Create these delightful Burger Cupcakes! This fun and imaginative recipe features no actual meat patties, making it vegetarian-friendly. With featured ingredients like vanilla cake, vibrant frosting, and playful toppings, these Hamburger Cupcakes are not only delicious but also easy to make, perfect for a creative baking adventure!

Looking for more cupcake recipes? Try my Boston Cream Cupcakes or my Matcha Cupcakes!

hamburger cupcakes with toothpicks on a white plate

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Top Tips
Substitutions
Variations
Storage
Ingredients
FAQs
Burger Cupcakes

Top Tips

Wait until the cupcakes are completely cooled before cutting them in half to prevent them from tearing or falling apart.
Prepare the frostings in advance and chill them. This way, they'll be ready to use as "catsup" and "hamburger sauce" when making another batch of hamburger cupcakes.
Similar to a real hamburger, insert a toothpick into the center of the hamburger cupcake to keep the "patty" and other toppings in place.

Substitutions

Cake Mix: Instead of using a vanilla cake mix, you can make your own homemade vanilla cake batter from scratch using flour, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract, eggs (or egg substitutes for a vegan option), and a plant-based milk of your choice.
Red and Yellow Food Coloring: If you prefer to avoid artificial food coloring, you can use natural alternatives. For red, you can use beet juice or pureed strawberries. For yellow, you can use turmeric powder dissolved in a small amount of water.
Sesame Seeds: If you don't have sesame seeds or prefer not to use them, you can omit them or replace them with other toppings such as chopped nuts (e.g., almonds or walnuts) or shredded coconut for texture.
Vanilla Frosting: You can use store-bought vanilla frosting or make your own homemade frosting using powdered sugar, vegan butter or coconut oil, vanilla extract, and a splash of plant-based milk. Adjust the sweetness and consistency to your liking.
Chocolate Frosting: Instead of chocolate frosting, you can use cocoa powder mixed with powdered sugar and vegan butter or coconut oil to create a chocolate-flavored frosting. Adjust the sweetness and thickness as needed.
Shredded Coconut: If you don't have shredded coconut or prefer a different texture, you can use crushed graham crackers or digestive biscuits to simulate the appearance of hamburger buns.

Variations

Cheeseburger Cupcakes: Add a small square of yellow fondant or yellow frosting between the "patty" and "bun" layers to mimic cheese in a cheeseburger cupcake.
Bacon Burger Cupcakes: Create strips of crispy bacon using brown fondant or brown frosting and place them on top of the "patty" layer before adding the "bun."
Sundae Burger Cupcakes: Instead of traditional hamburger toppings, use colorful frosting, sprinkles, and a maraschino cherry on top to create a dessert "sundae" burger cupcake.
Double-Stack Burger Cupcakes: Make two layers of "patties" and "buns" for a double-decker burger cupcake.
Monster Burger Cupcakes: Create oversized "patties" and "buns" using larger cupcakes to make monster-sized burger cupcakes.
Burger Cupcake Bar: Set up a cupcake decorating station with various frosting colors, toppings like candy, sprinkles, and edible decorations, and let everyone customize their own burger cupcakes.

Storage

Cool Completely: Allow the cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before storing them. This prevents condensation and ensures they don't become soggy.
Airtight Container: Store the cupcakes in an airtight container to maintain freshness and prevent them from drying out. Make sure the container is large enough to accommodate the cupcakes without squishing the frosting or toppings.
Refrigeration: If the cupcakes have perishable fillings or toppings (such as cream cheese frosting or fruit fillings), store them in the refrigerator. However, keep in mind that refrigeration can sometimes dry out cupcakes, so it's best to bring them to room temperature before serving.
Room Temperature: If the cupcakes have non-perishable fillings or toppings (such as buttercream frosting or fondant decorations), they can be stored at room temperature in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.

Ingredients

yellow cake box mix
brownie box mix
sesame seeds
unsweetened shredded coconut
red frosting
yellow frosting
green food
red food coloring
yellow food coloring

Instructions

Bake the yellow cake box into cupcakes. These cupcakes will be used to resemble the "hamburger buns".

Follow the baking instructions in the yellow cake box mix and bake as required:

putting yellow cake mix batter in cupcake pan

Before popping the cupcakes into the oven, sprinkle a generous amount of sesame seeds, just as what you would see on top of a regular burger bun:

sesame seeds on top of yellow cake mix batter

Let the cupcakes cool down completely after baking and start working on the brownies. The brownies will resemble the "burger patties" in the hamburger 🙂

With the dry ingredients, add in the eggs and oil:

adding oil to the ingredients of brownies for hamburger cupcakes recipe

Mix thoroughly until you see no lumps:

mixing the ingredients for brownies to be used in hamburger cupcakes

Place in a rectangular baking pan and bake as required:

After brownies are baked, cut into circles:

cutting circle brownies using a cookie cutter

Slice cupcakes into halves:

cutting the cupcake in half for hamburger cupcakes

Layer bottom cupcake, brownies,

holding a circle brownie for hamburger cupcakes

Get the shredded coconut and drop a few green food color and mix. This will resemble the lettuce in a hamburger:

putting green food color on coconut shreds

To make the hamburger sauce, make a buttercream frosting and color them red and orange to make the "catsup" and hamburger sauce:

mixing the butter and cream cheese for hamburger cupcake frosting

Drizzle generously the "hamburger sauce" on top:

adding red and orange frosting to the hamburger cupcake

Place the cupcake top to serve as the top of the hamburger bun, just like so:

Doesn't that look so fun?!? You can serve this on birthday parties, Thanksgiving parties, or a sweet "treat" on April Fool's day!

assembled hamburger cupcakes on a white plates

FAQs

How to keep cupcakes from falling in the middle??

Use a toothpick

How to stop cupcakes from sinking in the middle??

To prevent cupcakes from sinking in the middle, ensure you measure ingredients accurately and avoid overmixing the batter. Additionally, bake the cupcakes at the correct temperature and avoid opening the oven door too often during baking.

How many burger cupcakes does this make?

Approximately 12-18 cupcakes

More fun cupcake recipes you can try:

One of my goals for this year was to try more fun desserts for my YouTube channel! So I was searching around google and I came across a picture similar to this and thought to myself I have to try this!

I had a little trouble with frosting the cupcakes because the piping bags I used, which were Wilton piping bags had holes! On top of that, I accidentally picked up the wrong cake box mix so these cupcakes were very moist! Honestly whenever I film, whatever can go wrong will go wrong. When I took out the cupcakes out of the oven, I was a little disappointed because the cupcakes were too yellow, maybe I should have used a different cake box mix.

I may have mentioned this before, but I am learning how to be a better food photographer. After I took multiple pictures of the cupcake hamburgers, I decided it needs a little color! I piped a red squiggle down the plate, but it was not uniformed so I just made the picture worse, haha. Do you have any tips for garnishing the plate?

Thanks for reading, let me know what you would like me to blog about!