Easy Unicorn Cupcakes with Candy Melt Unicorn Toppers!

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These Easy Unicorn Cupcakes are just perfect for parties, bake sales, or just a special treat! Using store-bought cupcakes, frosting, and candy melt unicorns, these cupcakes are so simple, that even the kids will be able to make them!

Easy Unicorn Cupcakes

The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions, to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required and understand the steps and timings involved.

If you don’t have a cake decorating bone in your body, these easy unicorn cupcakes are for you!

The most difficult part (and even then it’s a cinch!) is to melt the candy wafers in the microwave to pour them into a mold to make the candy unicorn toppers!

Other than that you just need a batch of cupcakes (buy them ready-made from the store, but if you want to bake them, please feel free!) and a tub of vanilla frosting (and once again, you can make that from scratch if you like!).

Then it’s a simple assembly job – pipe the frosting (which you can color with food coloring gel) onto the cupcakes, add some sprinkles, and finish with a candy unicorn!

These quick and easy cupcakes are perfect if you’re hosting a Unicorn Birthday Party or Sleepover, and I bet the birthday girl or boy would love to help out too!

Ingredients & Equipment Used In This Recipe

For your convenience, any specialized or notable ingredients and equipment needed to make these cupcakes have been listed below and linked to Amazon or other stores if available online. Standard ingredients such as flour or sugar are not listed, as you are likely to have those in your kitchen. The full list with measurements is found on the recipe card.

• Pink Candy Melts – we made our candy unicorns pink, but you could use any color you like
• Cupcakes – store-bought, made from a box of cake mix, or your favorite recipe (like our vanilla cupcakes!)
• Vanilla Frosting – store-bought or use your favorite recipe
• Food Coloring Gel – Purple, Green, Blue, and Yellow
• Sprinkles – you can use any kind of sprinkles you like
• Silicone Unicorn Candy Mold
• Large Piping Bag – you can use disposable or reuseable, your choice
• Large Star Tip – for example, Wilton 1M

Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog use both cup measurements and/or weighted measurements. American cups and kitchen food scales are handy pieces of equipment to have in your kitchen as it means you’ll be able to make all of the different recipes on my blog! I try to give American, imperial, and metric measurements in my recipes. You can mix cup measurements with weighted measurements, but never imperial (pounds, ounces, pints, etc.,) with metric (kilograms, grams, litres, etc.,).

Easy Unicorn Cupcakes Recipe Tips

Cupcake Frosting Tips

• The canned frosting is then divided and colored using food coloring. Remember that you can always add more color, but not take it away. Add a little to start with and add more to get the shade required.
• FOOD COLORING! Food coloring is available in various forms. You’re most likely to find liquid coloring in your grocery store, and other types of coloring like gels, pastes, and powders in more specialised cake decorating shops. The cheapest option is liquids, but they can alter the consistency of your frosting and cake batter, so I prefer to use pastes or gels which don’t. A little goes a long way with food coloring gels and you can usually get a much deeper shade than you would with liquids.
• SPRINKLES! Following the color theme provided in the recipe, you can use any type you like such as nonpareils, jimmies, stars, confetti, pearls, or shapes.
• Use a piping bag fitted with a large star tip to pipe the swirl on top of the cupcakes.
• If you feel like you are going to be making a lot of cakes and cupcakes in your future, I think it is worth investing in a set of piping tips so that you know you always have the right ones on hand for a recipe.
• Do not overfill the piping bag with frosting, and make sure you squeeze the frosting down the bag to expel any air bubbles.
• If you are not confident with your piping skills you can practice on some parchment paper first and scoop the frosting back into the bag to use on the cupcakes. Just make sure you practice with ONE color and not a mixture of colors!

Melting Tips for Candy Melts

You can melt candy melts/candy wafers in the microwave or a double boiler, or if you plan on making lots of candy-covered treats in the future, I recommend investing in a Wilton candy melting pot as treat-making life is then so much easier!

Try this PME one if you’re in the UK, as the Wilton one is not available on Amazon.co.uk.

If you use the Wilton Candy Melting Pot, you can check out Wilton’s demo video on YouTube which is really helpful. They also give tips on how to melt candy melts in the microwave, as well as using the double boiler method.

The two most important things are

1. Do not overheat – use an even melting temperature
2. Do not add water – it makes the candy seize up and become unusable. Make sure the equipment used is completely dry, and avoid using utensils that retain moisture like a wooden spoon.

If you find that the candy is too thick, add vegetable shortening or (solid) coconut oil in 1 teaspoon increments, up to 1 tablespoon, and stir well.

Another reminder – do not add water. The very first time I used candy melts I managed to get water in the bowl and it was ruined. Learn from my mistakes! Additionally, do not use vegetable oil, butter, milk, or any other liquids as this will also make the candy seize up.

If you are using your microwave, test melt a small amount of candy melts first, to see how it works. You may need to adjust the temperature and time to suit your machine. Heat in 15-30 second increments, stirring the candy melts each time. They may not look melted, but they might have started melting from the inside. Stirring helps to distribute the heat.

More Unicorn Cupcake Recipes

Looking for more unicorn cupcakes to make? Check these recipes out next:

• Rainbow Unicorn Cupcakes for Unicorn-Themed Parties!
• Adorable Lime Buttermilk Unicorn Cupcakes with Lemon-Lime Frosting
• Patriotic Unicorn Cupcakes for the Fourth of July!
• Green Halloween Unicorn Cupcakes
• Sweet & Sassy Candy Corn Unicorn Cupcakes for Halloween
• Lucky Unicorn Cupcakes
• Unicorn Reindeer Cupcakes

How Do I Make Easy Unicorn Cupcakes?

Check out the printable recipe card below with full ingredients and instructions. Any demonstration photos do not print out to save your ink.

Continue to Content

Easy Unicorn Cupcakes

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

These Easy Unicorn Cupcakes are just perfect for parties, bake sales, or just a special treat!

Print

Ingredients

For the Candy Unicorn Toppers

• ½ cup pink candy melts
• Silicone unicorn candy mold

For the Cupcakes

• 12 cupcakes
• 16 oz (453g) frosting
• Food coloring gel - purple, green, blue and yellow
• Colorful sprinkles

Instructions

1. Melt the candy melts according to the package instructions and pour into the unicorn candy mold.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Leave to set for about an hour and gently remove the candy unicorns from the mold.
3. Divide the frosting into 4 bowls.
4. Use food coloring gel to color the frosting to desired shade. Adding a tiny amount, as you can always add more, but can't take it away!
   
   
   
5. Place a star piping tip into a large piping bag.
6. Add each colored frosting down one-quarter of the piping bag, and gently squeeze to blend the colors to come out of the tip.
7. Starting at the edge of the cupcake, pipe frosting. You will start at the edge, work your way around the cupcake and move towards the middle on your next turn around.
   
   
   
8. Add sprinkles to the frosting, and place a candy unicorn on top. Enjoy!
   
   
   
   

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 331Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 265mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 2gSugar: 36gProtein: 3g

This site uses Nutritionix to provide estimated nutrition. Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.

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Make It A Meal!

You’ve made the dessert, but what about the rest of the courses?

Here are additional recipes to make a full meal for a dinner party or special occasion:

• Appetizer: 7 Layer Dip Cups – An Easy Tex-Mex Appetizer for Parties!
• Soup: 30-Minute Instant Pot Tomato Soup Recipe
• Salad: Mexican Chopped Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
• Main Dish: Instant Pot Pork Carnitas Bowls
• Side Dish: Easy Refried Beans Recipe
• Beverage: Frozen Mango Margaritas (Cocktail & Mocktail Versions!)

There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy – please feel free to check them out too!

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