Oversized food rocks my socks

So, I attempted made a cake for hubby's birthday on Tuesday. The Dr Pepper can is stuck there for reference.

I didn't plan on doing a tutorial. Hell, I was more than mildly surprised when it actually resembled a hamburger. But a nice reader decided to humor me and ask me for a tutorial. 

I don't pretend to be the Grand Poobah of cake making/decorating. I did a ton of research online, seeing what worked (and what didn't). So here is my mock tutorial and tips. 

I used an 8 inch pan for both the patty and the bun. Some people online used an oven safe domed bowl for the top bun, but I didn't like how round it looked. 

The bun is made of yellow box cake mix. Some people use two boxes, one for the top bun, one for the bottom. I used one, and sliced it in half. Just scored a line around the edges, and then started cutting through. 

The patty is made of chocolate box cake mix. When it was finished in the oven and it had cooled, there was a slight dome on the top. I chose not to shave that off, so more of the "toppings" would be shown. I read about some people using brownie mix to make the middle, but there were a lot of complaints about it not being moist enough. 

One lady used red velvet cake mix, so when the cake was sliced, it looked more like "meat". But, as much as I love my steaks medium rare, undercooked hamburger meat is the last thing I want to think of before I eat a cake.

The "ketchup" and "mustard" are just white frosting tinted with food coloring, and the "shredded lettuce" is just flaked coconut tinted with green food coloring. I just threw it in a ziplock bag and kneaded the bag to mix it up. Same with the ketchup and mustard. Frosting in a bag + food coloring + kneading. Then on those two, I just snipped the corner off of the bag and drizzled it on. 

The cheese? Just orange airhead candy, cut into triangles. I didn't put it all the way across, just stuck the triangles around the edges. Looked like melted cheddar. 

Frosting the patty was pretty easy, just chocolate frosting. Slather it on. Done. Some ladies online added crushed up dark cookies (like oreos without the frosting) to the edge that shows, for more of a char broiled look.

For the bun, I would have loved for it to be more "bun" colored, but hey, what can you do. I got a can of cream colored frosting, and added drops of red, yellow and green until it was close to what I want. Remember it's always easier to add more. I probably should have added another drop of red and yellow, but hey, what can you do. A lot of women said that if you can get the Wilton "Dora the Explorer" cake coloring kit, that the "skin tone" is a perfect color for a bun. After it was frosted, I added some chopped up nuts to the top for a "sesame seed" look.

Now, if you're a cake pro, and you like the look of fondant, you can use that of course. The cakes that you see online that are totally smooth and gorgeous and fabulous are done with fondant. However, we don't care much for the taste of it. Plus, I didn't want to spring for the supplies. No sense in paying for a bunch of supplies I'll never use again. I'm cheap smart like that.

Oh, and did you notice the paper it's on? Hubby's favorite fast food joint is Penn Station, but we don't have those in Texas. So I had my father in law swing by there and ask for some wrappers. Then just taped those around a thick piece of cardboard. Technically Penn Station is a sub shop, but hey, it's the thought that counts. And I totally scored "My wife ROCKS!" points.