The unicorn cake and all things magical and whimsical seem to have take over the baking world.
DO you remember the funny scene in the movie Mean Girls when an emotional girl gushes at a reading “I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy...”?
Well it looks like the universe has heard this wish.
If you haven’t noticed already, the world is being taken over by unicorns and rainbows. From cupcakes to hot chocolate, we’ve been struck by unicorn fever. It’s no surprise then that the Unicorn Cake is the next magical thing to hit digital Earth.
The latest trend in birthday baking believed to have originated from Canada by Jenna Rae Cakes is the Unicorn Cake. The exquisite unicorn with pretty eyelashes and a gorgeous mane is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. This time thankfully, it doesn’t look like a unicorn barfed on a cake.
The simple but classically chic cake takes the magical allure of unicorns to a whole new level with a pantone pastel tone and a stunning buttercream mane speckled with dragees, pearls and glitter. A winning combination of sparkly and fabulous that’s got the world obsessed! Thanks to Instagram, bakers the world over are under the spell and have created their own versions of this mythical creature cake. And the trend is going strong.
20 CAKES IN A DAY
Instabaker Shaun Teo of Shaun Teo Creations was one of the first to be hit by unicorn magic and introduced the Unicorn Cake to Malaysians in August 2016. The popular instabaker has garnered over 80,000 followers on his instragram and it is no surprise judging by his stunning posts of Unicorn and Drip Cakes.
Having always been in love with expressing himself through art, the hospitality management graduate from Taiwan decided to try his hand as a pattisier with a few stints at five-star hotels and bakeries. He realised then that he wanted to challenge himself and discover how far he could push his artistic abilities through his new passion for baking.
At only 22, the sweet and unassuming Teo started his instabaking business in 2015, not expecting at all to garner an overwhelming response in such a short time. His record is creating 20 cakes in a day during the festive season! The talented young lad’s clientele has grown in leaps and bounds, and now includes luminaries such as Marion Caunter and Debbie Goh, and brands such as Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Diptique, Kerastase and Ken’s Apothecary.
The down-to-earth and humble Teo still feels he has a long way to go and pushes himself constantly to learn and try new things. The budding entrepreneur holds workshops in Malaysia and the region and hosts cake decorating masterclasses. His last stint was with another instagram sensation, The Caketress, Lori Hutchinson from Canada who specialises in Couture Cake Designs.
MAESTRO AT WORK
“Don’t worry I’ll whip up the cake real fast” he assures us as we settle down to watch him showcase his prowess. And his speed is simply unearthly.
He proceeds to do a quick crumb coat on a six layer Vanilla Cake with Raspberry Buttercream and sets that out to chill while showing us his skills in making his famous Unicorn Cake.
Choosing pastel rose as the base colour, he works with several shades of pink to swirl on the beautiful buttercream mane, before pushing in the golden horn and the cute gold ears made up of fondant. A handful of sugar pearl drops, a sprinkle of glitter, pretty gold fondant eyelashes, and lastly, his signature golden touch — the gold leaves. And voila, an Instagram-smashing Unicorn cake! “I love a pretty pastel hue to my cakes and creations. I always add gold or silver touches for a touch of elegance,” he says as we marvel at his creation, too stunned for words.
Pantone pastels are not his only claim to fame as we later discover that he is also credited for being one of the first to introduce a completely black cake. He makes black Unicorn Cakes which are unconventional but refreshingly gorgeous considering unicorns are all about colour.
Excitedly, he whips out the six layer crumb-coated cake that he had placed in the chiller earlier to show us his other popular cake — the Drip Cake. Drip cakes have been trending for over a year now and it is still going strong. The whimsical appeal of the Drip Cake has made it a popular cake creation for weddings and birthdays the world over. Its simple yet stunning avant garde style is achievable by experts and home bakers. Elements of style include fresh fruit and edible flowers, chocolate shards, lots of candy as decor and the signature drippy ganache.
MORE FLOURISHES
In full flow, Teo looks gleeful as he tells us that we are in for another surprise. Not only is he going to show us how he constructs a Drip Cake, he will create it in a dreamy watercolour pattern, in pantone pastel. We opt for blue.
As he swirls shades of blue in delicious Swiss Meringue Buttercream, we see a masterpiece in the making.
Watercolour cakes are also all the rave at the moment. What’s not to love about their soft, swishy, dreamlike colours? The watercolour effect can be easily achieved by painting on to fondant as well but Teo prefers to work with Swiss Meringue Buttercream at the moment as it holds well in our weather and tastes delicious.
He’s not the only in love with buttercream it seems. More and more cake designers are digging deeper into their bag of tricks, testing the limits of what buttercream can do. This might be the most exciting trend of the year to follow.
Teo masterfully decorates his Drip Cake with a White Chocolate Ganache and a whimsical display of pale macaroons, truffles and chocolates, some left white and some given a gold wash. He adds the final touch — his signature gold leaves. Standing before us is a masterpiece that only someone of Teo’s talent can conjure so effortlessly.
As the minutes tick and we prepare to call it a day, I’m sure many of those with me at this masterclass harbour the same secret wish — that someone remember us on our birthday with a cake by Shaun Teo Creations.
“What’s trending next?“ we ask. “Popsicle-shaped cake pops in unicorn design.” But, of course.
Check our Shaun Teo’s creations on facebook/shaunteocreations, instagram @shaunteocreations or shaunteocreations@hotmail.com