As you can read in the cupcake recipe, I separated the batter into 4 batches and then added yellow, teal, magenta, and pink icing gel. I’ve discovered that 2 tablespoons is the perfect amount of batter for a cupcake liner so for each color I plop in a ½ tablespoon.

There is something about the sweet and salty combination of pretzels with candy that is always a winner. My top two recommendations for sprinkles to use in funfetti cakes are rainbow jimmies or rainbow sequins. Both of these are soft enough to melt into the batter when they’re baked but not too soft that they melt before the batter is baked.Tip #3: Make all the fussy decorations (like the unicorn cake ears/unicorn horn) a few days before so you’ve got less to worry about. The most important factor is measuring the flour correctly. I recommend using a digital scale to weigh your ingredients, especially flour. In the photo above, you can see I added some fancy sprinkles, which had a mix of different kinds. This worked for me because I added only a few of those and used mostly pastel rainbow sequins. How to make unicorn frosting

To use frozen or chilled buttercream, let it come to room temperature, then mix on low with the paddle attachment to make it creamy again. Do not whisk or incorporate too much air.

More Decorating with Fondant

After the batter is prepped, I divided the cake batter into two bowls and colored them with pink and purple food coloring. Add Half the Sugar and Flavoring. Add half of the powdered sugar and continue mixing until well combined. After that, add the vanilla extract and heavy cream. Continue beating until well combined and smooth. Purple–Let’s call this the accent color. You’ll need 1 ½ cups of purple frosting for the rosettes and swirls. Spiral Candies You might have to do some searching but there are spiral-shaped candies and lollipops out there. Search for unicorn-themed candy and see what you stumble upon.

Storing. These frosted cupcakes stay fresh for up to 2-3 days when stored airtight at room temperature. I only recommend refrigerating cakes and cupcakes if you live in a hot and humid environment. In this case, take the cupcakes out of the fridge ahead to serve at room temperature.

Supplies you'll need for this recipe:

For the frosting, I use my best vanilla frosting and dye it the pretty pastels that you see in the photos. A stable, pipeable buttercream frosting is a must for decorating unicorn cupcakes! Add half the flour followed by the baking powder and salt, and beat on low speed while pouring in half of the milk and mix just until the flour starts to incorporate. Simply hollow out part of the center of the cupcake and fill it with the sprinkles. Then replace the cupcake piece. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated into the butter then add the vanilla extract and mix to combine. Beat for about 60 seconds. You can also make white chocolate buttercream frosting by adding melted white chocolate into the buttercream frosting. This results in a SUPER stable buttercream which is a combination of buttercream and white chocolate ganache. Get a really white frosting!

I always like to work ahead, which is one of my hostess with the mostess tips to keeping stress free when my guests arrive. Lay out a piece of plastic wrap on a flat surface and make three rows of frosting, one of each color (refer to photos). Roll up the plastic wrap, twist the ends to close them (like a candy wrapper) and then cut one side off and place it inside a pastry bag fitted with a large round piping tip. Although these unicorn cupcakes are best assembled the same day, whether or not you can make them in advance depends on whether you used regular mini ice cream cones or Muddy Bites for the horns.Add the buttercream to a large piping bag fitted with the Ateco 809 piping tip (or a similarly large round one).