Somewhere Over The Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 70 minutes plus drying time for horns and ears
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Makes 12 cupcakes
- 160g/5.7ozs. butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups caster or superfine sugar
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups self raising cake flour
- 2/3 cup sour cream or yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Yellow, orange, red, blue, green and purple food colouring
For buttercream
- 250g/8.8ozs. butter, softened, at room temperature
- 125g/4ozs. caster or superfine sugar
- 75ml/2.7ozs. water, room temperature
- Vanilla extract
- 100g/3.5ozs. white gum paste
- Gold lustre dust mixed with vodka
- Blush pink edible powder
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 170C/340F and line a muffin tray with white liners. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale. Add eggs one at a time combining well between additions. Fold in flour and sour cream or yogurt in two lots. Do not overmix.
Step 2 - Separate into six bowls and tint with colours being careful not to overmix. Place into separate piping bags or zip lock bags and pipe the batter into cavities with purple, then green, blue, red, orange and yellow. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Step 3 - Make the gum paste horn and ears. Grab a small ball of white gum paste and then shape into a horn using the palms of your hand. Take a paring knife and draw the indents into the horn gently. Allow to set completely. Then roll out the remaining gum paste and cut out triangles folding them over at the base of the triangle to create ears.
Step 4 - Paint the horns in the gold and allow to dry. Then brush a little pink powder in the centre of the ears.
Step 5 - Make buttercream. Beat the butter on low speed (3 out of 10) for 5 minutes until white. Add the sugar and water in two lots beating at first on low to incorporate and then on the 3 out of 10 speed for 10 minutes or until you no longer feel the grains of sugar between your fingers when testing. Add vanilla and divide into three bowls. Tint one bowl pink, one purple nad one blue.
Step 6 - Fit a piping bag with a large star nozzle #13 and fill the bag with the three colours. Pipe swirls on top of the cupcakes.