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Hamburger Cupcakes with Cookie Fries

Just in case you didn’t read the title of this post, these are not hamburgers, they’re cupcakes!

I hesitated posting these treats due to the fact that I know they have “been done before”.  I first gave this idea a try last spring (HERE), and have made them a couple times since.  So, I’m certainly not suggesting I came up with this idea… but it’s just so cute, if you haven’t given it a try, it’s really fun to do and will surely bring lots of smiles to anyone you share it with.

This is a perfect project for kids (to help), and with Father’s Day this weekend, this could be a fun treat to show some love to daddy.

Cupcake “Hamburger”

Directions:

Bake one batch of vanilla cupcakes and one batch of chocolate cupcakes

 I sometimes just use box mixes for this project, since it’s more of a novelty than a gourmet dessert.  I bake the cupcakes without any paper liners (just use some non-stick spray on the pan).  Baking the cupcakes without the liners allows the outside edges of the (vanilla) cupcakes to brown a bit.  To me, this looks the most like hamburger buns.  You can use paper liners if you prefer, but then the sides of your cupcakes will have little ridges (from the creases in the paper liners).

When the cupcakes are baked and cooled, slice the vanilla cupcakes in half (horizontally) and slice the chocolate cupcakes in half or thirds (horizontally), depending on how big you want your “hamburgers”.

Set these “buns” and “meat” aside.

Prepare the “lettuce” (coconut)-

Put about 3/4 cup of (sweetened) shredded coconut in a plastic baggie and add 1 or two drops of green liquid or gel food coloring.  Close the plastic bag and shake the bag until the coloring is well distributed.

Prepare the “ketchup” and “mustard” (frosting)-

You can use a tub of store-bought frosting, or make your own vanilla frosting  (you can use my recipe for cream cheese frosting as is or omit the cream cheese for a super simple American buttercream).

Color half of the frosting red and half yellow (you may want to add a touch of orange to get a nice mustard color).

Place each color of frosting in a piping bag fitted with a (medium sized) round tip, or simply put the frosting in a strong ziplock type bag (the freezer bags are usually a stronger bag) and cut off one of the corners of the bag (start small, you can always make the hole larger).

Now you’re ready to assemble:

Start with the bottom half of a vanilla cupcake.

Pipe a line of “mustard” frosting around the edge.

Add a slice of chocolate cupcake  (the “meat”).

Pipe a line of “ketchup” around the edge.

Add some coconut “lettuce”.

Top with a vanilla cupcake top.

For a final touch, you can brush the tops of the “hamburgers” with a bit of juice or simple syrup (I usually use orange juice) and add some sesame seeds.

You can also add a frilly toothpick.

To complete your “meal”, make some sugar cookie “fries”.

Sugar Cookie “Fries”

Directions:

Make a batch of sugar cookie dough (my recipe HERE).

Chill, and then roll out the dough as directed.

Cut the dough into strips using a pizza cutter or knife.

The strips can be as fat or thin as you want depending on how you want your “fries” to look.

Lay the “fries” onto a cookie sheet and set the whole sheet in the freezer for a few minutes (about 5) to chill the dough (this helps the cookies keep their shape when baked).

Bake as directed.

Once baked, cool just enough to remove from the baking sheet.

While still a bit warm, place cookie “fries” in a shallow baking dish and sprinkle with white sugar (to represent salt).

These cookie “fries” can be made several days in advance (up to a week) and kept in an airtight container.

Serve the cookie “fries” along side a cupcake “hamburger” and you’re sure to make your family and friends smile!

Princess Cupcakes with Ruffled Frosting

A couple months ago when I made some fun ribbon cupcake toppers (seen HERE and HERE), my brain started spinning with all the pretty ribbon toppers I could make for most any occasion.  I looked through my ribbon collection and found a pretty pink ribbon with the word “princess” on it.  The word was the perfect length to make a ribbon topper.  Don’t you just love when things work out?  I thought if I was going to make princess cupcakes, it would be the perfect opportunity to try out a new frosting technique.

I have a couple of gorgeous friends in Australia who co-own a custom dessert business, The Cupcake Company.  These lovely friends,  Sharnel (who many of you know from My life- My loves) and Keren, have perfected a beautiful ruffle technique for frosting cupcakes.  I’ve marveled at the beautiful shape for some time, and after some tips from Sharnel, I gave it a try.

I was quite happy with the results, and I’m sure I’ll be using this style again.

If you’d like to give it a try, you need a Wilton 2D tip (a large, closed star tip), a piping bag, and some yummy frosting (HERE is one of my favorites).

Simply hold the frosting bag straight above the cupcake, and give a good squeeze.  You can practice onto a plate and then just put the frosting back into the piping bag when you’re ready to it try on your cupcakes.  You can also experiment with a tiny bit of side to side (horizontal) movement of the tip, to get a nice even “S” shape up the sides of the pile of frosting.

I added the princess ribbon toppers along with some lavender ribbon toppers.  I made the lavender ribbon toppers with a plain lavender ribbon, and then added a few self-stick scrapbooking jewels.

A bit more instruction on the ribbon cupcake toppers is  HERE, although they’re pretty self explanatory… cut some ribbon and glue it to a stick  =)

Pink ruffled frosting with pink and lavender ribbon flags… a combination fit for any princess.

{Parties} Sweet Strawberry Party

This weekend I added some sweet details to my niece’s 9th birthday party.  I got to be in charge of the things I love best, the sweets and the favors!  I set up this little dessert table to display the treats together.

Forever inspired by Amy Atlas and my good friend Sharnel, I always start planning a party with lots of grand ideas.  But somewhere along the way, a pesky little thing called a “budget” often gets in my way!

For this party, I used dishes, linens and ribbon that I already had on hand, and kept the entire cost of the sweets and favors (for 8 girls) under $40.00 (all the details at the bottom of the post).

What’s a party without cupcakes?  In my mind, not much of a party at all!  The center of the table included these simple strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting (my recipe HERE).  I used an adorable FREE download for the cupcake toppers (found at Sweetly Sweet, thank you!)

(below)

I filled two pretty candy jars with sweets, one held strawberry marshmallows, the other was filled with strawberry cheesecake flavored Jelly Bellies.  We served strawberry lemonade in some cute cups I found this week at Michael’s (for $1.00!).

(below)

When my niece first mentioned wanting a strawberry shortcake party, I knew I had seen some cute little (strawberry shaped) bottles of bubbles at the dollar store.  I dressed them up with some custom tags I made, and a bit of pretty ribbon (the tags read  “Thank you berry much for coming to my party!  Love, Mary”).  The little guests each got one bottle of bubbles and a little paper sack of sweets (containing a mix of strawberry candies).  The bags were sealed with labels I designed and printed on adhesive backed paper.

The mommies got a little favor too, a basket of fresh strawberries (picked by my sister and myself).  Even the strawberries got dressed up with ribbon!

Last year I did a Strawberry Shortcake themed party for my “baby” (now 3), and I made the cupcakes below.  I made the little strawberries, leaves and flowers from fondant.  These would have worked perfectly for my niece’s party too, but sometimes a 24 hour day is just not enough to get it all done!

For some reason, this photo (above) is one of the most stolen photos from my Flickr page.  I’ve either discovered it myself or been notified by Flickr friends (it’s so nice to have “eyes” around the world!) of several different bakery web sites using the photo (without permission or payment), and claiming it as their own.  Needless to say, please don’t do this =)

Back to the party…

One of the details I was a bit proud of was the double layered effect of the table cloths, accented with red polka-dot bows.  The pink table cloth I already had, and the red check table “cloth” (actually plastic) I found at Michael’s (next to the strawberry cups) for $2.00.  The ribbon I already had as well (I’ve tried to tell you I have ribbon issues!)

Now, all the shopping details…

Ingredients for cupcakes (apx.) $6.00

Cupcake toppers (free download, from Sweetly Sweet)

Strawberry marshamllows $1.00 (Winco grocery store)

Strawberry cheesecake Jelly Bellies (about 1.5 lbs) $8.00 (Winco grocery store)

Fresh Strawberries (sorry, this price will be hard for you to match) $5.00 (picked by sister and myself)

Strawberry ribbon (around baskets of strawberries) $2.00 (Michael’s)

Red paper treat bags $1.50  (they are $2.99 for a pack of 16 bags at Michael’s)

Strawberry cups $2.00 (they are sold in packs of six for $1.00 at Michael’s)

Red straws $0.08  ($1.00 for pack of 100 at Michael’s)

Red check plastic table cover $2.00 (Michael’s)

Strawberry shaped bubbles $8.00 ($1.00 each at Dollar Tree)

Strawberry lemonade $2.50 (Winco grocery store)

Total cost for sweets and favors for a party of 8 = $38.08

Update:  To answer the question many of you have sent in… The center cake plates (with the ruffled edge) were a set I bought at Costco earlier this year.  As far as I know they were only sold for a very short time, and I haven’t been able to find them again.  Sorry!