Gobble, gobble! These Turkey Cupcakes are perfect for an after-meal dessert for those who don't love pie. I can't believe people like that exist but they do and kids will love how fun these little turkeys are.
These are so easy to create and if you want, go ahead and omit the fondant and just do all chocolate buttercream. Kids are going to love making these for themselves or treat them to a little turkey surprise.
I love making cupcakes for all seasons and so adding Turkey Cupcakes to the list was definitely a check on my list!
Supplies needed for your Turkey Cupcakes
- Store-bought Cake Mix
- Kraft Cupcake Liners
- Dark Chocolate and White Fondant (mixed)
- Candy Corn
- Candy Eyes
- Reese's Pieces Orange Candies
- Red Decorating Icing
Store-bought cake mix has saved my bacon too many times. There are ways that you can easily adapt the box mix to have your cupcakes more fluffy or taste a little bit more homemade. Good vanilla, as Ina would say, is a perfect ingredient to add to your store-bought cupcake mix.
Use a smooth surface to roll out your fondant. I like the taste of Satin Ice Fondant or you can make your very own Marshmallow Fondant that's really easy. Use cornstarch or powdered sugar to prevent sticking and keep it moving so that it doesn't stick in any places on your board.
Make your buttercream extra smooth by sifting your confectionary sugar beforehand. Getting the butter extra creamy and almost white before you add in your sugar can also drastically affect the taste of your buttercream in a good way.
When mixing your butter, you want to use unsalted butter and have it still be a bit cold. If you can press your finger into the side easily and it's still cold, that's perfect!
Spread your frosting on your cupcakes and then top with the fondant topper. Again, you can omit the fondant if you want and just make it all chocolate buttercream, some kids will like it better this way but the looks will be more homemade than bakery-like.
Place the remaining chocolate buttercream into a piping bag and then squeeze a dollop on the top of the turkey cupcake to create the head. Add the candy corns to represent the turkey feathers and if you've used the fondant, just dot the ends of candy corn with the buttercream so they'll stick.
Add the candy eyes and then the beak with the orange chocolate candies. I'm a big fan of Reeses Pieces so that kind of candy would work better for this because there isn't any writing on the candies like M&M's do.
Use your red decorating icing to add the gobbler on the turkey face and then, if you want, place the cupcake into a more festive cupcake liner and serve.
These Turkey Cupcakes are so fun to decorate with kids. They're simple enough that younger kids can create them with ease and they look adorable. Serve these as your next Thanksgiving dessert or even have them as class treats to celebrate fall.
Turkey Cupcakes
Ingredients
- Chocolate cake mix + all the ingredients required to make 12 cupcakes normally, cake mixes yield 2 dozen cupcakes so you can divide cake mix’s + ingredients’ measurements in half
- 5-6 oz. chocolate rolling fondant alternatively, you can color white fondant with brown gel food coloring
- 1 stick butter softened
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2-3 tbsp milk
- 24 candy eyes
- 90 + pieces of candy corn
- 12 orange candy-covered chocolates
- Red decorating frosting
Instructions
- Prepare cupcakes according to cake mix’s directions. Allow for them to cool before decorating.
- Roll out chocolate fondant with a rolling pin, until it’s about ¼ of an inch thick.
- Using a circular cookie cutter about 2.5 inches in diameter, cut out 12 fondant circles. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together softened butter, sugar, cocoa and milk. Start on low speed and gradually increase to high. These ingredients will make up the chocolate buttercream.
- The buttercream is complete once all ingredients are well-combined, smooth and form semi-stiff peaks.
- Use an offset spatula to frost a thin layer of chocolate buttercream on each cupcake.
- Scoop the remainder of the buttercream into a piping bag with Wilton #12 piping tip attached. Set aside.
- Press one fondant circle on each frosted cupcake.
- To assemble one turkey cupcake, one at a time, pipe out a dot of chocolate buttercream on the back of each candy corn.
- Assemble two rows of candy corn arches at the top of the cupcake. About 4-5 for the top arch and 3 for the bottom.
- Frost out a dollop of chocolate buttercream just underneath the candy corn rows.
Nutrition
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