icing per bowl and place into 4 bowls.


* Colour those bowls with seperate colours.


* Colour the rest of the elderflower butter icing with pink food colouring. Make this a pastel pink e.g very light.


* Place in the fridge until needed.


Putting the cake together;


* Cut both cakes in half.


* Brush the syrup over the tops, and sides if there’s enough, of all 4 pieces.


* Spread ¾ of the vanilla buttercream over each piece, stacking them on top of each other. Don’t spread any on the very top.


* Place in the fridge for 10-30 minutes to harden slightly.


* Use the lemon and elderflower, pastel pink, butter icing over the top and sides of the cake. Use roughly half. Smooth it out. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.


* Use half of the rest of the lemon and elderflower butter icing to spread over the top and the sides. Smooth it out. Place it back in the fridge for a further 10-20 minutes.


* Use the fondant to create the face.


Ears;


* Roll the white fondant to be about 1/2 cm thick. Cut 2 ear shapes out.


* Roll the pink fondant to be a lot thinner. Cut out 2 ear shapes again but about half the size of the last ones.


* Stick the pink onto the white. You can use a little water for this. Then curl them inwards slightly around your fingers to finish the ears off.


* Place a toothpick in the centre of the bottom of each of the ears to keep it in place on the cake.


Eyes;


* Roll the white fondant to be as thin as possible.


* Cut out 2 oval shapes, reasonably large.


* Roll the pink fondant and make 2 slightly smaller oval shapes.


* Stick the pink onto the white.


* Roll the black fondant to make two even smaller ovals.


* Stick this onto the pink.


* Roll 2 very small circles with the white fondant.


* Stick these at the top of the black on the pink.


* Use the rolling pin to squash the eyes down gently. This also stretches them to be more animated.


Horn;


* Roll the pink and purple icing sugars into 2 thick trunks. Roll one of the ends of each colour to be slightly thinner, still the same size as each other.


* Roll the two colours together. You can now roll the thinner end to be slightly thinner again if needed.


* Place a skewer inside the horn to keep it together and upright on the cake.


Finishing the cake;


* Place the eyes onto the front of your cake.


* Place the horn in the correct place at the top; roughly a quarter of the way back, in the middle.


* Place the ears each about a cm either side of the horn.


* Use your coloured elderflower butter icing to create the fringe for the horse. Use 4 different nozzles to pipe on different sized shapes. See my picture if you need help with the placement.


* Use the last of the two pink butter icings to pipe the unicorn’s mane. Fill the back of the top, a little down the back and to one side. Please see my picture if you need help seeing how I’ve done this.


* Use a little more black fondant to create a tiny hair band over the bottom of the mane. Roll a little out, curve this a little and place over the top of the icing. Please see my picture to see how I’ve placed this.


* Use the gold spray to give the horn, ears, whites of the eyes and the mane a little sparkle.


* Place in the fridge for roughly 30 minutes to give everything time to harden a little.


Serve


Enjoy!




Check out some of my other recipes;




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