MAKING A UNICORN SUGAR CAKE : THE TUTORIAL

Whether it is for a birthday, a wedding, or any other joyous occasion, the ceremony is usually accompanied by a unicorn cake. However, not just any cake! Indeed, we all want our cake to be memorable and to leave a lasting impression on the guests. For this, what better than a sugar paste unicorn to decorate our unicorn cake and add that fun and magical touch to it ? 🎂

Indeed, whether it is a unicorn cake, a plain chocolate cake or any other type of cake, the decoration is one of the most important steps. Remember, the better the cake looks, the more appetizing it becomes and the better it will be eaten. That’s why, in addition to the little sprinkles on the cream, figurines on either side, a unicorn on your cake will be a real “chef’s touch“.

Block "14463" not found

So, if you’re wondering how to make this sugar unicorn cake, you’ve come to the right page. In this detailed and complete tutorial, we will explain step by step how to easily model a beautiful edible unicorn. As a bonus, we’ll give you some tips from chefs on how to prepare it successfully and how to store it.

When you’ve never used sugar dough to make complex shapes, you often think that making a unicorn will be complicated. As a result, we tend to abandon the idea and opt for simpler and less appetizing figurines. However, this is not always a good idea !

In fact, the body of our unicorn is divided into three parts: the head, the thorax and the four limbs. In this quick tutorial, each of these parts will be made separately, which will make our preparation even easier.

Once all the parts have been shaped, all we have to do is put them together. Indeed, this is the easiest step and will only take a few seconds.

Note: for each step, you do not have to follow our instructions to the letter. Although it would be easier for you to quickly learn how to make your unicorn out of sugar paste if you do as we do, you have the possibility to adjust certain shapes to make your unicorn even more authentic.

Remember, the unicorn is only a mythological creature! Therefore, you have the right to do what you want. For example, add wings, a mane of all colours, a legendary tail, or why not a breathtaking horn? Either way, it’s up to you.

Now that you have the basics of the Unicorn Cake Tutorial, here is a list of the material needed for our preparation. Rest assured, for the most part, you already have what you need. All you need to do is prepare them and start modeling.

White sugar paste, which will be used to model the main shapes of our unicorn. Here, the quantity depends mainly on the size of the unicorn you wish to make. For our preparation, a white paste the size of a big walnut will do (about 250 grams).

The modelling tools (roughing tool, bone tool, etc.).

One lilac sugar dough, one sky blue sugar dough, one pale pink sugar dough. These will be used for the coloured parts of our unicorn (mane, tail, horn, etc.). Don’t forget, you can add colors or simply modify the one we propose.

• Two edible black beads, which will serve as eyes.
• A food glue, to assemble the parts of our unicorn.
• A toothpick, to link the head and the torso.
• Finally, a small brush, to personalize our animal by adding colors.

• Enough chitchat, let’s get down to business. For this first step, we are going to model the different parts of our unicorn in sugar paste. However, before we start, your white sugar dough must be soft and easy to handle. To do this, use your fingers to knead it with a little tylose (optional). The aim here is simply to make the dough smooth.

To give shape to our sugar paste unicorn, the head is the main part. It is the first part that is seen and you have to apply yourself a little bit.

To begin, form a round ball with the white dough previously kneaded. Then place the ball on a flat surface and use two fingers (preferably your thumb and index finger) to press lightly on the side. The aim here is to obtain a pear shape.

Once the shape is made, place your little finger (pinkie) in the center of the ball; then press lightly while rolling the ball to perfect our pear shape.

Once this is done, lightly press the top part to make it slightly flat. This part of our sugar dough unicorn will represent the face and carry the eyes. Therefore, press very lightly.

If during the flattening the pear shape has disappeared, you must press the sides again for it to come back.

It is finished for the head, although it is not really similar to a horse’s head, it will surprise you in the end. Just put it down and move on to the next step.

For the eyes of our wonderful unicorn, nothing could be easier! Simply use the template to mark the eye sockets on the head.

Small trick, the eyes must be horizontal and placed at the base of the flat part of the head: at the level of the small hollows on the side.

Then, use the edible black beads to fill our previously created eye sockets. Use your fingers to flatten them slightly and spread them out a little.

Note: since we are working on the head, let’s take the opportunity to make this little decoration. Form two more small white beads with sugar dough. Then use the edible glue to place them under the eyes. However, for the design to be successful, the distance between the two little white dots must be greater than the distance between the eyes.

Unicorn ears are small and easy to make.

To make unicorn ears out of sugar dough, form two balls of dough in the shape of a drop of water. Flatten them with your finger; then press in the middle with the bone tool to make the hollow of the ears.

You don’t have to use the bone tool here! You can simply use any utensil capable of creating a hollow in our “drop of dough”.

Once the ears are finished, glue them to the sides of the head with a little edible glue or drinking water.

Now you can see that our head is beginning to take shape. If this is the case for you, that’s fine. If not, feel free to read the previous steps several times to take the lead.

A hornless unicorn is not a unicorn! To complete our head, we need a horn worthy of the name.

To do this, use the white sugar dough again; shape it so that it forms a sausage with a few pointed centimetres at both ends. Then fold it in its center and roll it up on itself.

Use a knife to cut off the rounded part at the bottom. Then place the horn above the head between the two ears.

Our head is almost done! Now let’s make a little mane to make our unicorn’s hair out of sugar dough. To do this, start by mixing separately our three coloured pastes (lilac, sky blue, pale pink) with white paste. The aim is to dilute the intensity of our colours to obtain pastes with pastel shades.

Then shape three small pointed sticks with the different colours obtained. Then stripe each of them with the tip of the “bone” tool or any other alternative object.

Once the decoration is finished, glue three strands (coloured paste) over your head, just in front of the horn. Then, repeat the operation with two more coloured sticks to place them on the side. Don’t hesitate to bend them down to embellish the thing.

Now you can push a relief egg! Indeed, you’ve done the hard part. The body of our sugar paste unicorn is the easiest part. To do this, form an oval ball again with the white sugar paste. Then stick a toothpick in the center of the ball. This will be used to fix the head later. Note that the free end of the toothpick should be placed on the oval side of the ball.

For a party cake decorated with a sugar paste unicorn, the legs are essential. For this preparation, start with the upper legs (the arms).

Form two small carrot-shaped sticks; then, without bending them, place them in front of the torso. Make sure they are straight and the same size. Then use a spatula to make two fingers (front hooves). Feel free to make a small horizontal line above the hooves to make them more natural.

After the forelegs, make two more socks to be glued horizontally to the body with food glue. To make the sugar paste unicorn look good, bend the hind legs slightly to make them rounded at one end (the one that will be glued to the unicorn’s torso).

The last part of our white horse is his tail. Unlike an ordinary horse, the unicorn is usually represented with a multicoloured tail. Therefore, ours too will follow this logic.

In order to make the tail of our unicorn, form many socks of different colours and sizes. Don’t forget to dilute the intensity of the colours with the white paste or use the petal colours.

Then glue each shape on the back of our unicorn. To make it look appetizing, you can also make folds on each shape and refine it with your fingers.

Note: As with the mane, you can mix the colors of the tail as you like.

• We’ve just completed all parts of our unicorn. Now we just have to put them together. If you have noticed, we only have two blocks left (the head and the body). Here, the only thing to do is to delicately take the head and position it on the toothpick of the body.
• Note: Be careful that the toothpick does not go beyond the limit of our head.

• For the decoration, you have a free choice. Simply use your small brush and decorate your unicorn as you like. For example, use the golden powder to make a golden horn. You can also decorate the hooves of your unicorn so that they are different from the rest of the body.

That’s it for this tutorial on how to model a sugar dough unicorn for a Unicorn Birthday Party or wedding cake. To succeed in your preparation, you just need to take the time to shape each part of the unicorn correctly. For storage, use a container and place the preparation away from the light. A refrigerator would be ideal to hold your unicorn for a few days.

Block "14463" not found