Make your own unicorn muffins: recipes for the garnish and simple decoration instructions

Unicorns are magical creatures with special powers - the noble animal is a symbol of good. Its golden hooves and shimmering white fur make it a beautiful mythical creature. But it is primarily recognized by its spiral-shaped horn on the middle of the forehead. According to legend, the animals are extremely shy - anyone who meets one is blessed with luck. No wonder that young and old are enchanted by the magical world of the unicorn and that the mythical animal is currently very trendy. Bring a piece of magic into your own four walls - whether you want to surprise the children for their birthday, invite friends for coffee and cupcakes, or simply want to sweeten your life - the unicorn muffins ensure a good mood at the table and taste fabulous. We present you various recipes and simple decoration instructions with buttercream or fondant that you can make yourself.

Paint the muffins and decorate them with unicorn motifs

The correct order of preparation plays a crucial role in success. We therefore recommend purchasing all the necessary ingredients at least two days before the event and planning one day exclusively for fondant decorations. Firstly because the details need a day to harden and dry, and secondly because you need a little time to practice. Choose oneMuffin recipethat you like and that you have already tried. If you can't think of one, you might want to try one of our delicious muffin recipes. Optionally, you can buy the muffins and then simply decorate them on the day.

Decoration made from fondant and sugar sprinkles

We start with super simple instructions for unicorn muffins with a garnish of buttercream and decorations with ears and horn made from fondant, sugar pearls and sugar sprinkles. Please be careful that the garnish must be made from cream/fruit puree and that the cupcakes are not completely covered with fondants. You can find a recipe for the garnish below in the instructions.

You will need the following ingredients for decoration: fondant (buy ready-made sugar paste in white), wheat starch, sugar pearls, food coloring in powder form - pink, edible glitter in gold, colorful sugar confetti and/or other sprinkle decorations depending on your preferences, vodka (it comes with the Stir in food coloring so that the powder then sticks to the fondant details).

Necessary modeling tools for fondant/marzipan: knife with a slanted tip, silicone modeling brush, modeling tool with a spherical end (for thinning the ears).

Preparation step 1: make the horn yourself from fondant

One day before the event, mix the decorative fondant with the wheat starch and knead into soft balls. Then roll out the balls into long strands that are thinner at one end. As shown in the photo instructions above, twist the two ends together to form a horn, skewer on sticks and leave to dry for 3-4 hours. You will need a horn for each muffin.

When they are completely dry, stir the golden food coloring with 2-3 drops of vodka and brush the horns with it. Then let the fondant details dry again.

For the ears, cut teardrop-shaped details out of the fondant using the sharp knife with a slanted tip, then curve them slightly with the modeling tool (see photo above) and leave to dry standing up. When they have hardened, you can apply the pink color (also mixed with a little vodka) in the middle.

The next day, bake the muffins and leave them aside to cool. Meanwhile prepare the garnish. To do this, you can puree seasonal fruits and simmer with lemon juice over medium heat for a few minutes until the mixture is reduced. Then leave them aside to cool and beat the butter in a bowl, gradually add the icing sugar and beat until the mixture becomes smooth and shiny. At the end, add the fruit puree and stir everything thoroughly again. Allow the finished buttercream to cool, then use a piping bag with a large star-shaped piping tip to conjure up icings. Let the cupcakes and garnish set in the fridge, then stick the ears and horn in the middle. Decorate with the sugar confetti, sugar pearls etc.

Decoration for muffins with fondant icing

The next project requires patience above all - give yourself enough time to make the various fondant details yourself without being disturbed. In this case, the unicorn muffins will be similar to oneCake with fondant firstcovered, and then decorated with details cut out of fondant. Even if you have experience with fondant cakes, this time you will have to master the task in small format, several times. So just make the details in peace and quiet - you can store them in airtight containers in the refrigerator for 1-2 days, depending on the manufacturer's instructions.

The necessary ingredients: white and pink fondant, purple and pink food paste, gold edible glitter, white sugar stars, food glue for fondant, several drops of vodka.

Step 1: Cover with fondant

Necessary modeling tools for fondant: knife with slanted tip, silicone modeling brush, modeling tool with spherical end, modeling tool with thicker needle tip (for placing the eyes and for the fine details of the figures), fondant smoother, Dresden modeling tool, rolling rod for fondant, round cookie cutter, approx . as big as the muffins, smooth non-stick surface, plastic gloves, toothpicks.

First, roll out the white fondant evenly using the rolling pin - a thickness of 3-5 mm guarantees a light coating. Then cut out a circle with the round cookie cutter.

Brush the muffin with special edible glue and carefully place the fondant on top. Carefully press the fondant around the muffin with the edge of your hand, then use the fondant smoother to smooth the fondant surface in circular movements.

Step 2: attach the other fondant details

Cut a circle out of the pink fondant using the round cookie cutter, then cut out a tree leaf shape again (see photo above). Brush 1/3 of the white fondant with the food glue and stick the pink detail on top (see below for the final result).

If you have worked correctly, the muffin should look like the photo above on the right. Now cut out the individual details (see photo on the left). If you don't have a star cookie cutter, you can simply purchase candy stars. Using the needle tip modeling tool, make the unicorn's nostrils. Then use the edible glue to glue the two ear details together and let them dry. Optionally, you can color the ears with pink food coloring as in the previous instructions.

Use the knife to make two cuts in the top side of the muffin for the ears and insert the ears. Then make the horn yourself - simply roll out long strands, then twist the two ends of the strands into a horn. Skewer the horns onto sticks and let them dry for several hours. Mix the gold powder with 3-4 drops of vodka and brush the horns with it. Let dry again.

Step 3: Color the fondant and make the mane yourself

Coloring fondant is not a difficult task - you will need to wear plastic gloves so that you can knead the fondant properly. Simply knead the fondant first, then press it flat, leaving a well in the middle. Use the toothpick to add color to the well, then slowly knead the fondant until the color is evenly distributed. Form several small balls out of the fondant, then roll the balls into teardrop-shaped strands, bend the tip (see photo above) and structure the hair with the knife. In the photo above left you can see the three steps from a ball to a strand of hair. Then flatten the strand of hair with the roller (and not your fingers) and let it dry. At the end, simply glue four strands of hair around the horn.

Tip: You can cut out the horn, strands, ears and stars the day before and then simply mount them on the cupcakes. Don't be put off by the many elements - the production itself is very simple, although time-consuming.

Rainbow icing

Unicorns and rainbows go hand in hand in the next baking project. Here are the firstBaked muffinsand put it in the fridge, then made a frosting with buttercream. For the icing you need 3 cups of powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence, 1 cup of butter, unsalted, 2 teaspoons of whipping cream. Preparation: Simply beat the butter first until fluffy, then gradually add the powdered sugar while constantly stirring at high speed. Mix the pinch of salt and the vanilla essence, add to the smooth mixture and stir. At the end add the whipped cream.

Ingredients for decoration: food coloring (in this case pink, lavender, peach and yellow), fondant, toothpicks or wooden sticks, silicone food brush, fondant knife, modeling tool with spherical ends, 4 piping bags and a large 2cm diameter star nozzle.

Step 1: color the buttercream

First, divide the buttercream evenly into several bowls - add food coloring to each bowl and stir the cream with a spoon until the color dissolves. Then pour each color into a piping bag.

This is what the four filled piping bags look like - then place them on top of each other and insert the ends into the large 2 cm diameter star nozzle.

This is what the four piping bags look like in the star nozzle - now press all the bags evenly until all the colors come out. Then pipe the buttercream.

At the end, decorate the muffins with the pre-made ears and horns. You can make these the day before and store them in the fridge - instructions can be found at the beginning of the article.

This is what the finished muffins look like - perfect as a party favor for a child's birthday party or as a bedside table for a family celebration.

Paint with food coloring

In contrast to the other decoration projects, this one is less about cutting and more about painting. In this case, the muffins are baked according to any recipe and then covered with white fondant (see instructions #2 above).

Only then comes the decoration. For them you need the following ingredients and accessories: butter cream (beat the butter until stiff, slowly add the powdered sugar while constantly beating at high speed, mix a pinch of salt and 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence), food colors in red, blue, green, orange, black, icing chocolate (powdered sugar and stir two drops of water until smooth), round cookie cutter with a diameter of 7 cm, edible glitter in gold, pink edible glitter, piping bag with writing nozzle, Rolling rod, gingerbread without frosting, sharp knife for fondant, toothpick.

Step 1 – cover the muffins with fondant

And this is how it works: first spread the muffins with buttercream, then cover them with fondant and leave them aside to dry. Meanwhile, cut out three triangle shapes from the gingerbread (the first serves as a horn, the other two as ears). Stick the gingerbread details into the muffins with toothpicks (see photo above).

Then divide the icing chocolate into several bowls, add food coloring to each bowl and mix well until it is evenly distributed. Then fill each icing coating into a piping bag and use it to paint the individual strands/eyes/eyelashes.

Then decorate the “cheeks” with pink glitter. Let the muffins dry for an hour.

This is what the end result looks like - the unicorn muffins can be arranged on a cake stand with candy stars, gingerbread and other sweets. The children will especially look forward to it.

Whether as a sweet surprise for the children or simply as a souvenir for the dessert table: the unicorn muffins put you in a good mood. What at first glance seems like a difficult task can be easily mastered by even inexperienced bakers. The most important thing is that practice makes perfect - so if you want to prepare a quick dessert at the last minute, you're wrong here. Depending on the selected variant for the garnish, a certain order should be kept here. While the fondant decoration has to be made a day in advance, a buttercream icing is applied to the muffins that have already been baked and cooled. The last option is painting - it saves time and can be done without much effort. No matter which variant you choose – we hope you have fun preparing it!