Strawberry Unicorn Cake Recipe
We’re celebrating all things rainbow with this easy unicorn cake made from a classic strawberry cake recipe and all of the colorful sprinkles and decorations you can think of!
You may be asking yourself, “how in the world is this a unicorn cake, and why would someone make that?”.
Well, that’s a great question. And technically, there’s no real reason other than the fact that it looks like unicorn food.
Pretty much anything edible that is rainbow colored gets categorized as unicorn food. Think colorful unicorn toast.
We were also slightly inspired by the Little Debbie’s Unicorn Snack Cakes. The strawberry unicorn cake is basically the classic strawberry cake recipe with coconut buttercream icing.
If you made one of these bad boys and sat it in front of your kid for their next birthday, we guarantee that they will actually pass out from excitement.
Plus, macarons on top of anything is always a good idea.
Ingredients Needed to Make a Strawberry Unicorn Cake
Softened butter
Sugar
Strawberry preserves — Preserves are not the same as jam. Preserves have whole fruit or large pieces of fruit whereas jam is made of mashed fruit. Preserves contain more fruit and less additives. Thus, preserves contain more fresh fruit flavors.
Large eggs
Strawberry extract
Cake flour— Cake flour is not the same as all-purpose flour. However, you can substitute the cake flour for all-purpose flour. But it won’t be as fluffy and light.
Baking powder
Salt
Baking soda
Whole buttermilk
Liquid red food coloring
How to Make a Strawberry Cake
1 — Preheat oven to 350°F.
2 — Spray 4 (6-inch) cake pans with nonstick spray.
3 — In a large bowl, beat butter, preserves, and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy, then add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Once the eggs are mixed, beat in strawberry extract.
4 — In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat in the food coloring until well mixed, and divide batter equally among prepared pans.
5 — Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean). Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove cake from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks.
The Coconut Buttercream Icing
Ingredients needed:
Butter
Powdered sugar
Cream of coconut — Not to be confused with coconut cream
Coconut extract
Green food coloring — Optional for a super light mint green cake like ours.
How to make the coconut buttercream icing:
1 — Beat butter until smooth. Then, add in powdered sugar and cream of coconut. (Make sure cream of coconut is well mixed first!)
2 — Next, beat the mixture at medium speed for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Add in coconut extract and green food coloring, and continue to blend until the color is even.
Unicorn Cake Decorating Ideas and Tips
Once your buttercream icing is fully mixed, lightly frost in between each of the four cake layers. Then, covering the rest of the cake with the icing.
If you prefer a more classic icing, opt for a Italian buttercream recipe.
For the additional pink icing topping, we poured pink ganache made with hot pink melting chocolates and heavy cream on top of of the cake. You can use this tutorial for that rainbow dripped icing look.
For topping ideas, add:
— Multicolored meringues
— Star sprinkles
— Chocolate shards
— Lemon drops
— Pink chocolate nonpareils
More Strawberry Flavored Recipes
We created this strawberry unicorn cake color concoction with Monica from Paper Flour Ink. If you’re in Houston, be sure to call her up to snag one of these beauties!
Check out some more strawberry flavored recipes below that would complement this delicious unicorn cake —
- Strawberry Bellini
- 3 Ingredient Strawberry Ice Cream Bon Bons
- Sparkling Strawberry Hibiscus Cooler Cocktail
- Strawberry Hennessy
Strawberry Unicorn Cake Recipe
Equipment
- 4 6-inch cake pan
- Hand or stand electric mixer
- Large mixing bowl
- Medium mixing bowl
Ingredients
For the strawberry cake:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup strawberry preserves
- 4 large egg
- 1 tsp strawberry extract
- 2 1/2 cup cake flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup whole milk buttermilk
- 1/4 tsp liquid red food coloring
For the coconut buttercream icing:
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 5 cup powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup cream of coconut
- 1/2 tsp coconut extract
- 1-2 drop green food coloring optional if you want a light mint green icing
Nutrition
Instructions
To make the strawberry cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Spray the 4 cake pans with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter, preserves, and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Then, add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Once the eggs are mixed, beat in strawberry extract.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat in the food coloring until well mixed, and divide batter equally among prepared pans.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean). Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Then, remove cake from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks.
To make the coconut buttercream icing:
- Beat the butter until smooth. Then, add in powdered sugar and cream of coconut. (Make sure cream of coconut is well mixed first.)
- Beat the mixture at medium speed for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Add in coconut extract and green food coloring, and continue to blend until the color is even.
- Once fully mixed, lightly frost in between each of the four cake layers, then covering the rest of the cake.
Please note that we may earn a commission for some of the above affiliate links. However, products featured are independently selected and personally well-loved by us!