Supersize me: burger cake edition

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

"Look! Up in the sky!"

"It's a bird!"

"It's a plane!"

"No, It's a giant-super-burger-cake-that-would-totally-feature-on-epic-mealtime-had-I-put-any-bacon-on-it!"

I will let the pictures do the (majority) rest of the talking, but I do promise you this burger has some strange qualities that can help you leap tall buildings in a single bound. I'm sure this burger could if you threw it hard enough :)



I do have to admit, I actually went to MacDonald's and bought a burger for the purpose of this photo. It has broken my no-MacDonald's-for-five-years-ban (apart from that one time I made my boyfriend buy me a Happy Meal last summer. I wanted it for the toy. Honest.).

But this time, I actually ate the burger.

And I liked it =O

For those who have any interest, I am now back at University. Yes, Final Year. The big Dissertation. The big Job Market. The Real World is impending. Oh dear, better bake as much as possible now then!


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The 'buns' aregénoise cake (rather complicated to make but much, much better than sponge cake) and the 'burger' is devil's food cake. The tomato and lettuce are coloured marzipan and the cheese is coloured icing. I made the cake as one big burger but you could make them into lots of small ones and put them in burger boxes and try to pass them on to your friends as real burgers. I'm sure they'll appreciate these more :)

A couple more tips is to let the marzipan dry first before assembling it, otherwise the red food colouring might drip over the burger looking like someone's had a nasty accident with the salad knife whilst chopping the lettuce.

I've used toasted sesame seeds just like in an Actual Burger. I even tried eating it with a knife and a fork. And then I thought to myself, "who even eats burgers with knives and forks?", so then I gnawed at it instead.

Can you tell the difference? Didn't think so.

Unfortunately for the recipe I was a little bit stupid and left this recipe book at home, 3 hours and a very carsickish journey away to where I am now. So I have had to try and remember and adapt another very similar génoise cake recipe. Don't worry! Have faith in me!

Burger Cake Genoise Sponge Cake 70 g/6 tablespoons butter, melted 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 8 large eggs 200g/1 cup granulated white sugar 100 g/1 cup sifted plain flour 1 teaspoon baking powder Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and line, grease and dust 2 x round 22cm cake tins with flour. Put the sugar and eggs in a heatproof bowl and sit over a pan of just simmering water. Beat with an electric whisk until hot then remove from the heat and continue to beat continuously for 10 minutes. The mixture will double in volume and should fall in ribbons on the surface when dripped from the whisk. Melt the butter until it starts to turn golden (called a beurre noisette) then with the whisk running add the melted butter. Sieve in the flour and fold very gently into the mixture with a large metal spoon; be careful not to over-mix as this will prevent the cake rising properly. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out on a wire rack to cool. Devil’s Food Cake 50g/ ½ cup cocoa 225ml water 100g/8 tablespoons soft margarine 275g/ 1½ cup  caster sugar 2 eggs 175g/ 1¾ cup plain flour 1/4tsp baking powder 1tsp bicarbonate of soda Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and line, grease and dust 1 x round 22cm cake tin with flour. Whisk the cocoa into the water until smooth. Set aside. Place the margarine in a bowl and gradually whisk in the sugar until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Lightly whisk the eggs, then gradually whisk into the creamed mixture until evenly blended. Sift the flour with baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and fold into the creamed mixture alternatively with the cocoa and water. Divide the mixture between the tins and level the surface. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 30-35 minutes or until well risen and firm to the touch. Allow to cool in the tins for a few minutes, then turn out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Marzipan layers 1 250g pack marzipan Slight the marzipan in half and put in two bowls. Squeeze food colouring (red and green) into the two bowls respectively. Squish the balls of marzipan around in the bowls for a bit, then take out and put on a chopping board, or something you don’t mind getting stained. Roll out with a rolling pin (you may want to either grease the chopping board or dust with icing sugar to prevent sticking) and assemble on top of the ‘burger’.