I’m so excited, I’ve always wanted to make this – a hamburger cake! Not just any hamburger, but a realistic 3-D cheeseburger with fixings!
I love these cakes because it feels like I’m cooking and cake decorating at the same time. 🙂 This cake was for Pat – the perfect person for a “patty” cake!
A run down of the process:
- The cake board was masked into squares using tape then airbrushed with red food colouring. The tape was then removed to reveal the checkerboard pattern. This was allowed to dry beforehand.
- Lettuce was rolled out thinly, cut with serrated scissors to make a wavy edge, then veined. The lettuce was then painted with a combination of green and a bit of brown liquid food colouring to look more like green leaf lettuce instead of ice berg lettuce.
- Tomato slices were made by shaping red modelling chocolate into a curved wedge shape, then sliced using a sharp Chef’s knife.
- Onions were made by rolling out and cutting a strip of off white modelling chocolate, adding lines using a paring knife, then curved
- Cheese was rolled out of golden yellow modelling chocolate. Once the cheese was placed on the bun, some gentle “drips” were pulled down and shaped by hand
- Fries were made using off white modelling chocolate that was rolled out then placed in the freezer to firm up. Fries were cut out, then skins were painted on using brown food colouring and a paintbrush.
- The buns were carved out of cake, the covered in buttercream, then fondant. Textures, lines and indents were adding using sculpting tools, then the buns were airbrushed using brown.
- The patty was carved out of cake, covered in butter ream, then fondant. Texture was added using sculpting tools, then hand painted using a combination of brown and black.
- Sesame seeds were made using off-white fondant that was rolled into a very thin rope, cut into small segments, then squished down one by one.
- A little but of shine was brushed onto the surface of the patty and cheese using a thin layer of oil.
I even took a video!
On a side note – if anyone here is from Calgary, AB and if you like burgers: I suggest you check out one of my favourites places, Boogies Burgers. It’s a hip diner-styled place with HUGE burgers and the most delicious spicy fries. The burger itself is as big as the plate it’s served on, and is definitely a meal within itself. My current favorite is a single “Boog-Mac.” (The secret is to wrap the paper around the burger to eat one of these monsters.)
Wow that is so realistic and rather amazing. How long did that take you?
Wow, the attention to detail is amazing. I am always so blown away by your re-creations.
Your incredible talent is inpiring to an amature like me. Love your blog, keep up the great work!
Awesome job! Love your work! May I ask how you did the support for the cake? I want to make a hamburger cake but wasn’t sure how to manage to get the top bun on without squishing all those beautiful fondant/chocolate toppings. Wasn’t sure if you used dowels slightly larger than the patty cake (just saying that makes me laugh) and just placed the top bun on top. I know it wouldn’t be that stable if I did that but wasn’t sure if that was how it was done.
Hi Jessica,
Thank you so much for taking a look at my cakes! Yes, the bun on top has a cake board underneath it (the exact same size of the bun), and dowels run through the patty and the bottom bun to help hold it up. Hope that helps!
TY Rose! Thought something like that, I just got hope when I do mine my toppings dont get squished under the bun. Love your work and found your FB page so I can keep better track of your newest masterpiece.
A piece of art!!! Amazing work. I just found your work for the first time and I’m in love. What size is this burger cake? Just curious the size of cakes you used. It looks Gigantic from the photo!
Hi Tanette,
This cake is made from 8″ rounds.
Thanks for looking!
-Rose
Rose, no sé si vas a entender este mensaje, espero que si. Sos increiblemente talentosa y te admiro muchisimo. Soy de Argentina y me dedico realizar tortas decoradas. Espero algún día ser tan talentosa como vos. Un beso y cariños desde Argentina!
WOW is right! You did such an amazing job,
I love it…I don’t have a lot of experience with modeling chocolate but would like to start using it more.
Absolutely beautiful and you are so generous with your know-how. Thank you 🙂
Hi Rose Sen, Very impressive. Best Hamburger cake photo I saw till date. Love the details on the cake. Would love to try this one for my husbands bday. It would be great if you can share how you colored the modeling chocolate.
i’ve seen a lot of hamburger cake online and i agree with “Priya” , yours the most realistic looking and impressive attention to details. Recap: this cake was made up of 3 layers of 8″ rounds (1 for each bun and 1 for the patty). Top bun has a cardboard under it and from the patty down to the bottom bun has dowels. What type of cake did you use? butter cake? definitely not the fluffy type of cake, right? how many hours did you work on this? how much would you charge for this? re-Cake board. Do you mean you covered it with white fondant first then put tape on it before you airbrushed it with red? — with my many questions you can tell how newbie i am with baking and decorating. i really want to learn and thank you for your help. hoping to hear back from you sooner. thanks again.
Wow u did an awesome job. I attempted to make my first Hamburger today and it went well until i put the top bun on, the fondant is cracking, i guess cuz the edges of my top bun dont have any support. How did u do urs? is there a board under the fondant? Thanks, Tanya
Hello Tanya, thank you for your question. The garnished as well as the mound of buttercream helps hold the top “bun” up. I am also careful to choose a type of cake that is a little bit more dense/durable. You can see more photos of the process here:
https://rosesen.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/hamburger-cake-class/
You have an amazing talent! I am attempting this cake in the next several days. How much would you charge for this and how many would this feed? Thank you!