I have a request for a double cheeseburger graduation cake (June). Not sure which size to use, 16 or 18" size - and know I am going to have to support it as I stack it.
Any tips on how to do this will be appreciated!!!

How many servings do they need? That will let you know how big of a cake you need to bake.

Personally I think I would do two 2in cakes for the buns and for the double cheeseburger part I would do 1two in layers.

I've already asked her - and she doesn't care which I use! hahahahaha I'm thinking I may just use a 16" - as it's whole and not a 1/2 circle. The customer doesn't care how big - she wants "effect". This is a GREAT customer, btw! ;D

She may want effect but does she want to pay for alot of extra servings?

A two layer 16in round cake serves 100 1x2in pieces. That isn't even counting the patty part. Even if you are using the party serving size (which I never do) that is still 77 servings.

I'd go single layer for the bottom bun and double layer carved for the top. If you look at a burger bun the top is always thicker than the bottom, but curves down to the edges. If you need a piece of bun between the patties I'd go with another single layer. If you want more filling for flavor you could always torte the single layers. Depending on how many servings you need, I'd go with chocolate RKT for the burger patties. With the right amount of chocolate the RKT makes a pretty good approximation of cooked burger (the hamburger on my all dressed pizza was crumbled chocolate RKT). If I was to do mine again though I'd leave the MMF white and color it after covering the cakes. That's how I did my pizza crust and it turned out far more realistic looking than the color of my burger bun did. The burger was my very first designer cake, the pizza four months later shows how far I came in that time period, lol.

the burger http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1923472

the pizza http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1923475

My hamburger was only an eight inch, but the pizza was a fourteen, dressed up to look like a deep dish. For a good height to circumference ratio I think a 14 might be better for your double burger, but a 16 would probably work too if you adjust the thickness of your patties and especially if you don't need a piece of bun between the patties would give you more servings.

Great - thanks for the ideas. I will look at my pans and take it from there. They know A LOT of people and I did a grad cake for her last year. It was the stacked books in my pics. I do want it to look realistic - and I don't want it to break my back when I carry it - so maybe a 14 will be it....hahahaha!
Thanks again!!!

I used a restaurant tray as a base for mine so it was easy to carry. I also used parchment and foil so it looked like the burger had just been unwrapped from its takeout wrapper. The french fries made of toasted cake strips "seasoned" with cinnamon sugar, and the cup of buttercream mayo added to the realism as well.