Double Cheeseburger Cake

My lovely cheeseburger, my precious cheeseburger...

My little kiddos love Veggie Tales and I have to say, some of the songs spontaneously pop into my head... which was the case with this cake. You can share in my sing-a-long here. You're welcome. :)

Ok back to the cake! My first born is turning 15 this week (I won't ugly cry..too much..maybe.) I tell you, teenage boys are HARD to design cakes for! The original idea was a sculpted wizard with levitating cake slice...yeah...that didn't happen. I also had to nix the ideas of a giant sculpted tidal wave and a 3D tank with moving (and firing) turret. After I explained the whole 24 hours in a day concept, we decided on one of his favorite meals as cake - a double cheeseburger. Nothing says love to a teenage boy like protein or in this case, a cake shaped like protein.

It is made entirely out of lemon cake with fondant accents except the ketchup bottle. I saved time by purchasing a new ketchup bottle and suspending it on a very thin metal rod threaded up through the nozzle. The "ketchup" is actually a thin rope of extruded fondant I looped into cursive lettering. I kind of heart those little details!

To get the shine on the tile cakeboard, ketchup and lettuce, I used a 50-50 mix of corn syrup and vodka. The vodka evaporates, so don't worry about getting loopy but it also dries hard, a little will go a long way! I didn't want the rest of the cheeseburger to have a hard shell, so I steamed the cheese, burger patties and bun with my tabletop steamer - it also did a great job of wilting the cheese slightly.

The result was a happy teenager which makes a happy mama which makes everybody happy! :)