Oh daymn! These scary unicorn cakesicles are not to be messed with! A smidge spooky and totally badass, these unicorns are perfect for Halloween or just to enjoy at any fun unicorn party.
One of my favourite things about cakesicles (cake popsicle / cake lollies) is that you can make them in so many different flavour combinations and decorate them however you fancy!
Jump to:
🍭 What is a cakesicle?
Cakesicles are also called cake pop popsicles or cake lolly popsicles. They’re a gorgeous upgrade on your standard cake pop, but instead of a small round ball of cake, you get a bigger dose in the form of a cute popsicle lolly. I always think they look like mini Magnum ice creams.
To make cakesicles, you'll need a silicone ice lolly mould. These can come in a variety of sizes and number of cavities. I have 2 sets of 4-cavity mini cakesicle moulds (popsicle molds) that I like to use. These have a lolly size of roughly 7 x 3.5cm. You can find these on Amazon for pretty cheap (US link and UK link).
Cake popsicles usually have a chocolate or candy melts shell, which holds so much sweet cake-y joy. The filling is usually a mix of crumbled up sponge cake and frosting. However, you can also fill them with cookie dough, brownie, or other great treats and fillings.
I love that you can get so creative with what goes into them and how you decorate them.
✏️ Making a tasty and easy recipe
Let’s be honest, unicorns are amazing. Unicorn-themed sweet treats have been sweeping the baking world by storm for a while. But for some Halloween fun, I wanted to give these unicorns a slightly evil twist.
I’ve given these unicorns a Halloween makeover, with a deep purple shade, black twisted horn and a winter flower crown. They’re a bit dark and creepy and I love them. I would eat them in and out of the Halloween season.
This recipe is for making scary unicorn Halloween cakesicles from scratch. This means it includes a recipe for the sponge cake and buttercream as well as the cakesicle assembly and decoration. However, you can also make these spooky cakesicles using leftover cake and/or frosting. This will speed up the process as it means you can skip straight to the cakesicle assembly stages.
🎂 Using spare cake and frosting
How to use sponge cake leftovers for cakesicles (cake popsicles / cake lollies):
Simply crumble the cake offcuts / leftover sponge cake, weigh the amount that you have and then add roughly ⅓ of this weight in frosting in mix together until smooth and the mix sticks together.
The amount of frosting to sponge you need can vary quite a lot though, depending on how moist your sponge is and the consistency of your frosting. As a general rule, you want to add enough frosting that your crumbled sponge comes together and holds its shape.
I find I need roughly 25 g (1½ tbsp) of cakesicle filling for each cakesicle that I make. This will be less if you are putting other fillings inside your cakesicle such as lemon curd, jam, peanut butter or ganache.
One thing I always do when I make a big layer cake is slice off the tops of the cakes. This gives them a nice level top and removes any peaks that may have formed. Don’t throw these away! These offcuts of cake are perfect to use in this cakesicle recipe.
You can store your cake offcuts or other cake leftovers for up to a week in the fridge or a couple of months in the freezer before using.
How to use icing leftovers for cakesicles (cake popsicles / cake lollies):
When I make buttercream, I’ll usually scale up my ingredients slightly to use the extra for cakesicles. You can store your buttercream in a sealed container in the fridge for roughly a week and in the freezer for a couple of months before using.
🥘 Ingredients notes
- As with many of my baking recipes, I recommend starting with room temperature ingredients for these cakesicles. This will improve the consistency and ease at which your ingredients will mix together.
- Always sieve your flour, confectioners sugar and baking powder. I used to be a bit lazy and skip this part, but it really makes such a difference to get you smooth, lump-free mixtures.
- When measuring your ingredients, I always recommend using weights rather than cups where possible for greater accuracy. Accuracy is especially important for the amount of flour used in your cake.
🔪 Equipment notes
- I like to use digital scales for weighing my ingredients as it's easier and more accurate than other scales. I'm a fan of these KitchenAid or Salter ones!
- Use measuring spoons for your teaspoon and tablespoon amounts where possible. Be sure to level off the heaped ingredients in your scoops before adding them to your mix.
- Having several cakesicle moulds is much easier than having just the one. I started with just one mould to see if I liked these and I really do! But it took forever to make a decent-sized batch of cakesicles. Splash out and treat yourself at least 2-3 moulds if they’re just the 4 cavities.
- Make sure your cakesicle moulds are clean and dry. I have this tea towel I use to dry my washing up (I know, so old school), but it can sometimes get fluff on my silicone moulds so I use kitchen roll instead. The fluff would get set into my cakesicle chocolate or candy melt shells otherwise!
- If you like cake popsicles (or even regular popsicles), I recommend investing in some reusable acrylic popsicle sticks like these popsicle sticks from Amazon. This saves on using disposable wood popsicle sticks and you can get them in a range of cute colours and sparkles.
🍱 Storage
You can store your cakesicles at room temperature in an airtight container (such as a tupperware box). They should keep fresh for up to 4 days.
If it's hot where you live, it might be better to keep your cakesicles in the fridge, as otherwise the candy coating might melt.
💭 Top tips for success
- Be quite generous with your chocolate or candy melt coating in the cakesicle moulds. If it’s too thin, then it could break easily or come out with some see-through patches.
- You’re cakesicles can be quite delicate, so be careful when removing them from the cakesicle mould. Pop them out one at a time and slowly.
- Once you’ve removed your cakesicle from the mould, you can run a sharp knife around the edge. This will cut off any excess bits of chocolate / candy melts and neaten up your cakesicle.
- When making your fondant icing unicorn decorations, the temperature can play a big factor. If it’s too warm or you’ve worked your icing quite a bit, it will be hard for your horn to stay straight and instead they may wilt a little. If this is happening for you, then pop your made decorations into the fridge for 5-10mins to firm them up a little before you attach them to your cakesicle.
Troubleshooting help:
If you’ve got any specific questions on making spooky unicorn cakesicles, please feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll try my best to help out!
Alternatively, you can get in touch via my Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest – I’d love to hear from you!
🦄 Unicorn cakesicle decorating
One of my favourite things about cakesicles is that you can go nuts with decorating them. There are so many topping ideas and different designs for your cakesicles! For a gorgeously spooky Halloween unicorn cakesicle, you’ll need a few things. I like to use candy melts for the shell and then fondant icing for the unicorn horn, eyes and flower crown.
Cakesicle shell / coating colours:
You can use either candy melts or real chocolate for your cakesicle shells / coatings. I find it easier to work with candy melts, such as PME's candy buttons, as sometimes chocolate can be tricky and leave white streaks if it’s not melted slow enough.
However, I think real chocolate tastes better than candy melts. If you use a fancy couveture chocolate, such as these Callebaut white chocolate or milk chocolate callets, then you don't need to temper your chocolate. It's much easier to use these for cakesicle coatings than other types of chocolate.
Chocolate also requires a powder or oil-based food colouring to change the colours, as regular water-based colourings will cause it to seize up.
In the unicorns featured here, I used a candy melts which came in a beautiful purple hue. You can either buy the candy melts in purple, or I’ve found that mixing white and black candy melts together gives a similar colour. When using candy melts, I always add a neutral-flavoured oil as otherwise, they're quite thick and gloopy.
Unicorn horn decorations:
I use black fondant icing for the unicorn horn. You simply pinch off a small piece of the fondant and roll it into a small log, roughly 2inches (5cm) long, thinner at the end and thicker in the middle. Pick up the log in the middle and fold in half, gently twisting the two sides together in a spiral until you can pinch the tip sealing the horn together.
Attach the horn to your cakesicle by brushing the back of the base of the horn with water and then pressing this into the top centre of your cakesicle. The water will create a sticky surface to your fondant that will help it attach to your cakesicle, but note that these will still be a bit fragile!
Attach the horn to your cakesicle by brushing the back of the base of the horn with water and then pressing this into the top centre of your cakesicle. The water will create a sticky surface to your fondant that will help it attach to your cakesicle, but note that these will still be a bit fragile!
Unicorn eyes decorations:
For the eyes, I wanted my Halloween unicorns to look cute, creepy and a bit mean. I simply pinched off a very tiny amount of black fondant icing and rolled it into a small log before cutting this in half to create to small cylinders. Brush the back of the fondant eyes with water and then press these onto the face of your cakesicle roughly ⅔rd of the way up at an angle to give angry eyes as shown in the pictures here.
Unicorn ears decorations:
For the ears, I once again used a small piece of fondant, rolling it into a small ball, slightly flattening it and pinching one side into a triangular tip. I found using the tip of a teaspoon handle was perfect to then indent into the round bottom part of the ear, leaving a small border. I then repeated this until I had enough ears for each unicorn cakesicle.
Unicorn flower crown decorations:
To create a pretty winter flower crown for your unicorn, you’ll need a silicone flower mould. You can then use your black fondant icing to press into the mould to give you small flowers to add to your cakesicle. I used the smallest flower and leaf cavities in a pack of silicone fondant molds (such as this one in the US or this one in the UK).
A top tip is to brush your silicone mould with icing sugar before pressing the fondant in, this will help you to get the fondant out easier afterwards. Another tip is not to overfill the mould with fondant, or you’ll end up needing to cut bits off once you remove it from the mould. You want the fondant to come to just below the sides of the mould.
For an extra touch, you can brush pearlescent edible lustre dust across the unicorn’s horn and flower crown to give them a little glittery shine. I like to use the Wilton edible lustre dust or Sugarflair edible lustre dust for this.
♻️ Alternatives and substitutions
You can customise your unicorn cakesicles to have different flavours. Here I’ve created a vanilla flavour of cakesicle, but I also find that a lemon version is delicious too. For an easy lemon-flavoured cakesicle, simply add ½ lemon’s zest to your cake mixture before baking and add ½ lemon’s zest and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to your buttercream.
The scary unicorn Halloween cakesicles decorations shown here are completely optional, and you can choose to instead keep your cakesicles simple and elegant or drizzle over some icing and add sprinkles.
You can also choose to make your unicorns happy and go for a classic white candy melt shell and give them sparkly white horns, happy curved eyes and colourful flower crowns instead.
🧁 Other goodies
So, I definitely recommend that you whip up a batch of cute and creepy scary unicorn cakesicles! But as an avid home baker, I’m sure you’re asking yourself “what next?”.
Well if you’re looking for different cake recipes to use for your cakesicle fillings, then definitely take a look at my Lotus Biscoff drip cake or Oreo drip cake. You can scale down the sponge to only 1 egg’s worth and roughly 20g (1 ½ tbsp) butter’s worth of buttercream. Or simply make these big cakes and use any leftover or offcuts for your next batch of cakesicles!
If you love all things creepily delicious, check out my recipe for a gluten-free tequila rose skull cake - no tricks, just Halloween treats.
Looking forward to some new recipes? Check out my Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest pages for a few sneak peeks and some sweet inspiration!
Or if you’d like to hear about our latest recipes, why not subscribe to our newsletter?
📋 Recipe
Scary Unicorn Cakesicles
Rate this recipe here:
Equipment
- Flower / leaf silicone moulds
Ingredients
Cake (for filling):
- 55 g (¼ cups) unsalted butter
- 55 g (⅓ cups) caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 55 g (½ cups) plain / all-purpose flour (or self-raising flour and exclude the baking powder)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
Buttercream (for filling):
- 20 g (1½ tablespoon) unsalted butter
- 40 g (⅓ cups) confectioners sugar (icing sugar)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Cakesicle coating:
- 160 g (¾ cups) candy melts (purple)
- 2-3 tablespoon vegetable oil (or sunflower or canola oil)
Unicorn decorations:
- 10-20 g (1-2 tablespoon) fondant icing (black)
Instructions
Cake:
- Pre-heat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
- Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth, then beat the egg until fluffy and add this into the mix, beating until combined.
- Sieve in the flour and baking powder, folding in gently. Then stir in the vanilla extract and milk.
- Pour the mix into a lined cake tin and bake for 15-20mins until springy to touch and a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool fully on the side while you make the buttercream.
Buttercream:
- Cream the butter in a bowl using a spatula or wooden spoon until smooth.
- Sieve the icing sugar into the butter and beat together until fully combined.
- Add in the vanilla extract and stir together until mixed in evenly.
Cakesicle filling:
- Crumble up your cooled sponge into a large bowl, either using your hands or a fork.
- Mix in the buttercream until spread evenly. Your cakesicle filling should be able to hold together like a soft dough.
Cakesicle assembly:
- Melt ⅔ of the candy melts in the microwave for up to 30secs at a time, stirring between bouts until smooth. Add ⅔ of the oil and stir until you have a smooth melted candy.
- Spoon the melted candy into the moulds, spreading evenly with a spoon or brush, ensuring you cover the sides up to the edges. Tap your mould on the surface a few times to remove any air bubbles.
- Push the popsicle sticks partway into the moulds (about ½ inch / 1-2 cm), then put in the fridge for 5-10mins to set.
- Take the moulds from the fridge and fill them with cakesicle mix to just below the edges, pressing in gently to smooth the top.
- Push the popsicle sticks in until they sit roughly ⅔ of the way into the mould, pressing the cakesicle mix down if needed. Put the moulds back in the fridge.
- Melt the remaining ⅓ of your candy melts (30 secs at a time, stirring between rounds), then stir in the final ⅓ of oil mixing until smooth.
- Remove the moulds from the fridge and spoon the candy melts over them, covering the cakesicle mix completely. Place back into the fridge for 5-10mins, then carefully pop each cakesicle out of the mould.
Unicorn decorations:
- For the horn, pinch off a small piece of the fondant icing, roughly half the size of a marble. Using your fingertips, roll this out on a clean surface or baking mat until you get a thin sausage, thinner towards the ends. Pinch in the middle and twist the two ends around one another from the thick base to the ends.
- For the ears, pinch off a small amount of fondant, rolling it into a small ball and then slightly flattening it. Pinch one side into a tip and then use the handle end of a teaspoon to indent into the round bottom end of the ear, leaving a small border. Repeat for the second ear.
- For the eyes, take another small pinch of fondant and roll it into a small log before cutting this in half to create to small cylinders.
- For the flower crown, brush icing sugar into your silicone flower mould and press fondant icing in before popping it out. Repeat until you have enough for 3-4 flowers per cakesicle.
- To assemble your decorations, brush the back of each piece with water before gently pressing it into your cakesicle in the desired position. If using, you can then brush on your lustre dust. Repeat the process for each cakesicle as desired.
Notes
- The amount of oil that you add to your candy melts will depend on the brand of candy melt that you use. You should add enough oil to give your melted candy melts the consistency just thicker than melted chocolate.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on an online nutritional calculator, actual values may vary.
Cook Took
Unique idea. First impression was , it is ice cream. But seeing the details, surprised that it is cake. Can't believe my eye. Hats off.
Sweet Mouth Joy
Yeah they really look like little ice cream lollies! Glad you like them 🙂