Gluten Free Unicorn Birthday Cake

I really enjoy making special birthday cakes for my family.  I have posted about my adventures in a previous post, and you can see some of my other cakes I have made.  This year is my daughter's 5th birthday.  This is a big birthday for us, because she is starting Kindergarten in the fall.  She is my youngest, and it feels like just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital.  So, I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday.  She has become fascinated with unicorns lately, so she asked if she could have a unicorn cake.  I searched online and found this on the Parenting magazine website.  The website was pretty detailed in it's descriptions, but I modified it slightly to make it gluten free and more to my daughter's specifications.

This is how I created my Gluten Free Unicorn cake.  First, I made a 2 chocolate cakes inspired by Elana's Pantry almond flour cookbook.  Here is my recipe.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

4 cups almond flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup honey
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Then, take out an 8-inch square pan and an 8-inch round pie pan and coat them with Crisco, so the cakes will not stick to the pan.  

Add the almond flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda into are large bowl.  Combine until it is mixed well.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, mix together the honey, eggs, and vanilla extract.  I used a stand mixer for this part, so I am sure that all of the ingredients are mixed together well.  Pour the wet ingredients into the larger bowl with the dry ingredients.  Mix it all together until it is well blended.  Then divide the batter between a 8-inch square pan and an 8-inch round pie pan.  (I scoop the batter into the pans using a measuring cup, so that I could split the batter more evenly.  It does not matter the size, it is helpful for me to see that my scoops are even between pans.)  


Bake in the oven for ~25 minutes.  Take out and let cool.  I put the cakes in the freezer overnight to harden them a little to help with the frosting process the next day. 


When you are ready to start decorating the cake, these are the ingredients you will need.

1 sugar cone
1 pink jelly bean
1 green round candy (I used an M&M, and I made the unicorn have the same eye color as my daughter.)
Vanilla frosting*
Red licorice*
Course purple decorating sugar
Course silver decorating sugar
Course red decorating sugar

You will also need a large platter, and I did not have one that was large enough.  So, I cut out a large flat piece of cardboard from a box in our garage.  Then I covered it in aluminum foil, and I used duct tape to secure the foil on the back of the cardboard.  It worked perfectly, and it was less expensive than buying a new large platter.

Once you have all of your ingredients, it is time to trim the cake.  There is a great template on how to cut the unicorn shape, and I highly recommend that you go to the website to see this.  When you are done trimming,    arrange the unicorn on the platter as shown on the template.


Next, you will need to cover the cone in vanilla frosting.  Then cut open the sugar cone on the backside, so that the open end fits well against the side of the cake by the ears.  When it is placed correctly, it will look like a horn coming directly out of the cake.  Then sprinkle silver sprinkles on the cone to make it look like it is sparkly.


Spread most of the frosting on the cake and make it smooth.  Press the pink jelly bean for the unicorn's nostril.  Press a green M&M for the unicorn's eye.  Cut the licorice into 3-inch strips and arrange then on the back of the unicorn's head and in-between the unicorn's ears to represent it's mane.  Pipe on a little smile for the unicorn and sprinkle some red sugar for the lips.  Sprinkle purple sprinkles over the whole unicorn to make it seem more magical.


Then serve to a wide-eyed birthday girl who thinks that you are the most amazing mother in the world to create such a special and perfect cake.  And make sure to take pictures, because the moment will be all too brief. 


* Cook's notes:  I doubled the frosting recipe, so there would be plenty of frosting to cover the cake.  I did not use gluten free licorice, because the rest of my family is not gluten free.  However, there are a few brands who make a licorice that is gluten free.  

Enjoy!

<3 Cassidy