So what actually makes up just a plain old fashioned Cheeseburger and what fixin's do you like to put on yours?
Historically,
"It's as American as, well, American cheese. But that’s as far as the
patty’s origin gets narrowed down. Various eating establishments (mostly
in California) claim to have invented the cheeseburger. The Pasadena Sun
did due diligence in investigating the burger’s background and while it
heavily leans toward one over the other, it’s left undecided. The front runner for the American classic is “The Rite Spot”
in Pasadena, California. Legend has it, one of the cooks there, Lionel
Clark Stenberger, slapped a piece of cheese on his burger and the rest
was history. The year was around 1924, but could have been more like
1927. Backing up this assertion, the other main family laying claim to
cheeseburger’s fame reportedly worked at the Rite Spot before going out
on their own. While it took some American ingenuity to slap meat on some bread and
render it a hand held sandwich, the concept of the patty itself was
brought to the United States by German immigrants who had become fans of
the Hamburg Steak. This cheap, chopped or roughly ground beef was mixed
with fillers like breadcrumbs, suet and onions, bound with eggs and
seasoned with nutmeg. The meat, often salted and smoked for
preservation, was brought over to the United States by immigrants on the
Hamburg America Line and became a popular menu item on New York City
restaurants that catered to German sailors and European immigrants,
hungry for the flavors of home. Time Magazine's Josh Ozersky asserts in his 2008 book, "The Hamburger: A
History" that the modern day incarnation of the formed patty between
two halves of a bun is "an American invention" with endless regional
variations like the Connecticut steamed cheeseburger, Mississippi
slugburger or Oklahoma onion burger. Various inventors have laid claim
to that innovation, from Charles "Hamburger Charlie" Nagreen, a vendor at the Seymour Fair in Wisconsin in 1885 and Fletcher Davis in Athens, Texas in the 1880s, to Frank and Robert Menches
at the Erie Agricultural Fair in Hamburg, New York in 1885 (they also
take credit for the invention of the ice cream cone at the St. Louis
World's Fair in 1904), or possibly Louis Lassen at Louis' Lunch in New
Haven, Connecticut in 1900."
Aside from all the history rumors, I believe that cheese burgers date back way before that, Any time man takes meat and slaps it between two pieces of bread, you have a burger... right? and they have been doing that since the beginning of time. :)
My favorite way to eat a burger all depends on my mood. I love a thick juicy burger prepared using the same recipe as I use for my meatloaf. I like to mix a combination of meats like ground beef, pork and turkey. Some grated carrots and onions, sauce, seasonings and bread crumbs, using an egg to bind in all together. Next, I get very creative with all the things I add on top... I have never made the same burger twice!
I really like this recipe. It came together very easily and taste fantastic. I think the malt helps to give it a richer wheat flavor and yet, you don't get that heavy dry taste that you often get with whole wheat bread.
This was a crazy cake, but tasted amazing. For the most part I found the recipe to be simple just time consuming. Which in, by no means, is a bad thing... It was easy to assemble and smelled delicious while baking. Mine drooped a bit in the center and yet I found it to be completely cooked all the way through. I am not sure that I would make this same recipe again, I am more of a southern cobbler type girl. :) 
