Hamburger Cupcakes!

Deceiving, isn't it? 

It's absolutely freezing in my house right now. The roommates and I are pretty sure the heater is broken, and hopefully we can get it fixed soon before we all freeze to death in our sleeps. Yes, I know I live in California, where winter doesn't exist, but that doesn't mean it can't get ridiculously cold at night. We've already blown out the power a few times from use of our individual space heaters (it tripped twice during the writing of this post), so at this point, it's bundle up and curl up in a tight ball in bed.
The one decently warm room in the house though, is the kitchen. With all the stove and oven and other heat-related appliances, it really does seem a whole lot hotter in that room. Which is part of the reason why I spent most of my night there tonight, baking and cooking.

Of course, I never really need an excuse to spend time baking. This week's project was a fun one - hamburger cupcakes! No, not cupcakes made of hamburgers. Cupcakes made to look like hamburgers instead!

The concept behind these little sliders was actually pretty simple. I simply mixed up a batch of yellow cake cupcakes (following the directions on the Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix box) and a batch of brownies (Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge Brownie mix). For the cupcakes, I did swap out the 1 cup of water for 1 cup of buttermilk, and for the brownies, I swapped the water for almond milk.

The cupcake batter was poured straight into the greased tins without any liners and the brownie batter was baked in a 9x13 pan. After these were baked and cooled, I began the assembly process.

First, I cut the cupcakes lengthwise in half. Then, I cut circles out of the brownies (using the opening of a shot glass as a template) and flattened the circles to form hamburger patties.

Next, I piped yellow and red frosting (store-bought) around the edges of the patties for ketchup and mustard.

Then, I mixed a few drops of green food coloring with flaked coconut to make the "lettuce" and added that on top of the patties.

Finally, I put the other half of the cupcake back on top. I combined a bit of honey with water and brushed the tops of the cupcakes with it, then sprinkled sesame seeds on top.

And there you go! Almost like the real thing, except better, because this is made of cupcakes and brownies! :)