This Dark Galaxy Unicorn Cake was the centerpiece for my daughters sweet 16th birthday party. Unicorn cakes are easy to make and always such a fun treat!

hand painted fondant and buttercream unicorn cake

How I designed this galaxy unicorn cake

We’ve all seen the fun unicorn cake all around the internet – so when my daughter wanted a galaxy unicorn birthday party I was so excited to try my hand at one!

I decided to go for a tall cake, so I went with with 8 layers of 7 inch cakes – that way I got the narrow tall cake but it was still sturdy.

We knew we wanted to go with a dark base, even the party decorations used a dark base for everything. Then we chose fuchsia, turquoise, blue and violet as the colors we wanted to bring into the cake, food and backdrops of the party to create the sea of clouds and clusters of star you see in gorgeous galaxy photography.

And of course we accessorized with gold for the horns, ears and eyelashes! But you could easily go with silver if that’s what you prefer.

I decided on a fondant cake so that it would be easier to paint the sides but stuck with a classic buttercream for the colorful rosette mane. I used a 1B tip for all the large rosettes then used smaller star tips (open, closed, french, etc…) to add all the extra pops of color throughout the mane.

And while I TOTALLY forgot to take a picture of the inside of the cake it matched all the colors we used in the mane!

How I created this galaxy unicorn cake

– Start by making the horn and ears so they can dry – I used black modeling chocolate as a base – I like the dark base under the gold for depth.

– I used 2 cone shapes twisted over a skewer to create the horn and 2 sizes of extra large rose petals around skewers to create the ears

– The dark and beautiful colors of the galaxy were the inspiration here, so for the fondant base we mixed black and navy

– To create the colors of the “clouds” and stars of the far away galaxy’s we mixed white food coloring mixed with the bright shades of fuchsia, turquoise, blue and violet we were using in all the party decorations and food

– Using a natural sponge I created the “clouds” and stars by dabbing the colors all around the cake (leaving room for the eyes and cheeks.)

– Then I used the straight gel colors to create a darker layer over the brighter colors to create depth

– Then I colored a large batch of buttercream with the same fuchsia, turquoise, blue and violet colors. I used 1B large closed star tips for the rosette main, then various smaller star tips (open, closed and french) to add all the smaller rosettes and stars along the mane.

– Then add the horn and ears to the cake

– Roll out a fondant snake, tapering both ends, for the eyelashes – then cut 2 small tapered pieces for the extra eyelash – and add them to the fondant and paint them gold

hand painted galaxy unicorn cake with buttercream mane

To make this unicorn cake you’ll need

6 seven inch cake layers
chocolate ganache
navy fondant
Black fondant
fondant smoothers
black modeling chocolate (optional) recipe here
skewers
super gold luster dust
paint brush
white food coloring
fuchsia, turquoise, navy and violet gel food colorings
natural sea Sponge
buttercream recipe
1B tip
various smaller star piping tips
piping bags

Galaxy Unicorn Birthday Cake Decorating Tutorial

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If you love making amazing cakes you’ll love these other cake decorating tutorials!

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