The Unicorn Cake

Is there truly anything better than gifting a person a unicorn?

Complete with frosting, sprinkles, and candles?

She's cute, right? I mean the b-day girl, and of course the cake. ;) 

Last week a dear friend celebrated her birthday and as all good pals get a baked good for the occasion, I decided to go big. Really big. Like confetti sheet cake big.

While at Ikea last month, the Tall One gifted me a set of horse cake pans. I decided to turn a white cake into a confetti cake, with the addition of jimmies, snowflakes, and candy sprinkles. For decoration, I used Airhead candy to make the manes, tails, and actual unicorn horns. I added some holiday Peeps to the backdrop, gel frosting and store bought frosting (I know, I'm lazy), and tons of sprinkles.

For the base, I modified a recipe I found on AllRecipes.com. I had never heard of a Heavenly White Cake recipe before, but am a huge fan of it now! The cake comes out denser, a little more crumbly, similar to a light cornbread. But with all the flavor of your grandma's white cake recipe. Oh so delicious.

My changes included using 1 1/2 cups of milk (hazelnut in my case), adding 1 1/2 tbsp EACH of jimmies, snowflakes, and sprinkles. Also, I switched around the order of the directions from the original recipe, creaming the butter and sugar first, then beating the egg whites. This is a great cake to make for decorating or making cake shapes. Next time I might add a little jam or fruit compote to the neck region so that when we chop its head off, it pseudo bleeds. Enjoy!

Unicorn Confetti Cake 
Adapted from: Heavenly White Cake Recipe 

• 2 3/4 cups sifted flour (sift as part of the assembly process)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/2 tbsp Jimmie Sprinkles
• 1 1/2 tbsp Snowflake Sprinkles
• 1 1/2 tbsp Wax Sprinkles

Measure sifted flour, baking powder, and salt; sift together three times (not counting the original sift in the ingredient list). Sift! Don't skip this part or your cake won't turn out properly. 

Cream butter or margarine. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add sifted ingredients alternately with milk a small amount at a time, beating after each addition until smooth. Mix in flavorings.

In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add 1/2 cup sugar gradually, and continue beating only until meringue will hold up in soft peaks.

Add meringue and sprinkles, and gently fold thoroughly into batter. Spread batter in a 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan which has been lined on the bottom with parchment paper, or decorative pans such as the unicorn pans. 

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes, then remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. This cake may also be baked in two 9 inch round pans for 30 to 35 minutes, or in three 8 inch round pans for 25 to 30 minutes. Decorate as desired.