Awesome Hamburger Cake!

This cool hamburger cake makes a great centerpiece for a kid's party - I used to request it for my birthday all the time! It's both impressive and delicious, and guaranteed to wow your guests. Better yet, it's so easy to decorate anyone can do it. On to the instructable!

You will need:

- A 500g packet of fondant

- 1/2 cup of rice bubbles

- Green and yellow food colouring (I used liquid, but paste would probably work better)

- 160-ish grams of round, red lollies (I'm using some strawberry lollies from the bulk bins at my local supermarket, but anything goes! Just use whatever you can find)

- Two chocolate cakes (This recipe is one of my favourites:

http://thecookssponge.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/its-... )

For the chocolate icing

- 3/4 cup of icing sugar

- 1 Tbsp melted butter

- 1 Tbsp cocoa

- Hot water, to mix

For the coffee-flavoured buttercream:

- 125 grams softened, cubed butter

- 1 1/2 cups sifted icing sugar

- 2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 Tbsp boiling water

Yes, this buttercream does have coffee in it! But I promise it won't make your kids bounce off the walls - it's just in there to give the icing a bready sort of colour. If you're really opposed to giving your children coffee, you could reduce the amount to one teaspoon, or simply put in food colouring or cocoa instead. It won't look as good, but you'll have a clean conscience :)

Special equipment:

- A hand mixer (a stand mixer would work too)

- Lots of baking paper

- A ruler

- A set of measuring spoons

- A kebab stick or chopstick

Line a large board with a sheet of baking paper - this will be your work surface. Split your fondant into two even-sized blobs and put one aside. Take the other one, make a hollow in the middle, and tip a few drops of green food colouring in. Knead it through. Keep adding more food colouring until you've got the colour you want! If the fondant starts getting too sticky, sift a bit of icing sugar onto it.

Repeat the process with the second blob of fondant and the yellow food colouring. To achieve the colours I got, I had to use about 10 drops of green colouring and 8 drops of yellow.

Dust a sheet of baking paper with icing sugar and split your green fondant into two even balls. Working with one piece at a time, roll out between two sheets of baking paper to form a 4 mm thick circle. Don't worry if it's not perfect - mine certainly wasn't! Next, grab your chopstick and indent your circle to make a frill pattern. Cut out the centre of the circle and slice into five pieces. Pinch the top edge of each piece together and put on a plate to dry. Repeat with second ball.

Shape the yellow fondant into a roughly square block. Roll it out between two sheets of baking paper to form a 3mm thick square. Using a ruler as a guide, trim off the sides to give it four straight edges. It should look like a giant slice of processed cheese. Keeping the baking paper underneath, slide it onto a plate and put it aside.

It's time to shape the cakes! Lay your cakes out side by side on a board and decide which will be the patty and which will be the bun. I chose the left one for my bun and the right one for my patty. We're going to shape the bun first.

Using a bread-knife, trim off the edges of the cake to give it a more rounded look, then slice the cake in half horizontally. Grab a spatula and lift the halves gently onto a plate. Crumble the off-cuts slightly and put them into a bowl - we'll use them later.

Now for the patty! This is super simple - just cut the top off, leaving you with a round about an inch and a half high with a flat top. Put this on a plate as well.

Put your butter and sifted icing sugar into a large mixing bowl and beat to a cream, then add your coffee and beat for 3 minutes or until light and creamy. I couldn't resist a close-up! :) This is my absolute favourite icing - it's so delicious and a really nice colour too.

First, we need to make the chocolate icing. Put the cocoa, melted butter, and icing sugar into a bowl and give it a good mix, then add as much hot water as you need to form a thick paste.

Grab your set-aside cake off-cuts and crumble them even more, then pour them into a large dish.

Put your trimmed cake onto a bowl (you don't have to do this, but it makes icing it easier) and ice the outside edge with your chocolate icing. Then carefully pick it up and roll it in the cake crumbs! When it is coated to your satisfaction, put it onto a plate and set it aside.

Now for the best part - it's time to decorate!! I've broken this into two steps to make it easier to understand.

Grab a plate or a cake board and spread a blob of buttercream on it. You don't have to do this, but it helps hold the cake in place. Put the base of your hamburger onto the board, and ice it with buttercream! Don't worry if your icing job isn't very neat - you won't be able to see the base very well so it's not a big deal.

Drape the lettuce leaves over the base, and put the patty on top of that. Ice the top of the patty with the leftover chocolate icing.

Flip the piece of baking paper with your cheese on it upside down and drape the cheese over the patty. I got some chocolate icing on the top of my cheese, but as you only see the sides of the cheese when the cake is finished, it doesn't matter.

Arrange the red lollies in a circle around the outer edge of the cake.

Ice the top of your 'bun' with the rest of the buttercream and carefully position it on top of the lollies.

To finish, lightly press a few rice bubbles on the top to resemble sesame seeds.

You've finished your burger! I hope you enjoyed this instructable as much as I enjoyed making it :) I really like hearing what you think of my 'ibles, so please comment below with any feedback/thoughts!! Have an awesome day!