a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

unicorn strawberry cake recipe

06.04.15

a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & clotha unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

photos by Jared Smith

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 I have no idea other than the fact that every time I look at this cake that we created with Monica from Paper Flour Ink (and based off of the amazingly talented Katherine Sabbath‘s designs!), is that it looks like unicorn food. So naturally one should just roll with that, right? To bring it back down to earth a bit I am sharing a classic strawberry cake with coconut buttercream icing to go with, so don’t just me too much! Or do, and I’ll just eat my feeling in unicorn food in the meantime.

But seriously though, who wouldn’t love a cake with a little bit of everything on it? I think if you made one of these bad boy’s and sat it in front of your kid for their next birthday they might actually pass out from excitement (or maybe I was just that kid..). Either way, macarons on top are always a good idea….

a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

Cake Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cup strawberry preserves
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon strawberry extract
  • 2 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 11/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup whole buttermilk
  • 1/4 teaspoon liquid red food coloring Strawberry Icing

Preheat oven to 350° and spray 4 (6-inch) cake pans with nonstick spray.

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.

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.

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.

Icing Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter at room temperature
  • 5 cups powdered sugar
  • ¾ cup Cream of Coconut
  • ½ tsp coconut extract
  • 1-2 drops of green food coloring for the mint green icing

Beat butter until smooth, then add in powdered sugar and Cream of Coconut (make sure cream of coconut is well mixed first!) and beat at medium speed for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Next 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.

a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

For the toppings, we used pink ganache made with hot pink melting chocolates and heavy cream (or you can use this tutorial), poured it over the top, and added multicolored meringues, macarons, star sprinkles, chocolate shards, lemon drops, and pink chocolate perils.

a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & clotha unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

You guys should definitely check out Katherine’s other cake inspirations, and if you’re in Houston, be sure to call up Monica to snag one (though she might actually hate me for the amount of unicorn cake requests she gets after this, ha!).

Check out these other awesome posts!

a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

unicorn strawberry cake recipe

06.04.15

a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & clotha unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

photos by Jared Smith

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 I have no idea other than the fact that every time I look at this cake that we created with Monica from Paper Flour Ink (and based off of the amazingly talented Katherine Sabbath‘s designs!), is that it looks like unicorn food. So naturally one should just roll with that, right? To bring it back down to earth a bit I am sharing a classic strawberry cake with coconut buttercream icing to go with, so don’t just me too much! Or do, and I’ll just eat my feeling in unicorn food in the meantime.

But seriously though, who wouldn’t love a cake with a little bit of everything on it? I think if you made one of these bad boy’s and sat it in front of your kid for their next birthday they might actually pass out from excitement (or maybe I was just that kid..). Either way, macarons on top are always a good idea….

a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

Cake Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cup strawberry preserves
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon strawberry extract
  • 2 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 11/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup whole buttermilk
  • 1/4 teaspoon liquid red food coloring Strawberry Icing

Preheat oven to 350° and spray 4 (6-inch) cake pans with nonstick spray.

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.

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.

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.

Icing Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter at room temperature
  • 5 cups powdered sugar
  • ¾ cup Cream of Coconut
  • ½ tsp coconut extract
  • 1-2 drops of green food coloring for the mint green icing

Beat butter until smooth, then add in powdered sugar and Cream of Coconut (make sure cream of coconut is well mixed first!) and beat at medium speed for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Next 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.

a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

For the toppings, we used pink ganache made with hot pink melting chocolates and heavy cream (or you can use this tutorial), poured it over the top, and added multicolored meringues, macarons, star sprinkles, chocolate shards, lemon drops, and pink chocolate perils.

a unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & clotha unicorn strawberry cake recipe | sugar & cloth

You guys should definitely check out Katherine’s other cake inspirations, and if you’re in Houston, be sure to call up Monica to snag one (though she might actually hate me for the amount of unicorn cake requests she gets after this, ha!).

Check out these other awesome posts!

Comments

  • Courtney @ Pizzazzerie

    06.04.15

    This is AMAZING! Pinned! Adore every detail. I love following Katherine on IG.

    Reply
  • Reply
  • Reply

  • Hannah

    06.04.15

    Those tie-dyed meringues are my favorite part of the cake! Such a great idea, thanks for sharing :)

    xx Hannah // TheCheapishly.com

    Reply

  • Ailee | Snapshots & My Thoughts

    06.04.15

    Big mistake not having Monica make the cake for Isla’s party on Saturday. BUT I am using your edible confetti cake idea, so let’s just pray it all works out :)

    Reply

  • jewel7013

    06.04.15

    WOW!….cant stop staring at this as I sit here drooling

    Reply

  • Crystal

    06.04.15

    Looks awesome! I love anything with “Unicorn” in it.

    Reply
  • Reply
  • Reply
  • Reply
  • Reply

  • Lauren

    06.06.15

    This is the most magical cake I think I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m pretty sure my inner child would have her jaw on the floor in amazement if you put this in front of me, so you’ll definitely get no judgment from this neck of the woods!

    Reply
  • Reply

  • Ana

    06.10.15

    Amaizing!

    Reply

  • Caitlin

    06.10.15

    The sprinkles are diet, right?

    Reply

  • Annie

    06.14.15

    What on earth is a “chocolate peril”? Google was stumped.

    Reply

  • Jane Gordon

    06.24.15

    OMG! Love, love, love!! :) So pretty and colorful!

    Reply
  • Reply

  • Regine

    09.23.15

    I made this cake using 2 9inch pans, baked for about 25-30 minutes. The cake is really good and moist. I also added 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. As for the icing, I must confess I did not like it very much. I guess I am not a fan of the flavor imparted by the coconut cream in the icing. The icing also was a bit too creamy. I certainly will make cake again but instead use a cream cheese icing. I am thinking this cake is versatile in that one could replace the strawberry jam with other flavors such as apricot. Thanks for sharing this wonderful cake recipe.

    • Ari said:

      Hi! Quick question- did you use salted or unsalted butter for the cake?

      • Ashley said:

        We used unsalted :)

    Reply

  • Ari

    03.06.16

    I’m about to make this cake for a friend’s bIrthday and i can’t wait! Quick question- salted or unsalted butter in your cake recipe?

    • Ashley said:

      We used unsalted! :)

    Reply

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