Easy Turkey Cupcakes With Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

These Turkey Cupcakes make a fun treat for the Thanksgiving dessert table.

They are easy to make with either a box cake mix or your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe, then decorate with a delicious chocolate buttercream frosting and candy corn.

Need more Thanksgiving cupcake ideas? Try this Pecan Pie Cupcake recipe. If you are looking for other ways to use up leftover candy corn, check out our Fall Puppy Chow recipe.

Turkey Cupcakes Recipe

Aren’t these turkey cupcakes adorable? I think they are so cute and fun – you know the kids will love them!

They are the perfect treat to go along with fun themed turkey activities like making these coffee filter turkeys for Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving.

They’d delight kids at a classroom friendship feast too!

I love that they are easy to decorate so you can use any cupcake recipe you want.

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Ingredients for Turkey Cupcakes:

The ingredients and amounts listed below are for decorating 12 cupcakes. If you are using a chocolate cake mix, that will usually make 24 cupcakes.

So, you can either plan to bake only 12 cupcakes OR make more buttercream frosting and have enough supplies to decorate 24 of them.

• 12 chocolate cupcakes
• 5-6 oz. chocolate rolling fondant (or you can use white fondant and mix it with brown gel food coloring)
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2-3 Tablespoons milk
• 24 candy eyes
• 90+ pieces of candy corn
• 12 orange candy-covered chocolates
• Red decorating icing

Helpful Baking Tools:

• Pastry Mat
• 2.5 inch circle cookie cutter
• Electric hand mixer
• Piping bag and decorating tips
• Wilton decorating tip #5 round
• Wilton #12 round decorating tip
• Cupcake Carrier

How To Make Turkey Cupcakes

First, either prepare cupcakes according to boxed cake mix directions or your favorite homemade cupcake recipe. Allow for them to cool before decorating. You will need one dozen cupcakes to decorate.

Roll out chocolate fondant with a rolling pin until it’s about ¼ of an inch thick.

Use a 2.5 inch circular cookie cutter to cut out 12 fondant circles. Set aside.

How to Make Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together softened butter, sugar, cocoa and milk. Start on a low speed and gradually increase to high. 

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 rest of the buttercream into a piping bag with a Wilton #12 decorating tip attached. 

Tips for Making Buttercream Frosting 

• I find setting the butter out on the counter to soften prior to baking helps. You don’t want the butter too melted, which can happen if you use the microwave. 
• You may also want to wait to add a little milk at a time after creaming the rest of the ingredients together. Too much liquid can make the buttercream runny.
• If it’s runny after mixing, let it chill in the refrigerator before frosting the cupcakes.

How to Decorate Turkey Cupcakes

Press one fondant circle on top of each thinly 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 for the turkey’s feathers. Place about 4-5 candy corn for the top arch and 3 for the bottom.

Pipe out a dollop of chocolate buttercream frosting just underneath the candy corn rows.

Add two eyes on the buttercream dollop, followed by the “beak” (one orange candy).

Using Wilton piping tip #5, pipe a little strip of red decorating frosting right next to the orange beak.

Serve and enjoy!

More Thanksgiving Recipes:

• Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce
• Thanksgiving Dinner Menu Ideas
• Cheesy Potato Bombs
• Crock Pot Cheesy Potatoes