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Left: Standard size cupcakes
Right: Extra large cupcakes |
Hamburger cupcakes. That's right. Mini Hamburger cupcakes. Cute, and great for any occasion really as they are kind of a novelty you get to eat. I don't know where I initially saw this idea (knowing myself it was probably on Pinterest). I believe I found the recipe on Martha Stewart's website and just kind of went from there.
I guess I should tell you my dad owns a burger joint, and I wanted to make these awesome mini hamburger cupcakes to sell. I thought they would kind of separate our burger joint out from the rest, because to this day I have not been able to find a single hamburger cupcake any where for sale in my area. So they are not only unique but also super tasty and easy to make!
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| Some of my baking supplies |
Basically you just start out with a 12 cup muffin tin, 2 13x9 cake pans, a box of yellow cake mix, a box of brownie mix, a can of red frosting, some vanilla frosting and food coloring. I wouldn't suggest using cake pans any smaller than a 13x9, as you want both the cake and brownies to be on the thinner side. Another thing to keep in mind is that you can cut down on your prep time if you buy frosting that is already colored so you don't have to color it yourself. I would suggest however to definitely purchase the red frosting, as it is pretty much impossible to get the vanilla frosting to turn super ketchupy red using the red food coloring (you'll just end up with pink frosting).
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| 1 box of yellow cake mix yielded both of these |
To make these little hamburger delights, start out by mixing the yellow cake mix as directed on the box. Then using a measuring cup fill your muffin tin about 3/4 full, I've found that the fuller they are the puffier your "buns" will be. You'll find that after filling your muffin tin that there will be about 1/2 of the yellow cake mix remaining, this will be used to make your French fries. Bake your cupcakes about 15 minutes, they won't take as long as the box says as you are not using all of the mix in that batch. After your cupcakes are done, simply put the remaining yellow cake mix in your cake pan and bake about 15-28 minutes, this will also cook a lot quicker because you are only using 1/2 of the mix.
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| Waitin' on the cupcakes |
While the cupcakes/cake are baking, mix up your brownie mix according to the box and place the mix into the second cake pan. When your cake is done baking, pop your brownies in the oven about 20-25 minutes, if they get a little crunchy on bottom it's fine as the brownies are going to act as the "meat" to your mini hamburger cupcake.
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| Fresh out of the oven "buns" for the burgers! |
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| The "French fries" |
Once everything is baked and cooled down, it's time for the real fun to begin..assembling your hamburger cupcakes! To begin cut your cupcakes in 1/2 horizontally to make your top & bottom "buns". You'll then want to cut your brownies, I use little round sauce containers to cut my brownies into 12 "meat patties".
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| Prepping the "buns" |
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| Cutting out the "meat" |
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| A large working area is a must! |
Once everything is all cut up, you'll want to mix some of your vanilla frosting and green food coloring to make the "lettuce", I always add a drop of yellow food coloring to the green to get a softer more realistic color. Next repeat the previous step using yellow food coloring to make the "cheese". As I stated above, don't waste your time trying to make red frosting with the red food coloring you'll just end up with pink. I buy the canned red frosting that comes with the assorted size tips which makes it a lot easier to apply. As for the green & yellow frosting, simply put them into a froster and apply (or you can make your own "froster" using a small zip lock bag, which is what I do).
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| The "Ketchup" |
When I'm assembling my burger I start out by applying the red frosting my "ketchup" on the bottom bun, then I place the "meat" (brownie) on top of the "ketchup", next I apply my green frosting aka "lettuce" around the perimeter of the meat (so you'll be able to see it when top bun is on it), then I apply my "cheese" in a square like design along the perimeter of the "meat", and lastly I place my bun on top. I find that it works best to use a twisting motion when placing the top bun on top of the meat so the frosting comes out of the sides (it's more realistic). I also add white sprinkles on top of the buns to act as the "sesame seeds" to add more of a true burger look. To get the "seeds" to stick better I simply put a
tiny tiny bit of water on the buns where I want the seeds to stay.
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| Buildin' the burgers! |
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| Adding the "lettuce" |
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| What's a burger without some cheese? |
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| Before I added the seeds. |
Now for the French fries, you'll just want to cut your yellow cake into fry like strips and place them with the burger. I wanted my fries to look realistic as well so I sprinkle a little sugar on top for the "salt", and just a little red frosting on the side for the "ketchup". I found other recipes where they use sugar cookies for the fries so they have that crunchy fry texture, but the yellow cake mix works just fine too.
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| Cutting the fries |
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Presenting the burger cupcakes
(Please excuse the mess ;)) |
These hamburger cupcakes have been a huge hit at the restaurant, as I'm sure they would be at any occasion. I mean it's not everyday that you get to eat hamburger
cupcakes and
cake fries
Enjoy..cheers!!
