unicorn birthday cake with handmade fondant unicorn horn

My daughter Melodie LOVES unicorns. She is always drawing unicorns, has unicorn stuffed animals and toys, has unicorns on her backpack, and always says she wishes she could ride one. So for her 7th birthday this past December, I knew I had to make her a unicorn cake! (And this time it wouldn't just be piped on like last year's Toki Doki winter unicorn cake, or the pink Toki Doki funfetti unicorn cake the year before!)

I've been seeing this unicorn cake design all over Instagram and Pinterest lately (although I first saw it on Sweet & Saucy's instagram feed), and it's so cute I knew she would love it. So a few weeks before her birthday, I started making the fondant unicorn horn. I used white fondant, which I tinted with gold gel-based food coloring, and then I formed a long cone shape and used a toothpick to add the "unicorn horn" spiral details.

Then I let it dry on a curved plastic surface to keep the cone shape in place.

The night before her birthday, I started on the cake. I baked up two 8-inch vanilla cakes (recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!) and sliced them in half horizontally, giving me four cake layers. Then I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream and sliced pitted cherries.

Then I frosted the top and sides of the cake with cream cheese buttercream (recipe also in my book!), doing a quick crumb coat first, the chilling it for 30 minutes, and then doing a final coat smoothed out with an offset spatula. Then I let it chill overnight.

In the morning, I was ready to decorate!

Using black frosting in a disposable pastry bag and a small round tip, I piped smiling eyes, complete with long lashes.

Then I used gold luster dust mixed with clear vanilla extract to paint over the unicorn horn, giving it a shimmery look. (I forgot to mention that I also made unicorn ears!)

I placed the unicorn horn in the middle of the cake, and then piped a swirling rosette unicorn mane using a disposable pastry bag fitted with a large star tip (I filled one side of the pastry bag with pink frosting, and the other side with purple frosting, in order to get the half pink / half purple effect).

Then I added the unicorn ears, which had toothpicks inserted into them so that the ears would stay in place on the cake.

So cute! I loved the way it turned out!

I mean, what little girl wouldn't love a happy smiley unicorn cake?!

Happy birthday my Melodie! We love you!