Start by preheating your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour your cake pans (you’ll need about three 8-inch round pans for this recipe). For extra insurance, you can line the bottoms with parchment paper to make sure your cake comes out easily.

In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, and salt. This ensures that your dry ingredients are evenly distributed and ready for the wet ingredients.

In a separate bowl, cream the softened butter and sugar together using a hand mixer or stand mixer. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy—this should take about 3-4 minutes. The key here is getting plenty of air into the butter and sugar to ensure a light and tender cake!

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract. This step helps to bind your ingredients together and adds that delicious, comforting flavor.

Now, begin adding the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk in two parts. Start and end with the dry ingredients. This method helps create a smooth, lump-free batter and keeps everything nice and fluffy. Mix just until combined—don’t overdo it!

Divide the batter evenly into four bowls. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl (one color per bowl) and mix until you achieve vibrant shades of pink, purple, blue, and yellow. The colors will make your unicorn cake even more fun and eye-catching!

Spoon each color of batter into the prepared pans, one layer at a time. Use a spoon to place the colors in the center of the pan, allowing them to spread out on their own. For an extra swirl effect, you can gently swirl the colors together with a toothpick or knife. Don’t worry about being perfect—it’s all about the fun, colorful look!

Bake the cakes for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Once baked, let the cakes cool in their pans for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

While your cakes cool, it’s time to prepare the frosting. Beat the softened butter and powdered sugar together until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and heavy cream, mixing until you reach a fluffy consistency that’s easy to spread. You can add a little more cream if the frosting is too thick, or more powdered sugar if it’s too thin.

Once your cakes have cooled completely, it’s time to layer and frost. Place the first cake layer on a cake stand or plate, then spread a layer of frosting on top. Add the second cake layer, frost again, and repeat with the third layer. Use the remaining frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake, smoothing it out with a spatula.

Now comes the fun part—decorating! Use fondant to shape the unicorn ears and horn. If you’re new to fondant, a simple method is to roll out small pieces of fondant, color them with gel food coloring, and shape them into the unicorn features. Once you’ve created your unicorn horn and ears, place them on top of the cake. Finish off with a sprinkle of edible glitter and your rainbow-colored sprinkles for that extra magical touch!