Cheesburger Cupcakes

A couple of weekends ago, we had the grandkids over, and I was wracking my brain trying to figure out some new baking project to do with them - after all, we've made so many batches of brownies and cookies and cupcakes, that it's just not that fun anymore.

My son had suggested making cinnamon rolls but I know that the kids would get bored with the rising and kneading and rising again , etc. But I didn't have any better ideas until Tony remembered that he had seen some very cute cheeseburger cupcakes on Flickr and showed me the link. They were so cute, OMG, I knew we had to make them.

Tony and I went through the steps together. He went to the store to get the ingredients and I pulled out all of the kitchen equipment we would need and kid proofed the area. When the kids arrived we explained the plan for the day; mix up the cake batters, bake the cupcakes (the kids play Wii while baking), go to the movies while cupcakes are cooling, return home and assemble "cheeseburgers", and finally, eat them.

The kids were great, they pulled up their step stools and mixed the batter, licked the beaters, and peered through the glass in the oven door a zillion times until the cupcakes emerged.

Jackson showing off his cupcakes

By the time we were ready to turn the cupcakes into burgers the kids couldn't wait to get started. Although the boys decided to pile up huge helpings of red, yellow and green frosting (ketchup, mustard and lettuce) on their "buns" they really had a great time decorating the burger-cakes and the end result was some very realistic looking little sliders.

Both of the boys came up with their own touches to make the cupcakes more realistic. The youngest loved the idea of the candy bacon and made several bacon cheeseburgers. The oldest went for making Big Mac style double decker burgers (although the burgers adorned with blue condiments were for "aliens"). I think the adults had as much fun as the kids making these, we all took a turn trying to create the most realistic burgers.

Gibby showing off his cupcakes

And of course the best part was eating them. My oldest grandson pronounced them the best cupcakes he had ever eaten and the youngest proceeded to chow his way through a couple before we had to take the plate away from him.

This was a great project and the kids were so involved in perfecting their creations that they didn't fuss about sharing frosting tubes or who had better whatever, it was just great fun and good to eat too .  

P.S. don't leave out the sesame seeds for the buns - those really make the burger-cakes look realistic.

The Plating

Not much to say about the plates... we grabbed what we had at hand, so there's a lot of Fiestaware.

I was a bit disappointed with how the burgers came out. The yellow cupcakes didn't rise enough to have really rounded tops like real burger buns. On the other hand, the yellow and pink fruit leather that I found in the grocery store made for a truly excellent bacon cheeseburger cupcake! 

The Lighting and Photography

I didn't take a photo of the lighting for this shoot, but I think it was very similar to the salmon shoot, so I used the photo of the lighting set up for that shot.

Key light behind and to the right, fill bounced off wall to the rear.