Hamburger Cupcakes

Last night was an awesome night. Those of you who know me know my love for Tar Heel basketball.  We had some friends over to watch the Duke/UNC basketball game, including two Duke fans (one alum).  If you caught the game you know the ending, but if you didn't, let me just tell you--it wasn't even a fair fight.  Duke, on their home court, just did not show up.  UNC led within the first few seconds and never gave up the lead.  Maybe not the most exciting game to watch, but an awesome retaliation from last month's loss to Duke.

I made hamburger cupcakes for the game.  A student of mine did their demonstration speech last week on how to make these and I immediately wanted to attempt a gluten-free version.

Final Product

I found the recipe on Pinterest, so you can see the original pin there, but here is what I did to adapt the recipe.  Not having time to make cupcakes from scratch I went with the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mixes.  You need two mixes, one yellow cake mix and one chocolate.  You need 1 tub of icing (unless you make your own), a bag of coconut, sesame seeds and food coloring. 

Bake the yellow cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes according to the box directions.  While the cupcakes are baking you can mix your icing.  I used half of a container of icing for the yellow (mustard) and half for the red (ketchup).  Mix in bowls and put in separate plastic baggies.  Cut a small tip off one corner of each baggy to create your icing bag.  This will allow you to pipe icing onto your cupcakes like condiments would come out of a squeeze jar.

Take about half a bag of coconut and add green food coloring to create your lettuce--use a utensil to mix so you don't dye your hands green (or wear gloves).  Set aside.

Once cupcakes come out I sprinkled some toasted sesame seeds on the top of the yellow cupcakes to make them look more like buns.  This is obviously an optional step, I happened to have the seeds in my cupboard.  I gently pressed the seeds into the tops of the cupcakes to keep them from falling off.  Let both sets of cupcakes cool.

Once cupcakes are cooled cut the yellow cupcakes in half to create your "buns."  Cut the bottom 1/4"-1/2" off the chocolate cupcakes to create your "burgers."

You will begin each burger by putting down the base of your yellow cupcake (bottom of the bun), then piping on your yellow icing to look like mustard.  Then lay the chocolate cupcake section on top of the icing.  Layer again with your red icing to look like ketchup.  Sprinkle with your green coconut--your lettuce.  Finish with the top of your yellow cupcake and a toothpick (bonus points if you have the deli-style toothpicks with the little plastic "fringe" on top).

You have now completed your hamburger cupcake! 

Not pictured: Betty Crocker Yellow Gluten Free Cake Mix

What I would do differently:  First of all, if you don't have to make them gluten free then don't :)  Making anything gluten free is more expensive and usually more complicated than making a "normal" comparable.  Secondly, if you do want to make them gluten free I would recommend making the yellow cupcakes from scratch.  The mix tastes more "gluten-free" to me than a homemade cupcake.  But, if you are short on time, like I usually am, go with the mix! I think for the chocolate cupcakes the mix works well because you are using such a small part of it.  Thirdly, I would buy some icing already dyed red.  It is very difficult to get a true red using food coloring.  My "ketchup" therefore ended up more hot pink than red.

What to do with the leftover chocolate cupcakes?  You can freeze them and have cupcakes later or use them to create a delicious looking Triple Chocolate Trifle  or some amazing Chocolate Cake Balls.