Unicorn Wedding Cake

Yes, a unicorn wedding cake:

Let’s go into the making of this cake…

1. Preparation

I like to print out lots and lots of  reference photographs and photos for inspiration. In this case, I looked for horse sculptures – that way I could see how other artists have tackled such a shape in the past.

The first thing I did was worked on any pieces that needed to harden. In this case, the legs:

2. Carving

I’ve learned the hard way that it’s imperative that the proportions are correct in the carving step:

3. Crumb coating / Icing the cake in buttercream

I did a light crumb coat,  to hold the crumbs in, just as the name describes. Then I added a thicker coat of icing/buttercream. For this step, I like to use Swiss Meringue Buttercream, a silky-smooth buttery icing that tends to hold up well underneath of fondant.

At this point the  muscles and curves were further defined by piping buttercream on strategically, them smoothing it out. In order to have thin fondant, it’s helpful to have a very smooth surface underneath.

4. Covering the cake in fondant

I’ve been trying to roll fondant as thin as possible lately, aiming for somewhere between 3/16ths 1/16th of an inch. This not only helps reduce the cost of fondant(which can be expensive), but more importantly – it reduces the weight of the cake. It’s surprising to me how much the weight of cake, buttercream and fondant can easily add up.

The horse was covered in sections, starting on the head and working downward. The modelling chocolate legs were covered in fondant, attached, then blended in. The fondant tail and horn were added last.

3. Decoration & Painting

Finishing touches included airbrushing and painting the cake. Edible food colouring was used to help bring out the depth and dimension of the cake.

A simple tree & mountain background was added as their wedding was in the mountains.

Among all the cakes out there, this is what I would describe as an “epic” cake.

It was for probably one of the hippest couples out there.

Congratulations on your wedding Ali and Stephen!