The week I went back to work after our wedding, we had a group BBQ on that Thursday. I got back Monday morning to an inbox full of emails including one that said, “Welcome back! Can you bring dessert for our BBQ this week?”
Of course.
And because I can’t leave well enough alone, I of course had to make something. I couldn’t just go to the store and buy a package of cookies which would have been faster and easier. And since it was a BBQ and I can’t leave well enough alone, I decided that mini hamburger cupcakes would do.
Also, mini hamburger cupcakes are adorable and hilarious.
They’re pretty easy to make and they look realistic enough that I got multiple comments about the “mini sliders” I brought to the BBQ.
Things you need:
- Vanilla cupcakes
- Batch of brownies
- Shredded coconut
- Green Dye
- Red and Yellow Icing
You start by making a batch of your favorite vanilla cupcakes. If you can make them on the small side so they get a big mound in the center, it’ll go a long way to make the “bun” a little more realistic.
The “hamburger” is a brownie. I used a box mix (egads! A box mix you say? Yes. I love brownies from a box. Elise is dying a little inside right now.) and baked them in a shallow cookie sheet. They baked for maybe 10 to 12 minutes, but I would keep an eye on them while they’re in the oven.
While the brownies and the cupcakes are cooling, make the coconut “lettuce”. It’s just some sweetened, shredded coconut with a bit of green food dye mixed in. I used the gel stuff and it seemed to work pretty well.
Once the brownie is cool, cut out the hamburger patties using an appropriately sized circular cookie cutter (or glass or whatever round-ish thing you can find).
Once the cupcakes are cool, slice off the top half to make two sides of the bun. Pipe some of the yellow icing “mustard” onto the bottom bun and stick a brownie patty on top.
Then top the hamburger patty with some red icing “ketchup”.
Finally, top off with some of the coconut lettuce and the top bun. Voila! Mini hamburger cupcakes!
(I was also going to make some cute sugar cookie french fries too, but I ran out of eggs. I RAN OUT OF EGGS. I’m not sure this has ever happened to me. Ah well, something for next time.)