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A creative cake designed to look like a hamburger, with layers resembling buns, a patty, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. It is accompanied by finger-shaped cookies arranged like fries, with a small cup of red icing simulating ketchup on the side.

Hamburger Cake

This Hamburger Cake is such a fun dessert for summer barbecues, birthday parties or picnics. Layers of yellow cake with bright frostings in the middle make it look just like a giant hamburger!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour
Servings: 16
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 box yellow cake mix prepared in 2 x 8" round pans
  • 1 box chocolate cake mix prepared in 2 x 8" round pans
  • 1 1/2 pounds fondant try our homemade fondant recipe or purchase at the store
  • 1 can chocolate frosting
  • 1 can vanilla or buttercream frosting
  • red, yellow and green food coloring the gel kind

Equipment

  • 2 8-inch round cake pans

Method
 

  1. Step 1: First, start with one of your prepared yellow cakes. This will be the bottom part of your bun.
    A round, golden-brown cake sits on a large black scalloped-edge cake board, placed on a marble surface. The cake appears to be plain with no frosting or decorations, and a textured fabric is visible in the corner of the image.
  2. Step 2: Next, frost one of the chocolate cakes with chocolate frosting. You can use both of the chocolate cakes on the burger-cake if you want or you can frost the other chocolate cake and serve it separately. I did it separately because I thought a double-burger-cake would be a little too huge.
    A round chocolate cake being frosted with chocolate fudge icing. A hand holding an offset spatula is seen smoothing the frosting on the top of the cake. A tub of chocolate fudge icing is in the background on a marble surface.
  3. Step 3: Place the chocolate cake on the "bottom bun".
    An image of a round, two-layer cake with the bottom layer appearing to be a plain sponge cake and the top layer decorated with thick, textured chocolate frosting. The cake is placed on a metallic scalloped cake board, set against a blurred background.
  4. Step 4: Mix in some yellow/red food coloring into some of the fondant (about ¾ c. worth) to make a nice orange cheesy color. Roll out the fondant really flat, cut into a large square, and place over the chocolate cake.
    A partially covered cake with a plain, lightly browned layer of rolled fondant being applied to the top. The cake has a golden-brown base and is frosted with chocolate icing. It sits on a reflective, scalloped-edge cake board.
  5. Step 5: Mix some green food coloring into some of the fondant (maybe a cups worth) and roll it into a long roll (like a snake), flatten out and crinkle using a salad fork or anything you can think of to get that crinkle-y look. Circle it around the cake.
    A round cake with a golden-brown base, topped with glossy chocolate frosting and decorated with a green and beige fondant ribbon arranged in a wreath pattern. The cake is placed on a scalloped-edge silver cake board, set against a light background.
  6. Step 6: Color and roll out fondant to make the onions and tomatoes and place over the lettuce.
    A creatively decorated cake made to look like a pizza. It features realistic-looking toppings made from frosting or fondant, including green leaves resembling spinach, red slices mimicking pepperoni, and white rings imitating onions, all atop a brown frosted layer.
  7. Step 7: Separate the vanilla frosting into 2 bowls. Color one bright red and the other bright yellow (ketchup and mustard), put in separate plastic bags and snip off a corner so you can frost the cake.
    An overhead view of a cake decorated to look like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle face using colorful fondant, placed on a black scalloped-edge cake board. Nearby are two piping bags filled with red and yellow icing, and a pair of black scissors.
  8. Step 8: Be generous with the "ketchup and mustard" and make it look nice and messy.
    A cake decorated to look like a hamburger sits on a reflective silver board. The cake features layers mimicking a bun, patty, lettuce, cheese, tomato slices, and condiments, with colorful icing replicating ketchup, mustard, and other toppings.
  9. Step 9: Carefully place the second yellow cake over the top and top with sesame seeds. (Don't worry, you won't taste them). Another option is to roll out some fondant and it like sesame seeds for the top.
    A round cake designed to look like a giant hamburger bun, complete with sesame seeds sprinkled on top. The cake sits on a dark, scalloped-edge cake board on a light gray marble surface.
  10. Step 10: Optional: Use our sugar cookie recipe (see link in notes below) to make some French fry shaped cookies to serve on the side. Sprinkle sugar on top before you bake them for the "salt" look.
    A baking tray lined with parchment paper holds numerous evenly spaced, uncooked breadsticks that are sprinkled with flour. The breadsticks are laid out in rows, three of which are placed horizontally at the bottom, while the rest are vertical.
  11. Step 11: Display the cake with the fries on the side and small bowls of red frosting for "ketchup" to dip your cookies.
    A burger-shaped cake with layers resembling a sesame seed bun, patty, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. It is accompanied by cake fries in a basket and a small container of red icing, mimicking ketchup. The setup is on a metal tray with a white napkin underneath.

Notes

  • Serve “Sugar Cookie Fries” on the side by using our easy sugar cookie recipe or our sugar cookie bar recipe.
  • The recipe times do not include the time for baking the cakes, just the assembly time. 
How to make cake look more realistic:
  • Sesame seeds – Sprinkle the top of the cake with real sesame seeds. You can’t taste them and they really make the “bun” look realistic.
  • Make it look real – When you frost the edges of burger cake or a layer of chocolate cake, you can sprinkle a little extra cocoa powder around the sides to mix up the color and make it look more like a grilled patty.
  • Fondant recipe – Use fondant to create lettuce, onions, and cheese. For a quick and easy fondant, use our homemade fondant recipe. It’s also cheap and has only 4 ingredients!
  • Mini burgers – You can even make these into mini burgers by making cupcakes in muffin tins or cut round cookie cutters. Follow the same process, but just cut the cupcakes in half and layer in the hamburger patty, lettuce, cheese, ketchup, and mustard.