My Cheeseburger Cupcake story…when my son was turning 7, I wanted to get some cupcakes for him to bring to school to share with his classmates. I wasn’t really into baking, so I was just going to buy some. But I saw this really cool picture of a cheeseburger cupcake on Pinterest and I wondered if I could actually make it. I decided to give it a try. So, I went to Michael’s and got some striped wax paper food liner and Costco to get Styrofoam boxes. My sister even helped me print labels to stick on the Styrofoam boxes to make it all look legit! I added some pound cake french fries too!
I used a cream cheese frosting to make it delicious and not just good-looking. They turned out great! His classmates and teacher were in awe! I got comments like, “this is the best burger I’ve ever had!”, “how did you make it?!” and “I’m going to bring it home to show my mom!” I felt like I was the best mom in the world!! (Hahahaha, and I’m sure I had them fooled too!) Everyone liked them so much that I made them for the next 2 birthdays too.
He just turned 13 a few weeks ago and when I asked him what he wanted to eat for his birthday, he said he wanted an afternoon tea! (I gave him a few choices and afternoon tea was one of them). I decided to make the Cheeseburger Cupcake again for old times’ sake and it looked so cute on the 3 tier tray. The foods I made for his afternoon tea were all foods that he liked over the years in miniature form. Many of the foods that I recreated became a conversation piece. One of the items was Spam and egg spicy noodles. The first time he had spicy noodles, he coughed so hard that a noodle came out of his nose! It was scary at the time, but now it’s quite funny! I love it when food makes us laugh and brings everyone closer together!
In retrospect, I’m so glad that I had the time and courage to try making these super fun cupcakes! They’re really not hard to make. If you have kids, you can use this idea to create some fun memories too. Actually, why should kids have all the fun? I’m sure adults would enjoy them just as much!
For more copycat recipes, check out my section here. Or how about a real burger to go with this imposter? Try my "Almost" Shack Stack Burger, it's just like the one from Shake Shack!
Cheeseburger Cupcake
Ingredients
- 16 oz Cream cheese
- 1 c Butter
- 8 c Confectioners’ sugar
- 4 tsp Vanilla extract
- Green food colouring
- Yellow food colouring
- Orange food colouring
- 1 Cake decorating gel tube in red
- 1 box Cake mix, chocolate
- 1 box Cake mix, yellow
- 1 tbsp White sesame seeds
- 12 Burger picks to secure the cupcakes
Instructions
- I find it easier to make the cream cheese frosting the day before so that it has more time to stiffen in the fridge overnight.
- Combine 1 c softened butter with 16 oz of cream cheese. Beat with mixer until well-blended
- Add 8 c Confectioners’ sugar and 4 tsp vanilla extract. Beat until smooth
- Put half of the cream cheese frosting into a separate mixing bowl. Add orange and yellow food coloring and mix well.
Colours will vary with different food colouring products. Mix the colours to get a cheddar cheese-like colour. - Add green food colouring to the other half of the cream cheese frosting to get a lettuce-like colour and mix well
- Spoon the cream cheese frostings into separate piping bags and place in the fridge for at least 6 hours to stiffen. Overnight would be optimal
I used a straight piping nozzle for the yellow and a star piping nozzle for the green - Make cupcakes as per cake mix box
- After the cupcakes have cooled, cover the yellow cupcakes with a cover for an hour to create some moisture on the tops so that sesame seeds can stick-on.
If you aren't able to cover the cupcakes, follow the additional instructions in step 10 - Slice the cupcakes into halves. For the yellow cake, the top is the top bun and the bottom is the bottom bun. For the chocolate cake, you only use the tops as the burger patty
- Sprinkle white sesame seeds to the tops of the yellow cupcakes.
If you weren't able to cover the cupcakes to create moisture: brush some warm water on the tops and sprinkle with sesame seeds - To assemble, place the bottom of the yellow cupcake down first
- Pipe the green cream cheese to resemble the lettuce
- Add the chocolate cupcake top
- Pipe the yellow cream cheese to resemble the cheese
- Use a knife to spread and close gaps
- Use the red cake decorating gel to make lines of “ketchup”
- Add the yellow cupcake top
- Insert burger pick to prevent the layers from falling over
- Serve (with pound cake “fries” optional)
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