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
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.
