These desserts might not BE desserts!

Some April Fool's jokes can be mean. But no one will mind if you play these five clever food tricks, whether it's serving soup that looks like coffee, ice cream you'd swear is a baked potato or meatloaf that looks like a cupcake.
The illusions are easy - you don't need any special skill or ingredients to put them together, though there are a few items of equipment that will help, like a potato ricer, a decorating bag and some way to froth milk. And it's all completely edible - delicious, in fact.
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These "hamburgers" are made with vanilla wafers, chocolate and coconut.
Hamburger Cookies
There are many recipes for making little cookies that look like hamburgers using vanilla wafers for buns and thin mints or other chocolate cookies for the meat. I think this is much more realistic-looking.
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1 box (12 oz) vanilla wafer cookies
½ cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup milk
½ cup sweetened flaked coconut
½ teaspoon water
Green food coloring, red and yellow decorating gels
Melted butter and sesame seeds
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  Put aside 48 wafers to make the buns. Place remaining wafers in a large resealable bag and crush into small pieces using a rolling pin. Combine crumbs with powdered sugar and salt in medium bowl.
  Microwave chips and milk in a microwave-safe bowl on high for 45 seconds. Stir until smooth.
  Pour chocolate mixture into wafer mixture; stir until combined. Cool for 10 minutes. Roll mixture into 24 1-inch balls. (about 1 teaspoon each). Place on wax paper-lined baking sheet. Flatten slightly.
  Combine coconut, water and green food coloring in small, resealable plastic bag. Seal and shake to coat with color.
  Place 24 wafers rounded side down on baking sheet. Top each with 1 burger patty. Top each patty with 1 teaspoon colored coconut. Squeeze decorating gels on top of coconut for mustard and ketchup. Top with remaining wafers. Brush top of wafers with melted butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

This food will fool you
Meatloaf "cupcakes" are topped with mashed potatoes and a cherry tomato.
Meatloaf Cupcakes
Bake your favorite meatloaf recipe in muffin tins. While baking, make mashed potatoes or use instant or frozen. Just make sure they aren't lumpy. Load potatoes into a pastry bag with a fluted tip. When meat is cooked, remove from tins and place each muffin in a paper cupcake liner. Swirl potatoes on top of muffins. You can return to a 300 degree oven to re-warm the potatoes and keep warm until serving. Top with half a cherry tomato.

This food will fool you
Ice cream rolled in cocoa with marshmallow cream and green sprinkles resembles a baked potato.
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Ice Cream Baked Potato
Coffee, vanilla or other light-colored ice cream
Cocoa or hot chocolate powder
Marshmallow fluff
Heath bar
Green sprinkles
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Make potatoes by placing two scoops of ice cream next to each other, then smoothing into potato shapes. Return to freezer. Roll in the cocoa, or use a sieve to sift it onto each potato. Top with scoops of marshmallow fluff for sour cream, broken Heath bar for "bacon" and green sprinkles for chives. (I couldn't find green sprinkles; only red and green, so I had to spend some time separating them.)


Strawberry sauce, Ferrero Rocher candies and a sprinkle of white chocolate top
this ice cream tribute to spaghetti and meatballs.
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Ice Cream Spaghetti and Meatballs
½ gallon French vanilla ice cream
2 16 oz cartons frozen strawberries, thawed
Ferrero Rocher candies
White chocolate
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The trick to this is to get the ice cream to the right temperature: It has to be soft but still holding its shape. You'll need a potato ricer, a gadget that forces cooked potatoes (or ice cream) through holes by squeezing down a handle. (It's worth buying a ricer just so you can create this illusion, in my opinion, but it also makes great, fluffy mashed potatoes)
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Put a pasta bowl in the freezer to chill. Leave the ice cream at room temperature until it is quite soft but not melting. Spoon into a potato ricer and squeeze into the bowl, letting it pile and swirl like pasta. (It helps to have two people so you can keep the ricer continuously filled.) Immediately return to freezer. Drain the strawberries, saving the juice. Purée berries in the food processor or blender. Add reserved liquid, if needed. Spoon some of this sauce over the ice cream. Add a few unwrapped candies for meatballs. Grate white chocolate on top as you would Parmesan. Serve with the rest of the sauce.

Mushroom Cappuccino
You can use any cream of mushroom soup for this recipe, as long as it's dark-colored. I like this one, with roasted mushrooms, which intensifies the flavor.
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1½ pounds mushrooms, sliced thin
1 garlic clove, minced
4 shallots, chopped
½ teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
6 cups chicken, vegetable or mushroom stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup skim or low-fat milk
Dry sherry
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Heat the oven to 275 degrees. Combine the mushrooms, garlic, shallots and thyme in a large baking dish. Season with salt and pepper and toss. Dot with the butter and drizzle on the oil and lemon juice. Bake for 1 hour. The mushrooms should be very tender and the juices thickened.
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In two batches, purée the mushrooms with some of the stock and pour into a saucepan with all the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add just enough cream to turn it a light brown, coffee color. Steam the milk (skim or low-fat creates better foam) with an espresso maker (or heat, pour into a French coffee press and churn the handle up and down until the milk foams.) Serve soup in coffee cups, add a dash of sherry and spoon foam on top. (People can add more cream at the table if they want.)