Adorable Lime Buttermilk Unicorn Cupcakes with Lemon-Lime Frosting
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Are these not the cutest cupcakes ever! If you are hosting a unicorn-themed party, these Unicorn Cupcakes are a must! The homemade lime-buttermilk cupcakes complete with a lemon-lime buttercream frosting and topped with unicorn decorations will definitely be a hit on the dessert table!
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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.
These adorable cupcakes are perfect for unicorn fans of all ages! Not only do they look pretty, they taste yummy too!
The cupcakes themselves are made from scratch using buttermilk which yields a super light and fluffy cake that is hard to resist.
The frosting is lemon-lime flavored (or you could do just lime or just lemon if you prefer) and when piped on top of the cupcakes is decorated with a variety of different sprinkles and decorations.
It will all depend on what type of unicorn decorations you can buy in your area, but using a mix of rainbow sprinkles, stars, rice paper flowers, and unicorn-shaped decorations will create such magical cupcakes it won’t matter if they don’t look exactly the same!
If you’re an experienced cake maker you can probably jump straight to the recipe at the end of this post and get baking! But if not, please read through the steps as I’ve got lots of tips and suggestions along the way!
Ingredients & Equipment Used In This Recipe
You may have some baking ingredients in your kitchen already – the full list with measurements is found in the recipe card.
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.
Cupcakes & Frosting Ingredients
- Dairy – Unsalted Butter, Milk, Heavy Cream (Double Cream), Egg Whites.
- Fresh Produce – Lemons and Limes.
- All-Purpose Flour – also known as Plain Flour.
- Baking Powder
- Pure Vanilla Extract – always buy good vanilla as it really does make a flavor difference.
- Powdered Sugar – also known as Icing Sugar or Confectioners Sugar.
- Unicorn Candy Decorations or
- Unicorn Sprinkles or
- Wilton Unicorn Icing Decorations
- Green Gel Food Coloring
Cupcake Decorating Equipment
- 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.,).
Unicorn Cupcakes Recipe Tips
Cupcake Making Tips
- You can use unicorn-themed cupcake liners to bake your cupcakes in if you like or stick to a complementary color; the choice is yours!
- Use an ice cream scoop to equally divide the cupcake mixture between the cupcake liners. Fill them about three-quarters full.
- The cupcakes should be ready in about 20 minutes – test their doneness by inserting a toothpick into the cakes. It should come out clean when the cupcakes are cooked through. Bake for an extra 2 minutes and check again.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Cupcake Frosting Tips
- When making the frosting you want the end result to be creamy, smooth, and for it to hold a stiff peak. You may have to adjust the amount of powdered sugar and cream slightly to achieve the consistency you need.
- The frosting is 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 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.
- You will need a piping bag fitted with a star tip, or your preferred icing tip.
- 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.
More Unicorn Cupcake Recipes
Looking for more unicorn cupcakes to make? Check these recipes out next:
- Lucky Unicorn Cupcakes
- Patriotic Unicorn Cupcakes for the Fourth of July!
- Sweet & Sassy Candy Corn Unicorn Cupcakes for Halloween
How Do I Make Unicorn Cupcakes?
Just check out the recipe card below with full ingredients, and instructions. You can print the card out too (don’t worry, the pics don’t print to save your ink!).
Lime Buttermilk Unicorn Cupcakes
Are these not the cutest cupcakes ever! If you are hosting a unicorn-themed party this year, these Unicorn Cupcakes are a must!
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1½ cup fresh lemon juice
- 2¼ cups sifted all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- 1½ cups sugar
- 3½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup butter, room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 4 egg whites
- Unicorn icing/candy decorations
- Sprinkles
For the Lime Buttercream
- 3¾ cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)
- ⅓ cup butter, room temperature
- ½ Tbsp lime juice
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 3-4 Tbsp heavy cream (double cream)
- Green gel food coloring, few drops
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line cupcake pan with 20-22 cupcake liners. Set aside.
- Combine milk and lemon juice to create buttermilk.
- Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the butter, vanilla extract, and buttermilk to the flour mixture. Beat to combine.
- Add egg whites to the mixture and beat for 2 minutes.
- Scoop into cupcake liners to 3/4 full.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Leave the cupcakes in the pan to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
- To make the buttercream frosting, blend all the ingredients in a bowl using an electric stand or hand-held mixer.
- Fill a piping bag with star tip and pipe on top of cupcakes as desired.
- Add sprinkles and unicorn decorations and enjoy!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 20 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 304Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 283mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 0gSugar: 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.
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!
- Appetizer: Quick & Easy Spicy Salsa Recipe with Tortilla Chips
- Main Dish: Chicken and Black Bean Burrito Skillet – A One-Pan Recipe
- Beverage: Frozen Blueberry Margaritas
There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy – please feel free to check them out too!