Many of us kick off summer by grilling burgers, hot dogs and corn on Memorial Day. We wanted to add a bit of fun to this year’s menu with CUPCAKE burgers and POUND CAKE fries. With just a little bit of effort and a lot of creativity, we transformed ordinary cupcakes, brownies and pound cake into a spectacular dessert! We brought these adorable treats to a barbecue, hosted by our older sister, and we were excited to assemble them with our nephew, Dylan.
These days, Archana only bakes from scratch. But you can definitely use boxed mix if you are short on time. Archana’s go-to vanilla cake and buttercream recipes come from Toba Garrett. Toba’s moist vanilla cupcakes make for delicious “burger buns.” Thomas Joseph’s fudgy brownie recipe can be used to create the “meat patties,” and Martha Stewart’s pound cake recipe can be transformed into fries with a crinkle cutter.
Some Baked by Archana Tips:
- Bake and assemble over two days! This dessert involves a lot of baking: cupcakes, brownies and pound cake
- Use cupcake liners to get perfectly shaped burger buns (liners also make cleanup easier)
- Line the brownie and loaf pans with parchment paper
- Make sure to spread the brownie mixture evenly around the edges of the pan (otherwise you will end up with fudgy, soft brownies on the inside and crispy, crunchy along the edge of the pan)
- Make the “meat” patties after the brownies have cooled with a 2 inch circle cookie cutter
- To make the ketchup, add a tiny bit of violet food coloring to make the frosting a deeper shade of red
- Green shredded coconut makes for great lettuce (or you can pipe green frosting in a squiggly design)
- Use a crinkle cutter to make pound cake fries
- You can print the paper box tray here or buy them from Amazon
- We made regular sized cupcakes and they looked fabulous, but we think mini cupcakes might be better since this is a lot of dessert (we’ll make sliders for our next barbecue, and let you know then how they turn out)
The children (and adults) had so much fun eating the cupcake burgers and pound cake fries. Some ate the cupcakes like a real burger, others in parts and some just wanted to lick the frosting. One child even ended up using the frosting as hair gel! Our niece, aka Little Miss Memorial Day, was even grilling on her mini grill alongside our brother-in-law. We had a fantastic Memorial Day weekend, and we hope you did too!
XOXO Archana & Kanchana
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.”––Mark Twain
Vanilla Cupcakes
Adapted From Toba Garrett
Yield: ~30 regular cupcakes
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Place liners inside cupcake pan
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt
- Cut up the butter into 1-inch pieces and place them in the large bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment or beaters
- Beat for 3 minutes on medium high speed until the butter is light and creamy in color
- Stop and scrape the bowl and then cream the butter for an additional 60 seconds
- Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition
- Add the eggs one at a time
- Reduce the mixer speed
- Stir vanilla into the buttermilk
- Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk and mix just until incorporated
- Use an ice cream scoop to fill muffin pans
- Bake 15 – 20 minutes or until the cupcake is lightly brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
Fudgy Brownies
Thomas Joseph (found on marthastewart.com)
Yield: ~30 brownies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into large pieces
- 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 3 cups sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 1/4 cup flour
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Line a 10×15 baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a slight overhang on all sides
- Melt butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring until smooth
- Remove from heat, and whisk in sugar
- Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until combined
- Whisk in cocoa and salt
- Fold in flour until combined
- Pour batter into pan and spread batter along edges
- Bake until set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs, 35 to 40 minutes
- Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes
- Lift brownies from pan using parchment
- Remove parchment and transfer to a wire rack
- Let cool completely
If you prefer a more cake-like brownie, you can use Thomas’s cake-like brownie recipe.
Assemble the “Burgers”
- Cut the vanilla cupcakes in half using a sharp knife
- Use a 2 inch circle cookie cutter to cut the brownies and make “meat patties”
- Make Toba Garrett’s decorator’s buttercream and use yellow, green and red gel colors to create cheese, lettuce and ketchup
- Put the frosting in icing bags and use a circle tip to pipe cheese, lettuce and ketchup
- Pipe yellow frosting in a hollow square to create “cheese”
- Pipe red frosting in a hollow circle to create the “ketchup”
- Pipe green frosting in a squiggly design or add green shredded coconut along the edge of the brownie to create the “lettuce”
Pound Cake Fries
Martha Stewart
Yield: 1 Loaf / ~100 small fries
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 5 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Lightly butter and flour a 5×9 loaf pan
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until very light and fluffy, 7 minutes
- Scrape down bowl and beat 1 minute more
- Add vanilla, then gradually add eggs, beating well and scraping down bowl as needed
- With mixer on low, add salt, then gradually add flour, beating well to combine and scraping down bowl as needed
- Transfer batter to pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 65 minutes
- Let cool in pan on a wire rack, 1 hour
- Remove cake from pan and let cool completely on rack before slicing.
- Use a crinkle cutter to make the fries
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Stand Mixer: Kitchen Aid Tilt Head; Kitchen Aid Bowl Lift (we prefer the bowl lift model, but it’s more expensive)
Bakeware Set: Calphalon 10-Piece; Calphalon 5-Piece
Cupcake Carrier: Wilton (includes cupcake and mini-cupcake pans)
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Pound cake fries sounds something I neeed to try. These look so delicious.
omg! this is such a cute idea!
Pound cake fries sound AMAZING
What a neat idea for cupcakes. It’s so cute and would be a great little baking project.
LMAO you don’t want to know how long I stared at the picture of the “burger” trying to figure out why it looked wrong. “Is it a veggie burger?” OMG ?♀️
When I saw the first photo I totally thought it was a real burger. These are too fun for summer!
I love this! Those cupcake burgers are so cute and such a great idea for an outdoor bbq style party!
It’s all new and looks delicious. It must have been fun having the whole family gathered together for that sumptuous meal.
Looks like a great party with super and delicious food. I love the cake!
I love how you guys kick off summer. Here in our country, it just happens. No one makes a really big fuss about it. It’s so nice seeing all the preparation that you guys do. I wish we did the same.
One of my favourite recipes from now on! So easy and quick! I’m not a cooking enthusiast so anything easy quick and tasty is my moto hehe
That looks so amazing! I will have to try this with my family. I can’t wait to try it! I bet it’s going to be delicious.
This looks so yummy and easy to make. I’m always looking to spice up my cooking skills and recipes choices. Thanks for the new addition.
Can you invite me to your memorial day bbq? Lol. Those look so creative and delicious!
Wow, such a cute idea. I really looks like a burger from afar. Haha cool.. ?
Would love me sone of these. I love cupcakes and before reading the post i actually thought they were vegan burgers.