Today I am bringing you some sweet turkey cupcakes! For the past several days I’ve been staring down the candy aisle…hoping that a cute Thanksgiving idea would pop up and slap me in the face. Well, finally, I’m happy to report that while the Mounds bars that I bought only made it into my secret candy drawer…I actually did make good use of Hershey Kisses! Wahoo! With a little help from candy coating & almonds, we have some quick and easy turkeys for you to gobble gobble~
Let’s do it!~
First, our key turkey parts…
Hershey Kisses (with the points lopped off), almonds (mine are not roasted–I like the lighter color), a food coloring pen for eyes (icing or coloring gel would work too), and melted candy coating (I used chocolate “bark” candy coating from the grocery store–Ambrosia is the brand, but any brand is fine.)
After melting the white candy coating, I spooned it into a piping bag and snipped off the very end. This eliminates the need for a piping tip. I piped my feathers onto a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. You’ve seen me do this before ;0). I prefer to freehand, but if you’d like to make a template so that all feathers are uniform, you could just slide that template beneath the waxed paper and trace over it.
While the feathers were still soft, I pressed on the turkey body. This was our Hershey Kiss minus the point (and flipped so the smooth side is up).
Next, I piped a bit of the chocolate (brown) candy coating onto the top of the body. This acted as our glue for the almond head. I used brown so that any excess would be less noticeable than if we had used white candy coating as the glue.
Almond heads are secure! Make sure that you add the almonds as soon as you pipe your chocolate “glue”, as it hardens fairly quickly. Then, I placed them in the freezer for a few minutes to firm them up! Remember that you can always pop the turkeys (on the cookie sheet) in the freezer or fridge at any time during this project if you’d like to firm them up.
Here, I’m giving them all beaks with the white candy coating. After that, I began drawing on their eyes with the food coloring pen. Things are coming together!
Because of our warm kitchen, I popped the turkeys into the freezer for a few minutes more (to firm them up) and then pulled them one by one to place on our cupcakes! (Our chocolate buttercream swirls are piped with a Wilton 2D tip)
Don’t they look cute?!! Still…we felt like something was missing… what do you think?
Turkey Wattles! Yes. Well, actually…I call it a wattle or a “gobbler” ;0) but in my quick Google search, I found that the red flappy on the beak is called a snood? Who knew? Not me…but I’m just glad that our turkeys have them –it adds some cuteness ;0) — I used a small round tip (Wilton tip 3) to add that last little missing piece of the puzzle (using red buttercream).
Here they are!~
I hope you give our turkeys a try this Thanksgiving! Not only are they cute & festive, but they taste great too! After making them, we thought that they would be so funny not just on cupcakes but on top of a cake too–a whole bunch of them! ;0) — I could Google what a bunch of turkeys is called…but I’ve already reached my turkey research limit for the day. ;0) –Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by! xo
So very cute. Ive hoped for a cute Thanksgiving idea for a party I am atteding and this is perfect. Now I am hoping for a terrific Christmas themed cupcake for a family cupcake challenge. I draw a blank other than snowflakes.
Melissa, These are so adorable!!!!! Your blog is so simple and easy to follow. Love that your blogs are like that!! This year I am doing those other little turkeys with the carmel body. I have to tell you, I am so glad I joined your site. You do absolutely beautiful work and stunning cakes!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Maureen Zaccaria, Moe Z Cakes
I LOVE your turkey cupcakes. Do you have a recipe for the beautiful fudge icing that’s underneath the gobblers? Thanks!
Leslie
These are some of the cutest little turkeys i have ever seen! I will definitely try these!
Very creative… as always, well done.
Do you have a recipe for the sugar dough (white fondant)? If you do, please share it with us..
Thanks.
Hi Melissa, The bags you use to put the candy after you melt it. Are those just the regular disposable decorating bags? Thanks so much!! These are so adorable!!
I love your ideas. I will definitly make some for Thanksgiving!!!
Oh my gosh, these are the cutest things!!!!!!! I have never seen anything like this before. I can’t wait to try them. You are truly a very talented lady. I love your lessons as you are so down to earth with your decorating & I thank you for this. You go Girl!!!!!
I love the turkey cupcakes! I will try in my home to make this.
Thanks so much everybody!! I’m so glad that you like them! @Maureen, I used plastic disposable piping bags (the same that I use for buttercream) for the chocolate. @Hala- I didn’t use fondant with these, but we do have a Marshmallow Fondant recipe on our site (or you can Google MMF) and Michelle Foster’s is a popular recipe also that you can find online.– When we do use fondant, we usually use pre-made, Satin Ice brand.
these are the cutest! I was planning on making feathers out of candy melts and then you posted this! thank you! :)
Absolutely adorable! Definitely making these for Thanksgiving!
I love this idea! I may try to pull it off this weekend.
You also made me curious, so I did some research and a group of turkeys is a rafter, though most people just call it a flock of turkeys.
These are soooo cute!!! I made these Pilgrim Hat & Acorn Holiday Thanksgiving Cupcakes! Here are some pics on my FB page!
link to facebook.com
Thanks for the cute “turkey topper” idea. I just had to try it out on some chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes frosted with chocolate chip cookie dough icing, then topped with my cute little “gobblers.” I added a bit more color in the feathers, and I found some Hershey bites which were flat discs of chocolate so I didn’t have to cut the tips off the Hershey Kisses. Everyone loved them! Here are some pics on my FB page:link to facebook.com
This is another photo of my “turkey” topped cupcakes from my FB page:link to facebook.com
Sorry CC & Yaneri! I just got notification of your posts today! @CC- Good to know, lol. Next year I will make reference to the rafter ;0) — @Yaneri- Your hat toppers are adorable!!! @Valerie–Great job! These came out wonderful (and sound delicious!!) ;0)