Hamburger Cake: Dev's Birthday 2012

Today (April 3rd), I officially become the parent of a teenage boy!  It's been an awesome 13 years with a fair share of twists and turns, but I would never trade it for anything in the world. My son, Deven, was born 3 months premature.  Doctors and nurses weren't even sure if he'd make it, he was born not breathing, but was a tiny, 1lb 7oz, fighter!! He made it out of the hospital 2 weeks before they predicted, his size caught up by 6 months and his development caught up by 9 months.  He was reading at a 9th grade level in 1st grade.  Currently, he's in the gifted program in our school district and yet I can't even get him to DO his homework most of the time! LOL  My favorite thing about him is that he walks to the beat of his own drum and has a style all his own! 


Ok Ok - now on to the cake! 

A couple nights ago we scoured Pinterest looking for cute cupcakes. Obviously I wanted to do rainbow cupcakes but he said 'everyone at school does that!' So we came across the cutest hamburger cupcakes on Pinterest.  After getting all the ingredients at the store we come home to make cupcakes and I couldn't find my cupcake pans.  (I still think my sister has them but she swears she doesn't!) So after Deven went to bed thinking I'd stop and get store-bought cupcakes for tomorrow I made him a totally cool hamburger cake, with fries!!! 


At his school, there is a "birthday booth."  On your child's birthday he can invite 8 friends to sit with him at a special booth in the cafeteria.  Parents can bring stuff so the kids get a reprieve from cafeteria food and get to enjoy a little treat.  So tomorrow I will bring pizza (choice of cheese and pepperoni of course!), Capri Suns, full size Hershey bars for his friends and this totally cool hamburger cake!  I am so happy with how it turned out; I seriously cannot believe I am the one that made it.  It's totally something my bestie would make and I'd drool over, who knew I would be able to create this....

I used:

I box yellow cake mix

1 box brownie mix

1 squeeze pouch of Oreo frosting

1 yellow, 1 red, & 1 green squeeze pouch of frosting

Sesame seeds

1 box snickerdoodle cookie mix

1 sheet red gingham paper

Simple syrup (I made using equal parts sugar and water)

Pam Baking Spray

3 - 8" foil cake pans

Basting brush

I preheated my oven to 350 degrees and sprayed the foil pans generously with Pam Baking Spray (I'd never used it before but it worked really well!).  Next, I followed the directions for the cake mix and poured it into 2 of the foil pans. Then, I followed the directions for the brownie mix and poured a thin layer into the foil pan and used a small pan we had to contain the remainder of the brownie mix.  After baking, according to the box directions, I allowed them to cool completely...this took a little while.  

While they were cooling I made the "fries."  I mixed the cookie dough according to the package and formed them into long skinny cookies.  Next time I will make them a wee bit smaller because I didn't realize they'd plump like they did!  After the cakes and brownie are completely cool I set the gingham paper on the cake platter and inverted one of the cakes so the bottom was up. I squeezed half of the Oreo frosting in the center of the cake and place the brownie upside down on the lower cake. At this point I was amazed at how much the brownie looked like a hamburger patty! I squeezed the remaining Oreo frosting onto the center of the brownie until it reached about 2" from the edge. I smoothed the frosting so it would be even since it squeezes out a little thick.

Then I chose a spot on the edge to begin and, using the yellow squeeze pouch, I made a triangular shape pointing down off the brownie; this was my cheese.  I repeated that 2 more times and tried to space them evenly around the brownie. Next, I used the red pouch and created the tomatoes by making a half circle hanging off the side of the brownie. Finally, I used the green to form the lettuce.  Ultimately, I wanted the condiments to be distinguishable! After my condiments were in place I set the last cake on top and then squealed about how cute it was...I was happy at this point, or delirious because it was almost 1 a.m.. lol  I brushed the simple syrup on the top of the "bun" and then carefully sprinkled the sesame seeds.  To complete the cake I set the cookie/fries next to it and VOILA - a darn cute hamburger cake! (If I do say so myself!!!)

Now, it's super late/early and I just hope Deven LOVES his cake! Makes me sorta happy we couldn't do the cupcakes this time; although, I bet they'd have been super cute too!

Until next time, hope you get to...

Hide n' Go Scrap!

* UPDATE: The cake was a HUGE hit at his school today; all his friends LOVED it. Even kids walking by said something or stared. The burger and fries were devoured, and tasted good too (yes!) score for mom!

Magnus Bane's Scrapbook: My Son's School Project

Imagine my delight when my son brought home this assignment: Scrapbooking with Your Favorite Character!  I was so excited I couldn't wait to get started.


Now of course getting started didn't happen right away, we are a family of true procrastinators and while I love the project it doesn't necessarily speed things along!  While all the other kids were starting on them in class my son did what he always did, looked busy and accomplished nothing! Now there were lots of stuff he could have been doing to help us pull it all together quicker but then again we are procrastinators; he gets it honestly.  Good thing we also work wonderfully under pressure.  Sometimes I think I work better under pressure because I don't make decisions easily and when you don't have a lot of time you have to decide quicker.


The weekend before this was due I went to JoAnn's Superstore and purchased some awesome paper and embellishments, consulting with my son of course.  The purpose of the project was to demonstrate that you know your character.  We had long ago decided on Katniss, from the Hunger Games, since we'd both read that one and liked it but my son changed his mind the week before the due date.  At least he picked a character from another book we had both read, Magnus Bane from City of Bones (the Immortal Instruments series).  


Magnus is the High Warlock of Brooklyn; he is bi-sexual and loves things flashy, glitzy, sparkley and multi-colored.  Immediately glittery paper and lots of gems were at the top of my shopping list.  

I actually made the album so we could make it any size we wanted. I used chipboard and covered it with black glitter stock.  I was torn between this and making a book that appeared really, really old since he is over 800 years old (yes that's hundred, I did not add in an extra zero-lol) but in the end we decided since Magnus loves the glitz and sparkle - glitter paper wins!

I love to use multi-colored fibers to add a fun accent.  There are also charms tied in sporadically. 

We found the portrait of Magnus on Google (of course).  It is a drawing by someone we don't know but they did sign it and we thought it was a great, and accurate, interpretation of Magnus Bane!

For photos inside we found who may be cast to play him in the upcoming movie.  So all photos are of Magnus inside the scrapbook are actually Tyler Blackburn.

First required element was "Character's Favorite Poet or Poem"

Deven looked online and found Spirits of the Dead by Edgar Allen Poe.  I must say it was pretty fitting!!!

Next, "Character's Favorite Song"...of course we chose Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment.  Magnus LOVES to throw parties!!!

Then we had to show the "Character's Favorite Book."  This book isn't real but it's from the series, it's a book of magic that Magnus wants very badly, The Book of White.

Next we had to include at least 2 postcards from places your character visited in the book or would like to visit.  Deven chose the first one above, Warsaw, Poland; Here Magnus was helping the Jews that were being persecuted! We decorated with the national flower, the red poppy.

His other 2 postcards are Vegas from the '30's and the San Fransisco Party Bus 2012.  Deven wrote for the Vegas postcard that it was a representation of the statement, "I was there before it was cool." The party bus because, once again, he loves to party!!!

Finally, you could include an extra page or two that further demonstrated your knowledge of the character.  Above, we included Chairman Meow, Magnus's beloved cat.

Next, we did a birthday layout from when Magnus turned 680 years old! (I couldn't help it, I found that picture and thought it was perfect!)

Our last page was a page showing his boyfriend, Shadowhunter Alec Lightwood.  Here again we found a picture of someone who may be playing him in the movie!

Overall we were very happy with the finished product. Finally something I could help him with (not math - Yay!).  His class applauded the fact that he had a project turned in not just on-time but a day early and then cheered for his teacher to let him present it first.  After he was finished they gave him a standing ovation! I was very proud of him and hope the good feeling he had for accomplishing a great project will encourage him to complete more of his work, on time!

Until next time, hope you get to...

Hide n' Go Scrap!