Pastel & Gold Unicorn Cupcakes

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It’s a magical time to be a 5 year old. Unicorns are always a special childhood obsession – and right now, it seems like the whole word is in full-fledged Unicorn Fever, so my daughter was super excited to help me test out this delicious, cute and easy Unicorn Cupcake Recipe.

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

Cute & Easy Unicorn Cupcakes

Unless you’ve sworn off social media, chances are you’ve seen at least one super cute unicorn cake pop into your feed. Unicorn cupcakes and cakes were going crazy on Instagram almost all last year and have definitely hit the mainstream.

I attempted to locate the “original” creator of this specific unicorn cake design (with the cute swirled closed eyelids and pastel swirl hair), but so far no luck. For the time being, I’m going to give credit to Frances Mencias but if you have another lead for me please leave a comment on this post so I can update!

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

For these cupcakes I used my buttermilk cake recipe for the base and my favourite vanilla buttercream recipe for the frosting. Feel free to use whatever flavours appeal to you and follow this tutorial to transform any cupcake into unicorn cupcakes. (You can even buy store-bought muffins for this recipe – I won’t tell!)

Also, just because I did them with a three-color frosting swirl doesn’t mean you have to! Even just using one color of frosting will result in a gorgeous unicorn cupcake.

I can honestly say that these easy unicorn cupcakes taste even better than they look – and c’mon, they’re pretty darn cute! Sweet vanilla frosting with a perfectly balanced buttermilk cupcake that is super light and fluffy.

These cupcakes (and all of the various other unicorn-inspired treats coming out of this trend, like my unicorn meringue cookies) are so incredibly cute! They’re the perfect addition to a unicorn-themed party, or just a special treat for your unicorn-loving child.

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

Unicorn Cupcakes Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups cake flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3-4 cups icing sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
  • 2-3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
  • Food dye (pink, purple, green, copper)
  • Gold food spray
  • Gold edible shimmer dust
  • 1/2 cup prepared fondant or gumpaste

Tip: you can use either fondant or gumpaste for the unicorn earns and horns. I used gumpaste because that’s what I had on hand and I find it easier to make small amounts.

Supplies You May Find Helpful


They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F and line a cupcake tray with your chosen liners. (We used these because I’m a sucker for ruffles.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Place the two eggs in a separate bowl and beat for 30 seconds before slowly adding in the white sugar.

Once the egg and white sugar mixture is light and fully beaten, beat in the vanilla and oil.

Add half of the dry ingredients, mix completely, then add half of the buttermilk. Repeat.

Fill the muffin liners halfway full and bake 12-15 minutes and cool in the pan before removing to a cooling rack.

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

To make your vanilla buttercream, place softened butter into a bowl and beat in 2 cups of icing sugar.

Add 2 Tablespoons heavy cream and vanilla and add the remaining icing sugar 1/2 cup at a time until you reach your desired consistency.

Place about 1/3 to 1/2 of the buttercream in a large piping bag and swirl a generous amount of frosting onto each of the cooled cupcakes. Smooth the frosting with an offset spatula to remove any bumps.

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

Reserve 1/4 cup of the frosting for the gold eyelids, and divide the remaining frosting into thirds and dye one third light pink, one third lavender purple, and one third mint green.

Because I wanted to use a tiny frosting tip (Wilton 18) for decorating our unicorn cupcake we used a swirl coupler tip. Place the frosting into their individual piping bags and follow the directions for your specific coupler.

Make small little dabs of frosting in the shape of your unicorn mane – I kind of think of it like a unicorn mullet.

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

Next, grab your prepared gum paste or fondant (follow the specific directions and roll out about half of it.

Shape into ovals with one slightly pointed end (to resemble the unicorn ear) and use a wet paintbrush to apply the edible shimmer for the “inner ear.”

I used a fondant tool to help shape it into an ear by tracing a light crease down the center and gathering the ends.

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

Next, roll the unicorn horn and shape one edge to a point.

Use that fondant tool or a toothpick to imprint a spiral all the way up the horn – kind of like a barbershop pole.

Stick a toothpick in the end and either use the edible shimmer or a gold colour mist to dye the horn gold.

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

Insert the gumpaste horn into the cupcake, pushing the the toothpick deep into the cupcake without going through one of the sides.

Use the horn to help guide you where to place the ears.

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

You may want to add more of the unicorn’s mane at this point to adjust your cupcake’s final look. I definitely advise making a “test cupcake” to practice your design once through before doing your whole batch.

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

Next, I mixed just a small amount of the gold shimmer dust, copper food dye, and the leftover white buttercream and put it in a piping bag with a number 3 tip (you can just cut a small edge off of a plain piping bag).

I carefully added the closed eyelid shape and flicked my wrist away to end each line.

(Pro tip: I only dyed about 3 Tablespoons of frosting for the eyelids with the shimmer dust and copper dye because the shimmer dust is a bit pricey. I dyed the remaining 1/4 cup of frosting with the copper food dye. I scooped the gold frosting right to the bottom of my piping bag and then topped it with a bit of just copper-dyed buttercream because you will need a bit “extra” buttercream to help push out the gold buttercream.)

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

And there you have it! 12 gorgeous unicorn cupcakes sure to make someone very happy!


They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

 

Pin this Cute Unicorn Cupcake Recipe:

They're magical! Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes are perfect to celebrate spring, birthdays, or just being a kid (or a kid at heart!)

Grab your free printable for our easy unicorn cupcake recipe:

Pastel & Gold Unicorn Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups cake flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3-4 cups icing sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
  • 2-3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
  • Food dye (pink, purple, green, copper)
  • Gold food spray
  • Gold edible shimmer dust
  • 1/2 cup prepared fondant or gumpaste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a cupcake tray with your chosen liners.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Place the two eggs in a separate bowl and beat for 30 seconds before slowly adding in the white sugar.
  4. Once the egg and white sugar mixture is light and fully beaten, beat in the vanilla and oil.
  5. Add half of the dry ingredients, mix completely, then add half of the buttermilk. Repeat.
  6. Fill the muffin liners halfway full and bake 12-15 minutes and cool in the pan before removing to a cooling rack.
  7. To make your vanilla buttercream, place softened butter into a bowl and beat in 2 cups of icing sugar.
  8. Add 2 Tablespoons heavy cream and vanilla and add the remaining icing sugar 1/2 cup at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
  9. Place about 1/3 to 1/2 of the buttercream in a large piping bag and swirl a generous amount of frosting onto each of the cooled cupcakes. Smooth the frosting with an offset spatula to remove any bumps.
  10. Reserve 1/4 cup of the frosting for the gold eyelids, and divide the remaining frosting into thirds and dye one third light pink, one third lavender purple, and one third mint green.
  11. Because I wanted to use a tiny frosting tip (Wilton 18) for decorating our unicorn cupcake we used a swirl coupler tip. Place the frosting into their individual piping bags and follow the directions for your specific coupler.
  12. Make small little dabs of frosting in the shape of your unicorn mane - I kind of think of it like a unicorn mullet.
  13. Next, grab your prepared gum paste or fondant (follow the specific directions and roll out about half of it.
  14. Shape into ovals with one slightly pointed end (to resemble the unicorn ear) and use a wet paintbrush to apply the edible shimmer for the "inner ear."
  15. I used a fondant tool to help shape it into an ear by tracing a light crease down the center and gathering the ends.
  16. Next, roll the unicorn horn and shape one edge to a point.
  17. Use that fondant tool or a toothpick to imprint a spiral all the way up the horn - kind of like a barbershop pole.
  18. Stick a toothpick in the end and either use the edible shimmer or a gold colour mist to dye the horn gold.
  19. Insert the gumpaste horn into the cupcake, pushing the the toothpick deep into the cupcake without going through one of the sides.
  20. Use the horn to help guide you where to place the ears.
  21. Next, I mixed just a small amount of the gold shimmer dust, copper food dye, and the leftover white buttercream and put it in a piping bag with a number 3 tip (you can just cut a small edge off of a plain piping bag).
  22. I carefully added the closed eyelid shape and flicked my wrist away to end each line.
  23. (Pro tip: I only dyed about 3 Tablespoons of frosting for the eyelids with the shimmer dust and copper dye because the shimmer dust is a bit pricey. I dyed the remaining 1/4 cup of frosting with the copper food dye. I scooped the gold frosting right to the bottom of my piping bag and then topped it with a bit of just copper-dyed buttercream because you will need a bit "extra" buttercream to help push out the gold buttercream.)
  24. Let the frosting on your unicorn cupcakes set slightly before serving.
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Are your kids obsessed with unicorns? Let us know if you end up making these cute unicorn cupcakes for them!

More creative cupcake recipes:

Caramel Popcorn Cupcakes

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

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