Hamburger Birthday Cake: Red Velvet Brownie Cake
Bubby had a Big Birthday coming up! I always try to tailor his cake to whatever he's into or sometimes even obsessed by at the time. Last year it was Twilight Zone and before that it was Wheel of Fortune. Right now, it's all about hamburgers! He'll grab a burger anytime he can and loves Burger King commercials. Yes the child who grew up eating homemade organic foods and hardly ever being served beef can't get enough of fast food.
He didn't have any specific requests regarding the flavor. I thought a darker cake might work better than a butter-colored cake, so I decided to make a Red Velvet Cake. Since it was only our tiny family celebrating this year, a 6-inch cake was the right size, and I chose to make this cupcake recipe from Sally's Bake Blog. Making a cupcake recipe, which usually yields two dozen, in two 6-inch pans makes for two thick cake layers, and what I really like about this is that you only need one layer of frosting in between. This cuts down on the use and consumption of frosting.
I'd make this recipe a few years back as cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. It was absolutely delicious. In looking at the recipe now, I was surprised to see that you have to separate the eggs, beat the whites and then add them to the batter. I didn't remember that at all. I decided to skip this step, both to save time and because I wanted a sturdier cake. In fact, Sally's recipe uses cornstarch, which turns the all-purpose flour into cake flour. I didn't actually realize this until the cakes were baking! Then I worried the bottom layer wouldn't be able to support the brownie layer in the center and the top layer. However, that didn't turn out to be a problem.
The recipe calls for 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil. I usually use avocado oil, which we use a lot in our house and keep in stock. So I was very surprised to find we didn't have enough for the recipe. I ended up using 1/4 cup avocado and 1/4 cup of an avocado/oil blend we have. So it was probably mostly avocado oil anyway, and it certainly didn't make any difference taste-wise.
I divided the batter into one 6-inch cake pan and one glass bowl and matched the rim of the cake pan perfectly and has a really nice rounded shape. I figured this would make the top "bun" of the hamburger look more realistic, and saw it done on several YouTube tutorials. I was proud of the way I cut a piece of parchment paper to line the bottom of the bowl, making it fit by cutting "petals" all around. Only after the cake layers were in the oven did I realize the bowl might not be oven-safe! It wasn't a Pyrex brand bowl, but part of a set from Walmart, and the bottom of another bowl from the set wasn't marked as being oven-safe. So, I opened the oven door and removed the bowl so as to transfer the batter into a regular cake pan. Since the first layer was already in the oven, I ended up baking the two layers separately. I was flustered and put a cake strip on the outside of the second pan, even though it actually would have been helpful for the cake to have a bit of a dome.
The first layer baked at 350F for 30 minutes but although the edges were crispy the center was still raw. I added another 4 minutes at 335F. The second layer, which came out of the bowl and contained more batter, baked at 345F also for 30 minutes.
The third layer was a Brownie layer to represent the "hamburger" in the center of the cake. I used this recipe from The Cupcake Project. I made half the recipe and baked it in a 6" pan for 23 minutes, using a cake strip. Here's that recipe (not halved):
3/4 cup AP Flour
3/4 cup Sugar
5 tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 cup Butter
(Not in the recipe but I added 1/4 tsp of Salt and 1/4 tsp of Baking Powder.)
Heat oven to 350. Combine ingredients, beat until just combined, and bake in 8" square baking dish for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
The next day, I put the cake together. First, I made buttercream with just enough cocoa powder to give it a color reminiscent of a burger bun. I carved the red velvet cake layers to make the look a bit more like a burger bun and assembled the cake using very little frosting. There was only a thin layer in between the bottom layer and the brownie, and no buttercream between the brownie and the top layer, ie "bun". I figured this would save buttercream so I didn't have to make a second batch, and as a bonus we would eat less buttercream.
Once the cake was chilled I tried to paint the buttercream to give it more of the look of a bun. I diluted some brown food coloring in lemon extract and used a brush to paint on some marks. However I quickly realized it was going to take a lot of work and a lot of food coloring, and that the lemon extract was strongly affecting the taste. So I let it alone and decided to just have the part of the layer I'd painted face the back of the cake.
To make the garnishes for the cake, I colored fondant and cut shapes to represent tomatoes, lettuce and cheese. I was amazed to get the exact color of cheddar cheese! For the cheese I just cut rectangles with a knife. For the lemon I mixed green with yellow food coloring in the fondant until I got a light green color similar to lettuce. I took pieces and flattened and shaped them with my fingers to look ruffled and uneven like lettuce would be. For the tomatoes I needed to use a lot of red food coloring. I cut shapes with a circle cutter then cut those into tomato "halves" to represent slices poking out of the bun. I took some of the leftover yellow fondant from the "cheese" and rolled tiny pieces into ovals to represent the tomato seeds. I did the fondant work the night before assembling the cake, and figured I wouldn't need to use tylose powder and they would dry in time. However, the Wilton fondant is so malleable and the weather was warm and so in spite of the air conditioning and in spite of leaving them exposed, the next day they were still extremely soft. I knew they would droop if I put the cake together too soon, so I was forced to wait until right before we went to sing Happy Birthday to assemble the cake. Note taken for next time when using Wilton fondant.
Finally assembling the cake was easy and fun. I did take the time, before putting the parts together, to roll out tiny pieces of white fondant and press then down onto the top layer, to represent seeds on the burger bun. After the cake was assembled, somehow one side looked higher than the other but I managed to press it down til it looked level.
Bubby was delighted with his cake! It was so much fun to see him with it. We sang and he blew out the candles and made his wish. I hope it comes true, whatever it was.
As far as taste, the idea of having a brownie cake layer in the center is a great one and I loved the combination of textures. But unfortunately, this particular brownie recipe is not one I'd use again. I found it to be not as much cakey as it is dry. The red velvet layers were dry, too, and not as delicious as I remember. Maybe in that other instance it was the cream cheese frosting that made them so good. And for the dryness of these baked goods, I'm not sure if they were overly mixed, overbaked or if there's a problem with the oven - perhaps.
The best part about this cake was how it looked. I'd been wanting to make more 3D cakes and I was pretty happy with it from that perspective.
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