Unicorn Cupcakes

So, this past weekend, we had a little bellydance Christmas party.  I decided to make "sparkly unicorn cupcakes" after I promised them to one of the girls for a favor a few months ago.  It also served as a celebration for finally getting a working oven after baking with only my toaster oven for the last 6 months.  It's doable, but it takes twice the time, if not more, because you have to keep the batches small.

Anyway, there are probably a ton of better ways to do these cupcakes (and I've considered a bunch), but for my time and budget, this is what came of it.



So, to start off, these aren't from scratch.  For the sake of time and ease, I used box Funfetti cake mix and pre-made icing, hot pink with pink sprinkles, for one of best friends.

Once I mixed up the batter, I ladled it into different bowls for dyeing.  If you're OCD, beware.  Not all colors matched the bowls.  I  apologize for the dearth of good pictures--I tend to think of taking them after-the-fact, but I'm working on it!  Anyway, you can see the remnants of the different batters--five colors in all. I did ten drops of basic blue (Wilton gel food coloring, by the way) and about 7 drops for the neon colors, pink, purple, green, and orange.

The only two bowls that matched their batter colors, haha.

With all the colors done, it was time to put them into the pan/cups.  I did one color at a time and just eyeballed the amount.

While they were baking, I got to work on the "unicorn" part.  Ideally, I would have liked a molded chocolate or sculpted marzipan (or fondant, but marzipan is tasty).  Making unicorn-head cookies or something with a unicorn image would have worked too, but I just didn't have the time to find/get my hands on anything suitable.  So, I went with my back-up.

Our local Alberston's had pearlescent candles in lovely pastels, so I bought two packs of those.  While the cupcakes were in the oven, I used a standard butter knife to shave down the tops of the candles into a vaguely conical shape.  It wasn't perfect, but it at least kept that spiral look that I wanted.  I also decided to cut off the wicks; we weren't lighting them, so it didn't matter.  I wish I could have combined these candles with the ones that have a colored flame....that would've been cool.

Shaved on the left, unshaved on the right.

 Once the cupcakes were done and cooled, I frosted them (quickly--I was late for the party!!), added the sprinkles and some edible candy pearls.  Add the candles and voila!  Very subtle "unicorn" cupcakes.

I am terrible at icing cupcakes. XD

No matter how they looked on the outside, they tasted great, and everyone got a big kick out of them, especially biting into them and discovering all the different colors!

Apparently, Americolor will give you even more vivid colors; Wilton sometimes fades in the baking, at least in my limited experience.  But anyway, multi-colored, sparkly unicorn cupcakes!