Hamburger Cupcakes

Today is Andrew's Birthday, woohoo! We always take birthday treats to his class and this year he wanted cupcakes that looked like hamburgers! My friends helped me figure out how to assemble/decorate the cupcakes and they turned out really well! Andrew's class was excited but as I passed them out kids said things like "I don't like mustard on my hamburgers", I had a difficult time getting some of the kids to realize they were cupcakes not hamburgers. That was funny! They tasted good too, I didn't know how brownies and cupcakes would go together but it was perfect!

Inredients
White cake mix (with the oil and eggs needed to prepare it)
Brownie mix (with the oil and eggs needed to prepare it)
Red, yellow, and green food coloring
Optional- seasame seeds and corn syrup
Easy Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) butter (room temperature)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound powdered sugar
3-6 tablespoons milk

Directions *click on the pictures for fullscreen view
Prepare the white cake mix according to the directions and bake in cupcake pans. I made my cupcakes the night before I decorated them so they could rest in the refriderator overnight, because the cupcakes are less crumbly when you cut them in half when they're cold. Store the cupcakes in a ziploc bag overnight.

If you don't have time though you can cut your cupcakes the same day you bake them, they will just crumble a bit. Either way, slice your cupcakes in half.

Mix the buttercream frosting ingredients together in a large bowl. Scoop the frosting into smaller bowls to color it. I colored 1/2 of the frosting green, 1/4 red, and 1/4 yellow. The "lettuce" is the first layer you will apply to the base of the cupcake. I used a Wilton 67 tip and started on the outer rim of the cupcake going in a circle working my way to the inside. I kept a steady squeeze on my icing but I moved the tip up and down, like it was a bunny rabbit hopping around in circles.

Next up is the "hamburger patty" so prepare the brownie mix according to the directions but bake them in cupcake pans. Don't put very much brownie batter in the cupcake tray though or your hamburger patties will be too tall. When the brownies have cooled lay them on top of the lettuce.

Now for the "ketchup" and "mustard". I used a Wilton 4 tip for the ketchup and a Wilton 2 tip for the mustard. I did the red first doing zigag lines then went over it with yellow zigzag lines in the opposite direction.

The picture Andrew had previously seen had seasme seeds on the tops of the hamburger cupcakes but in the future I think I will leave them off or try and sprinkle them on the cupcake batter before baking. What I did this time was dab a bit of corn syrup on the top of each cupcake and sprinkled the seasame seeds on them. The seeds looked great and stuck to the cupcakes but so did everyones fingers, the tops were very sticky!