Here’s How to Make 2018’s Most-Googled Food

2018 has been a year of intriguing culinary trends, from ancient brews to artsy health foods and chickpeas, chickpeas, chickpeas. But when it really came down to it, what dish were people the most curious (or outright confused) about? What bit of fare propelled us to the internet in droves, demanding imagery, testimonials, or a recipe? The answer is . . . unicorn cake. Yes, the much-maligned unicorn food trend of 2017 reared its rainbow head yet again this year as the #1 most-googled food.

But why? And also, what exactly is "unicorn cake"? What did people have in mind as they embarked on their search? The answers to these questions may have something to do with each other. It’s been a taxing twelve months for all manner of human society, from political junkies to pop-culture acolytes. Anyone would be forgiven for needing a rest from the fracas, and shifting gears to a more pleasurable endeavor; namely, tracking down the silliest, most beautiful baked good that the interwebs have to offer, whatever the gastrointestinal cost. There’s an opportunity with unicorn cake—a made-up dessert if there ever was one—to lose yourself in creative indulgence, and who couldn’t do with a bit of that?

Here, Unicorn Food author Kat Odell’s version of the unicorn cake—a fabulously colorful (and entirely plant-based!) experiment that she’s named for the unrivaled queen of all things unicorn: Lisa Frank. Whip it up, and give your friends the answer to their most-searched query.

Lisa Frank Mountain Cake

Makes one 7 ×10-inch cake; serves 20

For the Cake:
Coconut oil, for greasing the baking dish
1 cup packed pitted dates
Filtered water (optional)
1/3 cup coconut butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 cups almond flour

For the Cream:
1 cup raw/organic cashews, soaked in water to cover for at least 4 hours or overnight, drained
1 cup coconut milk or nut milk of your choice
2 tablespoons raw honey
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons coconut butter
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon Blue Majik
1/2 teaspoon freeze-dried pitaya powder
1 teaspoon freeze-dried beet powder
1 1/2 teaspoons bee pollen, plus extra for garnish

1. Grease a 10 × 7-inch baking dish with coconut oil.

2. Make the cake: Place the dates in a food processor and blend until they become a smooth paste, adding a few teaspoons of the filtered water if necessary, about 1 minute. Add the coconut butter, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt. Blend until smooth, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed, about 30 seconds. Add the blueberries and blend, pausing to scrape down the side of the bowl, until incorporated, about 1 minute. Add the almond flour and blend until incorporated, about 20 seconds.

3. Scoop half of the dough into a bowl and set it aside. Scoop out and press the remaining dough into the prepared pan using dampened hands or the back of a spoon. Leave the surface of the dough uneven to create mountainous peaks and valleys. Transfer the dough to the freezer to set while you assemble the cream.

4. Make the cream: Wash and dry the bowl of the food processor. Combine the cashews, coconut milk, honey, lemon juice, and salt in the bowl and blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add the coconut butter and coconut flour and blend until smooth, about 15 seconds. Divide the cream among three small bowls. Stir the Blue Majik into one bowl, stir the pitaya powder into the second bowl, and stir the beet powder into the third bowl.

5. Remove the chilled dough from the freezer. Using a spoon, drop the Blue Majik cream, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, randomly over the cake, leaving about one third of the Blue Majik cream remaining in the bowl. Sprinkle half of the bee pollen atop. Dollop on the pitaya cream and then the beet cream in the same fashion, reserving one third of each in its respective bowl. Sprinkle the remaining bee pollen atop the cake. Transfer the layer cake to the freezer and freeze until set, about 30 minutes.

6. Remove the cake from the freezer and spread the reserved blueberry dough atop. Return to the freezer for 30 minutes. Remove the cake again and decorate the top with the remaining creams, dropping them by the tablespoonful in any pattern you like. Return to the freezer and freeze until solid, about 4 hours.

7. When ready to serve, remove the cake from the freezer and let it thaw slightly, about 10 minutes. Using a small knife, carefully cut around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake. Then, carefully slide a spatula around and under the bottom of the cake and invert it onto a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut the cake crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices. Serve immediately, sprinkle with extra bee pollen.

Lisa Frank Mountain Cake will keep, wrapped in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil, in the freezer for about 3 months.

Excerpted from Unicorn Food: Beautiful Plant-Based Recipes to Nurture Your Inner Magical Beast by Kat Odell (Workman Publishing). Copyright © 2018. Photographs by AJ Meeker.