Kate's Magical Unicorn Sprinkle Cake

I'm not sure how it happened, but our little Princess Kate turned TWO a few weeks ago! Wasn't she just born!? She is just the best little girl in the world and we love her more everyday. I'm in denial that she's less and less baby and more of a toddler. She is sassy, sweet and hilarious. The princess of the family, for sure! We celebrated with family and it was such a special day! Little miss was eating up all of the birthday attention.

Any birthday in this house isn't quite complete without our favorite sprinkle cake. Will has now asked for a sprinkle cake two years in a row and it's looking like this is a Moore family birthday tradition. I took it to the next level and created this unicorn edition for Kate's birthday and I AM IN LOVE. 

A little back story on the unicorn obsession...as trendy as they may be, it was a little bit of an accident how they became Kate's "animal". Before she was born, my dear friend went to England and brought our baby girl back a souvenir. It was a piece of the official china comemorating the birth of Princess Charlotte. The design is a gorgeous gold lion and unicorn- and so the unicorn love started and here we are. 

This cake was not only magical, but delicious, too! I think I've finally found the very best birthday cake recipe. I added sprinkles to the batter making it funfetti, but I used this same cake recipe for my sister's birthday in September and everyone LOVED it. The consistency is perfect- it really is a classic white birthday cake. I'm convinced that Greek yogurt in the batter, plus folding the whipped egg whites in separately at the end makes ALLLLL of the difference here. 

To make the unicorn cake topper, I went back to the clay animal making days of my craft loving childhood. I found a tutorial online and spent a naptime one afternoon molding away. I purchased pre-made white fondant (found HERE) as well as gel food coloring (found HERE). For the sparkly horn and hooves, I used Wilton Gold Lustre Dust (found HERE) and simply painted it onto the fondant. This was my first time ever using fondant and I had so much fun! Any excuse to get crafty is always good for my soul.                                                            

             

  

Kate asked for "puhhhhple " frosting and how could I say no!? I mixed a tiny bit of pink and a tiny bit of purple to get this gorgeous light lavender and I think the color came out perfect. 

The BEST Funfetti Birthday Cake Recipe
recipe adapted from Craftsy

FOR THE CAKE-
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
4 large eggs, separated
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract 
1 cup full fat Greek yogurt 
1/2 cup sprinkles (jimmies are the best!)

FOR THE BUTTERCREAM-
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Food coloring

Adjust oven rack to the middle position in the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease, flour and line the bottom of two 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment, whisk egg whites until soft peaks start to form. This will take several minutes. Transfer them to another bowl. 

Switch out the whisk attachment for the paddle attachment on your mixer and in a large bowl (just use the same one that you whisked the egg whites in), cream the butter until fluffy and light, about 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed. Scrape down the bowl as necessary. Add the granulated and brown sugars and mix on medium high speed until combined and smooth, another 2-3 minutes. Add the egg yolks one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each one. Add the vanilla and mix until just combined.

While on medium speed, add the yogurt and flour mixture alternately, in 2-3 additions each. Mix the batter until it is smooth and free of any lumps. The batter will be super thick. By hand, fold in the egg whites gently until no streaks of white remain. 

Lastly, add sprinkles to the batter and mix those in by hand as well.

Divide batter into the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Every oven is SO different, but I found that 33 minutes was the perfect amount of time for this cake! 

Once cakes are done, remove from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes before flipping the pans over and removing the cakes. Wait until the cakes have cooled completely before frosting. 

To make the buttercream, in the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat butter for 2-3 minutes until very smooth. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and the salt and beat until smooth. Keep adding powdered sugar in 1 cup increments, until it has reached your desired frosting consistency. If you find that the sugar is too thick, add milk or cream, 1 tsp. at a time, to thin it out. Add desired color and mix until done.