Unicorn Milkshake Cake

I was really excited to make a milkshake flavored unicorn cake with a rainbow mane as a housewarming present for a friend. The unicorn topper I used (comprised of the horn, ears, and closed eyes) was not edible, but all other parts of the cake were edible. I started out with a basic hot milk cake recipe which I followed more or less precisely for the bottom layer and for the top layer I added malted milk powder, which I really love the flavor of (like a malted milkshake vs a regular milkshake). I then made a classic buttercream using my mom’s recipe with the addition of cream cheese and malted milk (random amounts of both that led to the flavor of a malted milkshake–yum!). I did not let the butter come to room temperature and because it was still a little cold, there were some minor lumps. To avoid this imperfection, be patient, let your butter come to room temperature before starting on your buttercream, and whisk thoroughly.

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For decoration, I used the unicorn topper, various sprinkles, and did piping work with a chocolate swiss meringue buttercream I whipped up and dyed pink, purple, and blue with food coloring. I cut a few slices of cake to make space for the back of the cake to be a rainbow mane made of my mom’s vanilla buttercream dyed pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple for a pastel rainbow effect.

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The cake was transported using a cake stand from Amazon and by squishing the horn down and taping the cake stand shut. Amazingly, it traveled great and looked just as beautiful at my friend’s place as it did in my kitchen. The flavor was delicious, like eating a malted milkshake. If I were to redo this cake, I would make the following upgrades: make the top layer chocolate malted and the bottom regular hot milk, avoid lumps in the buttercream by letting the butter come to room temperature, add color to the frosting in between the layers to add an extra pop of color in the cut-through cake slice, add strawberry jam/preserves in between the layers of cake for color and to make a Neapolitan milkshake of vanilla on the bottom, strawberry in the middle and chocolate malt on top (perhaps just make a fresh strawberry buttercream for the center). Although I have a lot of notes to self for potential version 2.0 of this unicorn milkshake cake, I actually loved the original (both in terms of its aesthetic and its flavor) and was very happy to give this cake as a fun housewarming gift.