Cupcakes

• Preheat a fan-forced oven to 140°C (275°F) or a conventional oven to 160°C (320°F). Line two cupcake tins with the cupcake liners.
• Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl and mix with a hand mixer until well combined.
• Next, add the softened butter and mix on low speed until the mixture reaches a crumbly, sand-like texture.
• Add the eggs, milk, oil, yoghurt and vanilla, and mix on low speed until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Scrape down the side of the bowl and mix for a final 20 seconds. It’s at this point that you can add any flavourings or food-gel colourings to the batter.
• Fill each liner three-quarters of the way. Using an ice-cream scoop to transfer the batter to the cupcake liners makes this a quick and easy process, and ensures each liner contains exactly the same amount of batter and that the cupcakes will bake evenly. Bake for 40–50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
• Once your cupcakes have completely cooled down, peel the cupcake liners away. Use a sharp knife or a serrated knife to cut the cupcakes into three layers. You’ll use the middle and top layer as the buns and the bottom of the cupcakes for the hamburger patty.
• To make the hamburger buns you may use a chocolate cake if you prefer, or you can use the bottom third of your cupcakes and coat it in melted chocolate. Use a fork to help coat the chocolate around the sides, top and bottom of the cake. Place it onto a baking tray lined with baking pape, and put it in the fridge until you’re ready to put your hamburger cupcakes together.
• To make your coffee mixture mix the water, icing sugar and instant coffee powder in a small mixing bowl and whisk until everything has completely dissolved. Use a kitchen brush to brush the top and sides of your hamburger buns to give them that ‘just baked’ look. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top to give it that extra special bun look while the coffee is still fresh on the cake to help it stick.
• While those are drying place buttercream frosting into two separate bowls. Colour one with yellow, and colour the other with red. Mix them well and place them in a piping bag or a zip lock bag, and cut off the tip. To make the lettuce, place the shredded coconut into a large zip lock bag and place about 2 drops of green food dye (or more to make it darker). Give the bag a good shake to help coat the coconut with the green food colouring.
• Ok so now you have everything ready, all you have to do is put it together. This is the best part. Start off by piping a little of the yellow frosting on the bottom bun (hehe), that’ll help the green coconut stick to the bun. Make sure there’s a nice amount of coconut on there, so you can see it sticking out the sides. Next, place the chocolate cake layer on top of the coconut. Now pipe a zig-zag perimeter of the yellow buttercream frosting on top of your chocolate cake layer to make it look like it’s mustard sauce spilling out the sides. and fill that up with frosting. Repeat with the red frosting and finish off by placing the top bun on top. You’re done!