Vegan unicorn cake recipe

Vegan

This unicorn cake is a real showstopper and is layered with rich chocolate cake, homemade caramel sauce, vanilla buttercream and beautiful colourful swirls, peaks, flowers…not forgetting a stunning gold unicorn horn and ears. 🦄

This cake was actually made for one of my blogger friends ‘Scarlett London’s’ 24th birthday. 

You can check out her blog here.

I always love making birthday cakes and this has to be my favourite so far!

Unicorns are always super fun to make and decorate. I used vegan sprinkles and edible gold glitter to make this cake even more magical.

This pastel layered unicorn cake is the perfect celebration cake or for a special occasion where you want to make something eye-catching (and delicious).

The best part, you can replicate it at home without heading to a fancy bakery!

This cake is 100% vegan and scrumptious. I am over the moon that everyone at Scarlett’s party loved the cake! I have attached some screen shots of the lovely feedback below:

I am so happy everyone enjoyed it and Scarlett had a lovely birthday!

Anyway, let’s get to the recipe!!! 😀

Preparation- Overnight

Baking time- 28-30 minutes

Serves- Approximately 15-20

Level- Medium

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Ingredients for the cake

-960ml of almond milk (I use unsweetened)

-4 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar

-840g of self-raising flour 

-960g of golden caster sugar

-6 tablespoons of cocoa powder (You can use cacao)

-2 teaspoons of baking powder

-2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

-240g of coconut oil (melted)

-5 teaspoons of vanilla extract

-20g of dairy-free dark chocolate (melted)

Ingredients for the buttercream

-500g of dairy-free butter 

-550g of icing sugar

-2 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste

-Dairy-free milk (if needed)

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-Caramel sauce (Get my recipe here)

-Food colourings

Ingredients for the decorations

-Black roll-out fondant 

-White roll-out fondant

-Edible gold glitter

-Vodka (You can use 

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TIP- You will want to make the horn and ears a few days in advance in order for them to harden.

Learn how to make the unicorn details here.

To make the cakes

Step 1- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c and line four 8inch cake tins with grease-proof paper.

Step 2- In a bowl, combine the almond milk with the apple cider vinegar and whisk until fully combined.

Set aside for 10 minutes to curdle. This creates a vegan ‘buttermilk’.

Step 3- In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

Mix well to combine.

Step 4- Add the coconut oil and vanilla into the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.

Step 5- Add the wet ingredients and melted chocolate into the dry ingredients and mix.

Step 6- Pour equal amounts of batter into the lined cake tins.

Make sure to tap the tins on the worktop to remove any air bubbles.

Step 7- Pop the cakes into the centre of the preheated oven and bake for around 30-35 minutes.

You will know they are done when you put a knife or skewer in and it comes out clean and they are springy to the touch.

Step 8- Place the cakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool fully. 

Once cool, pop them into a sealed container to keep them fresh before filling.

To make the buttercream

Step 1- In a bowl/stand mixer, cream the butter on high then add in the icing sugar and vanilla.

Add in a splash of dairy-free milk if too thick. 

You want the buttercream light and fluffy.

Step 2- Stack and fill the cake with buttercream, drizzling on some caramel sauce between the layers, then crumb coat the whole cake and pop into the fridge to set. 

This will take around 1 hour.

I added a pillar down the middle of the cake for extra stability (optional).

Step 3- Once the crumb coat is set, make more buttercream. 

Step 4- Separate some mixture into a separate bowl and add some pink food colouring.

Step 5- Apply a final thick coat of buttercream and level until smooth. I use a cake scraper and large pallet knife.

Watch this amazing video on how to perfectly crumb coat & finish a cake.

Step 6- To get the watercolour effect, dot on some of the pink buttercream and using your cake scraper, smooth it out.

Step 7- Place the cake back into the fridge to chill for about 1 hour.

Step 8- In this time, make another batch of buttercream, separate it into a few different bowls and colour each buttercream a different colour then place into piping backs fitted with round, star, and open star tip nozzles.

Step 9- Apply buttercream rosettes, peaks and flowers to replicate a unicorn mane. You can be very creative at this point.

Dust on edible glitter and sprinkles too.

Step 10- I used black roll out fondant to create the unicorn eyes and white roll out fondant for the unicorn horn & ears then painted them with edible gold glitter mixed with vodka.

I use vodka instead of water mixed with the gold glitter to make a paint as vodka evaporates unlike water which will make the fondant soft & sticky.

Stick some skewers into the horn and ears for extra stability.

 Allow the details to dry and harden. 

Place the horn in the centre on the top of the cake and the ears on either side of the horn.

Serve fresh or store in a sealed container, the buttercream will firm up at room temperature. 

Best eaten within a few days!

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Holly Jade