Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes

Aren’t these Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes adorable? Your kiddos will have so much fun helping, and there are a lot of little jobs they can do!

We always had so much fun on Thanksgiving morning. It seems we started a tradition without even realizing it.

When I was a kid, my mom always made biscuits first thing on Thanksgiving morning as she used them to make her amazing stuffing. She always made extras so my brother and sister and I could have them for breakfast.

We used to slather them with butter and jelly. What a great memory! Now I have to make biscuits on Thanksgiving morning, even if we’re going out to dinner.

Why This Recipe Works

The cupcakes portion of the recipe is super easy to make and turns out delicious. The homemade frosting is so creamy – nothing like what you’d buy at your grocery store!

Decorating the cupcakes makes a great family activity, and the kids will love showing off their creations.

If you have grandkids coming over (or you are visiting them) you can make the cupcakes ahead of time and just help them decorate. This carrier will hold 24 of the cupcakes for transporting.

This is the perfect treat to bring to school for that Thanksgiving party, and you’ll have fun with the kids while putting them together!

Enjoy the time with your kids while you can. I know when you are in the throes of parenting it seems like they will never grow up. And then they’re gone. Now excuse me while I go cry in a corner.

What You Need to Make This Recipe

To make these Thanksgiving turkey cupcakes, you’ll need flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk, canola oil, and vanilla.

For the chocolate frosting, you’ll need unsalted butter, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and heavy cream.

For the royal icing, you’ll need egg whites, powdered sugar, cream of tartar, and red and orange food coloring.

Finally, to decorate these easy turkey cupcakes, you’ll need Fudge Stripe Cookies, Oreo Cookies, candy corn, and chocolate M & Ms for the candy eyes.

Equipment

You will need three cupcake pans that hold 12 cupcakes each as this makes 30 cupcakes. These orange cupcake liners go inside the pan and are pretty with the turkeys.

You’ll also need an electric hand mixer or stand mixer and wire racks for cooling the cupcakes.

For decorating the top of the cupcakes, you’ll need individual frosting bags and tips.

How to Make the Cupcakes

Makes 24

Place paper liners in the cupcake tins. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

In another bowl beat the eggs, whole milk, oil, and vanilla.

Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients.

Beat on medium for 3 minutes or until fully mixed.

Scoop batter into cupcake lined cups until they are three quarters filled.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Take out of the cupcake pan placing on a wire rack until completely cooled.

How to Make the Frosting

Beat the softened butter on its own until smooth.

Add cocoa and powdered sugar alternately with heavy cream into the creamed butter until it becomes a smooth and thick texture. If the frosting is too thick, add more heavy cream, if too thin, add more powdered sugar.

Scoop frosting into a large pastry bag with a large frosting tip. Twist the open end of the pastry bag to push the frosting to the tip.

Frost cupcakes starting from the outside edge of the cupcake working toward the center of the cupcake.

How to Make the Royal Icing for Decorating

Combine all ingredients, except food coloring, in a mixing bowl mixing on medium speed for 4 minutes. If icing is not stiff enough add 1/4 C powdered sugar.

Divide the icing into three bowls. In the first bowl add several drops of orange gel food coloring.  Stir to blend.

In the second bowl, add drops of red gel food coloring, mixing well to incorporate the color. The third bowl of icing remains white.

Pour each color of icing into individual frosting bags with a #5 tip. Twist the open end of the bag to push the icing to the tip.

What You Need to Decorate the Cupcakes

It will be so much easier if you have icing bags and tips, but if you don’t you can improvise by using a baggie and cutting off a corner to use as an icing bag. You’ll need 1 package Fudge Stripe Cookies, 1 package of Oreo Cookies, 1 bag of Candy Corn, and 1 bag of Chocolate M&M’s. 

How to Decorate Turkey Cupcakes

Refer to the picture of the cupcakes for directions.

Lay the Fudge Stripe cookies strip side down.

Lay out the candy corn on the fudge side of the cookie, white tip down, adding some white icing for the “glue”. Allow some time to dry. (up to 30 minutes, checking to make sure they are dry) Once dry stick the cookie into the back of the frosted cupcake to secure the “tail”.

For the turkey eyes, separate two Oreo cookies per cupcake. Keep as much filling on the half of the Oreo cookie as possible. Pop the other Oreo half into your mouth. (That’s your reward for all this work!)

Using white icing, “glue” the chocolate M&M (eyeball) to the Oreo cookie half that has the filling on it. Allow time for the eyeball (M&M) to dry.

While the eyeball is drying, use the orange icing to make a dot for the nose.  Allow 30 seconds for the nose to dry.

Apply the red icing for the waddle just below the nose.  Allow 30 seconds for this to dry before adding the OREO eyes to the cupcake.  Check to see if dry by gently touching on top of the waddle.

Apply a small amount of the white icing to the back of each eye and place it on the cupcake. Refer to the picture of the completed cupcakes for the correct position of the eyes. Allow a little more time to dry before moving.

FAQ

Looking for more Thanksgiving ideas? Check out these 10 tasty Thanksgiving desserts or my mom’s Thanksgiving stuffing recipe!