Hamburger Cupcakes

It was my friend Brandy's birthday last weekend and she was celebrating with a backyard BBQ.  I wanted to bring cupcakes and was trying to decide what kind (if you've been to my Pinterest you know that I have an entire board dedicated to said dessert - and yes, I plan on eventually baking them all) when I suddenly remembered something I've been wanting to make for a long time...  Hamburger Cupcakes!  Nope, not cupcakes that taste like hamburgers, but cupcakes that taste like cupcakes that LOOK like mini hamburgers.  They were super fun to make and use both chocolate and vanilla cake so they also taste delicious.  I think this would be a really great project to make with kids - you could pre-bake all of the "pieces" and they can have the fun of putting them all together!

I love baking from scratch but I knew that these were going to take some time to put together and I wanted to get to the fun part so I used boxed cake mix for mine.  Trader Joe's carries really great cake mix that is all-natural and comes in adorable packaging:

You will need: 

• 1 box of chocolate cake mix
• 1 box of vanilla cake mix
• 1 recipe for vanilla icing (cake icing, not royal icing)
• red, yellow & green food coloring
• a round cookie cutter or empty glass
• sesame seeds

Directions:

1.  Following the directions on your cake mix, bake the vanilla mix into cupcakes (mine yielded 24) and bake the chocolate mix into a flat sheet cake (I used a 9x13 cake pan).  Let cool.

2.  Using a serrated-edge knife, gently slice the tops off your cupcakes and put aside.  These will be your "buns".  *Note:  After completing this step my mum informed me that there now exists a special "muffin top pan" that bakes only the tops!  So if you can get your hands on one of these you'll get a lot more mileage out of your cake mix and won't end up with a giant tupperware full of cupcakes 'bottoms' like I had when I was done.

3.  Once your chocolate sheet cake has cooled, use your round cookie cutter (or upside down glass) to cut out circles that you will use for your "patties".  My cake was really thick so I ended up cutting a piece off the end and then slicing it into 2 layers.  I then cut my circles out of these thinner layers.  I think I may have even ended up slicing each circle into two thinner ones after that - you can make them as thick or as thin as you like.

4.  Now to make your icing!  Whip up a batch of your favorite vanilla frosting (here's one, or you can find a ton online) and divide it evenly into 3 bowls.  Using your food coloring, tint one green, one red & one yellow.  These will be your "ketchup", "mustard" and "relish".  If you have piping bags & tips, great.  If not, a ziploc bag with the corner trimmed off will do just as well.  

5.  Once your icings are in their respective bags, layer up your burgers & get squeezin'!  

6.  Then pop on the lids, sprinkle with some sesame seeds if you like, and you're done.  Ready for the BBQ!  

Precariously driving them to the party...

The Birthday Girl enjoying her "burger"!