Cheeseburger Cake!

A few weeks ago, my daughter came home with a newsletter regarding their school BBQ.  It was going to be filled with activities, such as a petting zoo, carnival games, a giant bouncer aaaand a 'spin to win cake walk'.  I had no clue what the cake walk was all about, but when the form came home asking parents if they would be willing to donate a cake, guess who signed up?

I had a few weeks to think about what I was going to do, but of course, I left it till the night before to actually come up with an idea.  At first I thought about doing a hot dog -- since it was a bbq after all.

But then I remembered how it has been a mission of mine to make a HAMBURGER CAKE, and this was finally my opportunity to do it!

And before I get into how I made it, I'm going mention that I did NOT make cake batter from scratch for this project (boxed caked mix).  Nor did I make buttercream icing from scratch (thank you Bulk Barn!).  This cake was being DONATED...not SOLD.  And so I wasn't necessarily concerned about taste, or quality for that matter... for me, this was all about being creative.  

What I used:

1 box of white cake (plus eggs and oil)

1 box of chocolate cake (plus eggs and oil)

1 large container of white buttercream frosting (from Bulk Barn)

1 medium container of chocolate buttercream frosting (from Bulk Barn)

40-50 mini white chocolate chips

rolled fondant (approximately 1/4 cup)

food colour gels: green, red, yellow, orange, brown

various piping tips / bag

misc: cardboard cake base and box if transporting

How it was made:

I'll start with the cheese, as this is what I got the most questions about...

I used fondant.  I had received a 'skin tone' variety pack of fondant as a gift.  I rummaged through to find the most neutral color -- 'pink flesh tone' I think it was called.  I added bits of sunshine yellow and orange colour gel to the fondant until I reached the hue closest to a Kraft cheese slice:

I then rolled out the fondant onto wax paper, as large as I could go with the amount of fondant I had: 

I cut it into four triangles, and set it aside

I prepared the cake mix and split the mixture into two 8" round pans.  While they baked, I started tinting the buttercream for my BUNS:

 I started with a skin-toned colour and continued to add brown, orange and yellow colouring gels until I reached my desired bun colour.

 When the cakes were done baking, I cooled them completely (put them in the fridge to speed up the process).  When cool, I used a serrated knife to cut the bulgy top off of ONE of the 8" cakes:

This was going to be my bottom bun

 I frosted the bottom bun and placed it on the cardboard cake base and put it in the fridge

 I did the same thing to the top bun

 I placed mini white chocolate chips on the top bun, to mimic sesame seeds and placed it in the fridge as well

 I mixed the chocolate cake mix and baked two 8" rounds.  Apparently I buttered the pan too much, which made the edges come out all wonky.  It's alright though because I used a knife to trim the edges anyway, to round each 'patty' out to look more like...well...a PATTY!

 Then the fun began!  It was time to layer everything together - starting with the bun base, and then one chocolate patty.  I slathered on some chocolate buttercream:

 ...and how about those fondant cheese slices:

 Next patty and another layer of chocolate buttercream:

 And finally, the top bun!...whoa, that's BIG! (approximately 10" high)

Using the left over buttercream, I tinted batches of green, red and yellow.  

 Using varying piping tips, I randomly added lettuce, ketchup and mustard to the burger cake: 

 AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!  

A 4-layered cheeseburger cake!

Too tall for the box!...Oh well.  We managed.