April Fools’ Food Pranks

5 from 3 votes
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Feed and fool your friends and family this April! These April Fools’ Day Food Pranks – our Candy Burgers and TV Dinner Cupcakes are easy to make, fun to serve, and taste so yummy!

Two photos of cupcakes and cookies that look like mashed potatoes, vegetables, and hamburgers.

There’s nothing we love more than a good April Fools’ prank, and these food tricks are a silly and fun way to “fool” your family members and friends. Serve one of these treats up for a good joke on April 1st. It’s a joke in the best of taste, and you’ll be the favorite Mom or Dad on the block. We have TV dinner cupcakes, mini candy hamburgers, a giant hamburger cake, and ice cream cone cupcakes. We have some of the best food fake-outs for you right here! And the best part is, they actually taste really yummy!

Scroll down to see the recipes for our Mini Candy Burgers and TV Dinner Cupcakes. Click on the links below for our Hamburger Cake and Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes.

  • Hamburger Cake: This Hamburger Cake is such a fun dessert for summer barbecues, birthday parties or picnics. Layers of yellow cake with bright frostings in the middle make it look just like a giant hamburger!
  • Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes: The cupcake cooks directly inside the cone to make a fun ice cream illusion—without all the melting mess of scoops of ice cream.
  • Chocolate Mice: Chocolate mice are the cutest little Christmas candies! You will love the tasty combination of a milk chocolate Hershey’s Kiss and chocolate-covered cherry. Kids love the adorable mouse face that is fun to make and eat.

April Fools’ Mini Candy Burgers

Cheeseburgers made out of vanilla wafers, peppermint patties, coconut, and frosting.


The idea for these darling Candy Burgers came from a friend I used to work with back in the day. This is a great April Fools recipe for kids. No baking involved, just assembling (see the recipe below). Kids love tricking their friends with these. Cut up little apple slices to look like mini-fries and you have a full-on “Happy Meal”! What are you waiting for?

Ingredients that make the cheeseburger April fools treats.

Suggestions for Mini Hamburgers

  • Make sure your peppermint patties aren’t too big. The mini York patties work great or any kind that are just bigger than a quarter.
  • To get that “lettuce” look toss a little shredded coconut with a drop of green food coloring in a bag.
  • Use a little bit of honey on the top of the ‘Nilla wafer to get the sesame seeds to stick, making it look like a hamburger bun.
  • These are fun to serve with some apples cut into matchstick size, for a mini burger and fries “meal”.

How to Make April Fools’ Day Mini Hamburgers

A board full of mini candy hamburgers

April Fools’ Mini Hamburgers

5 from 3 votes
Feed and fool your friends and family this April! These April Fools’ Mini Hamburgers are easy to make, fun little bite size treats that are yummy and sure to get some laughs!
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course candy, Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12

Ingredients

  • 24 Nilla Wafers
  • 12 Peppermint patties not the huge York ones, the ones that are a little bigger than a quarter
  • 1/2 cup Coconut shreds or flakes combine with green coloring in a plastic bag and shake until coconut turns green
  • 1 cup frosting divided, red and yellow
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • 1 Tablespoon sesame seeds

Instructions

  • To assemble the burgers, choose two Nilla wafers.
    Nilla wafers on a sheet
  • Spread icing “ketchup or mustard” on the bottom bun, add a peppermint patty, and sprinkle with coconut lettuce. Add a squirt of icing ketchup or mustard to hold the top bun in place.
    yellow frosting added to the bottom bun of the candy hamburgers
  • Spread a little tiny bit of honey on the top of the bun and sprinkle on a few sesame seeds (they should stick in place because of the honey).
    Red frosting added to the top bun of the mini candy hamburgers
  • Arrange the hamburgers on a plate or wrap in foil.
    A board full of mini candy hamburgers

Nutrition Information

Calories: 169kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 1gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 70mgPotassium: 48mgFiber: 1gSugar: 18gCalcium: 9mgIron: 1mg

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April Fools’ TV Dinner Cupcakes

A side view of the April fools cupcakes.

We got the idea for April Fools’ TV Dinner Cupcakes from “Hello, Cupcake!” There are so many cool ideas in this cookbook. It’s incredible how much the cupcakes look like an actual TV dinner! Here is a few tips for making these fun cupcakes:

  • Use boxed cake mix to speed along the process. The best part is decorating so save some time and effort by using your favorite cake mix for the cupcakes.
  • From start to finish, a dozen cupcakes took us a little under an hour (including baking time). So these really aren’t time consuming and they look like you spent hours decorating!
  • Check out the recipe card below for ideas on candies to use for the cake decorations. For the peas and carrots we love using lime Runts and orange Starbursts, Skittles can also be used. They look just like real veggies!
  • For the drumstick cupcakes, either crushed Corn Flakes cereal or graham crackers work perfectly, so use whatever you have on hand.
  • Mashed potatoes and gravy never looked more realistic when you use store bought caramel sauce. Drizzle it over the top of fluffy vanilla frosting and your eyes will deceive you! These are so much fun to make and eat.
The April fools cupcakes on a white plate with a fork on the side.

How to Make April Fools’ TV Dinner Cupcakes

A tray of April Fool's cupcakes

April Fools’ TV Dinner Cupcakes

5 from 2 votes
Feed and fool your friends and family this April! These April Fools’ Food Pranks are easy to make, fun to serve and are super tasty too!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course cake, Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 6

Ingredients

  • 6 vanilla cupcakes baked in silver foil liners

FOR THE DRUMSTICKS:

  • pretzel rods
  • 1 cup vanilla frosting
  • 3 plain store-bought doughnut holes
  • 1 cup cornflake crumbs or graham cracker crumbs

FOR THE MASHED POTATOES:

  • 1 yellow fruit chew such as Laffy Taffys or Starbursts, cut into a 1-inch square
  • 3 tablespoons vanilla frosting
  • 1/2 tablespoon caramel ice cream topping heated

FOR THE PEAS AND CARROTS:

  • 3 orange Starbursts cut into 1/4-inch cubes
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla frosting
  • green food coloring
  • 2 tablespoons hard green candies Runts work the best

Instructions

To make the drumsticks:

  • Break off about 3 inches of a pretzel rod and place the broken end into a donut hole.  
    A donut hole on a piece of pretzel rod
  • Frost the donut hole and about ½ inch of the pretzel rod giving it a drumstick shape.
    Donut holes on a piece of pretzel stick, dipped in frosting.
  • Place cornflake crumbs in a medium bowl.  Roll the “drumstick” in the cornflake crumbs making it look like a fried piece of chicken.
    Donut holes on a piece of pretzel stick, dipped in frosting and rolled in cornflakes
  • Gently press frosted cupcakes in crumbs to cover completely then place a drumstick on top of each cupcake.  
    Donut holes on a piece of pretzel stick, dipped in frosting and rolled in cornflakes on a cupcake
  • Place cupcakes in a 6-cup disposable aluminum cupcake baking tray.
    A tray of April Fool's day cupcakes

To make the mashed potatoes:

  • Spread vanilla frosting on 1 cupcake, mounding it slightly. Use a small spoon to create a well in the center of the frosting. Place cupcake in aluminum baking tray. 
    A cupcake with white frosting
  • Place yellow fruit chew (smoosh it around the sides so it flattens and looks more like it is melting) in the well at an angle. 
    Cupcake with white frosting and a yellow starburst in the middle
  • Drizzle caramel sauce on top of cupcake so that it fills the well and spills over like gravy.
    A cupcake with white frosting and caramel sauce with a yellow starburst in the middle

To make the peas and carrots:

  • Color vanilla frosting with green food coloring and spread on top of 1 cupcake.
    A cupcake with green frosting
  • Arrange orange fruit chews and green candies on top of cupcake, pressing them into the frosting. Place cupcake in aluminum baking tray.
    A cupcake with green frosting topped with pieces of orange starbursts and green runts

Nutrition Information

Calories: 274kcalCarbohydrates: 46gProtein: 1gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 194mgPotassium: 38mgFiber: 1gSugar: 35gCalcium: 11mgIron: 1mg

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About the author

Erica Walker

Erica lives in Boise, Idaho with her husband, Jared, an attorney, and her three beautiful girls. Beyond the world of recipes, she loves adventuring with everything from kayaking, to cruising, to snowboarding and taking the family along for the thrill ride.

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Comments

  1. I had intentions of adapting a basic one-bowl chocolate recipe into a two tone batter, but then I remembered that the PBS show, Everyday Baking, had a recipe for chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with butter cream frosting.

  2. 5 stars
    I the Hello Cupcake book too and love it. It’s good to know that it didn’t take you 5 hours to decorate, even though it looks like it could have! Beautiful job.

  3. 5 stars
    Wow, these turned out awesome. The mashed “potatoes” are my favorite – they look soo real. I’m going to have to save this for next year!

  4. I love these! I have the Hello Cupcake book too and love it. Your cupcakes look as good, if not better, than the ones pictured in the book. Impressive!