Cupcake Burgers

i was inspired by the always-fabulous bakerella to make cupcake burgers for father's day. they're so cute, fairly easy, and pretty darn delicious too! plus, i got some icing tips, one fat star and one plain fat tip, and couplers at wal-mart on clearance, so i could make them look pretty good too. here are my tips on my "pastry bags," aka ziploc bags with their corners cut off (i can only be so fancy).


so, down to the details.
supplies:

• one box white cake mix
  
• one box brownie mix
• one can white frosting
• food coloring
• optional: sparkling sugar (a course sugar; i got mine at wal-mart in the baking aisle next to the other cake decors)
  

yup, it's that easy. but for pete's sake, buy name brand mixes- it's worth the extra quarter. i used a store brand for these, and they were very dry the next day. oh, i ate them, but i didn't like them. i ended up just eating the brownie part with the frosting on it because the cake was so dry. but, moving on...

simply make the cupcakes according to the package directions (using liners so the sides aren't too brown). and make the brownies according to the package directions too, but bake for about 15 minutes in a 13x9 pan (so they'll be thin enough).

when cool, cut the cupcakes in half along their equators (not their international datelines, of course). cut the brownies into circles (i used the lid of my non-stick spray as a brownie cutter) and place in between the cupcake "buns."

meanwhile, divide the frosting into however many different toppings you want (i had three), and dye accordingly. you can use whatever "toppings" you like, but mine ended up having cheese, ketchup, and lettuce. the cheese was supposed to be mustard, but it wasn't quite yellow enough. bakerella used fancy frosting dyes so hers were much brighter, whereas i only had regular food coloring on hand. but, no matter, still cute!

then, frost on the toppings. i used the plain frosting tip for the cheese (just in a circle) and the ketchup (sort of squiggled on, almost like a flower), like so:


and i used the star tip for the lettuce, squiggled on sort of in between the ketchup, so that it would show through when the top was put on, like so:


and here they are with their tops on:


so cute!
and to make them look like sesame seed buns, i brushed a little melted butter (butter makes everything better) on top and sprinkled with sparkling sugar, which tastes much better than the real sesame seeds that bakerella used.


and here's my dear ol' dad about to chomp down on one of these bad little boys!