Step 1

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160°C Fan . Gas Mark Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake liners or grease with some butter and dust with flour. Set aside.

Step 2

To make the batter, place the butter, sugar, eggs, plain flour, baking powder, salt and milk in the mixing bowl. Combine 30 Sec. / Speed Scrape down using a spatula and combine again 10 Sec. / Speed 5.

Step 3

Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared muffin liners using a spoon. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Then remove and transfer onto a wire cooling rack. Leave to cool.

Step 4

To make the unicorn horns, take two chunks of the white sugar paste and roll each into a cone shape between your hands. Attach the two cones with a little water and twist the two strands until you have a unicorn horn at the top. Cut it off and attach it to a skewer. Repeat the rolling, attaching twisting and cutting process until you have 12 unicorn horns.

Step 5

Mix some of the gold dust with the water to make a thick paste. Using a small paint brush, colour each unicorn horn and leave to dry for a little while.

Step 6

Take another two pieces of the modelling paste and colour one blue and one in pink. Roll it out thinly on a surface that is lightly dusted with icing sugar. Cut out small circles of each colour until you have 24 of each circle. Take the pink circles and cut them with the same round cutter to make half moons. Apply some water to the blue circles and 'glue' on the pink ones. Pinch each circle on the top and at the bottom and set aside to dry. These are the ears.

Step 7

Meanwhile, clean the mixing bowl.

Step 8

Add the butter to the mixing bowl and blitz 20-40 Sec. / Speed You will hear when the Thermi is moving faster and you cannot hear butter being crushed, switch it off then.

Step 9

Insert the butterfly whisk attachment and blitz 30 Sec. / Speed 3.Add 250g icing sugar and 15g milk. Whisk 30 Sec. / Speed 3.5. Then add the remaining 250g icing sugar, vanilla bean paste, remaining 15g milk and whisk 30 Sec. / Speed 3.Divide the mixture between three bowls. Add the yellow, pink and blue gel food colouring to each bowl and mix until you have the desired colour.

Step 10

Place a long piece of clingfilm on the kitchen worktop and spread each colour in a long line next to each other onto the clingfilm. Roll it up and place it inside a large disposable piping bag fitted with an open star nozzle.

Step 11

Pipe swirls of the icing onto each cooled cupcake. Then decorate with the unicorn horns and ears and dust with some edible glitter dust. Enjoy your beautiful Thermomix unicorn cupcakes!