Cheeseburger Cupcakes

I will post these cake recipes later. But the short and sweet on these cupcakes is easy.
 Make one batch of chocolate cupcakes and one batch of yellow.
With a sharp knife, cut the yellow cupcakes in half.
Then cut the chocolate cupcakes in half.
I made a big batch of cream cheese frosting (Recipe posted below), and divided into 3 bowls. 
Using red, yellow, and green food coloring, I made my "condiments."
Put a small amount of frosting on the center of the bottom yellow cupcake.
It will act as a glue. Place a chocolate cupcake half on top.
Using a flat frosting tip for the yellow frosting, I drew a square around the chocolate "burger." 
I made sure to make the corners obvious so it looked like cheese.
Then I used a star tip to create a little leafy lettuce with the green frosting on each side.
Finally, I used a pointed tip to create the "ketchup."
Place the yellow cake bun on top.
I used large white cupcake wrappers as "burger wrappers."
These are cute, fun, and so tasty!


Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting enough for 30 cupcakes
1 cup of unsalted butter, softened
1 8oz pack of cream cheese, softened
1 whole vanilla bean, split open with a knife and vanilla beans scraped out (Amazon.com has 16 beans for $15)
3-4 cups confectioner sugar (I try and use as little as I can, but making sure it's pipeable)

Cream butter and cream cheese together on medium speed until texture is uniform. Add 2 cups of confectioners sugar and beat on low speed until sugar is all incorporated. Add 2 more cups and again mix on low speed until sugar is all incorporated. Add scraped vanilla beans (get every last bit) and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes, occasionally scraping down sides. The key to really creamy frosting is to NOT beat too much air into the frosting but rather, on a medium speed, beat it until it is creamy.