These straightforward-to-make turkey cupcakes are absolutely adorable (and rich)! It’s a great project to do with kids, a fantastic way to use up leftover Halloween candy (and a great excuse to make our favorite chocolate cupcakes and chocolate buttercream), and we guarantee that guests will gobble them up!

Sure, pumpkin pie is traditional and expected on Thanksgiving, and maybe this is just us, but we've always felt that Thanksgiving dessert is seriously lacking in the chocolate category! Enter these cute chocolate turkey cupcakes! Just whip up (or buy) your favorite chocolate cupcakes, and use some candy to create fun little turkey cupcake toppers.

They look so regal sitting up there on the chocolate cupcakes, totally festive and worthy of a Thanksgiving dessert. Plus, these are a reliable project for kids if you have little ones that want to help out in the kitchen. (Or, big kids that love eating discarded pieces of candy!)

Cupcakes and frosting

You can use any of your favorite chocolate cupcake and frosting recipes, or even pick up a dozen from the grocery store or your favorite bakery.

Naturally, we have our favorites! These are our favorites for each:

Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes (you can omit the ganache centers to keep it simple)
Our Favorite Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (a single recipe will be enough for this project!)

List of supplies for decorating

Just some candy and colored icing. If you can grab the little tubes from the baking aisle at the grocery store, that’s the straightforward route to go!

Oreo cookies
Whoppers (malt balls)
Miniature Reese’s peanut butter cups
Candy corn
Assorted icing – yellow, white, and red
Chocolate sprinkles

Step by step directions

So, how do you do this? It’s fairly simple and doesn’t take long at all!

There are detailed instructions in the recipe below, but here is a speedy overview:

Bake and cool the cupcakes, then frost the top of the cupcakes in an even layer of chocolate frosting
Attach candy corn tip-side-down into the Oreos to make the turkey feathers, then attach another Oreo cookie so the turkeys can sit up.
Add a mini peanut butter cup (that has a sliver cut off one end) for the body, then add a Whopper for the head.
Now the little details! Add the beak and eyes, then once those are set, flip it right-side-up and add the feet and gobbler. Place on top of your cupcakes and you’re all done!

Ready-made alternatives

Love the idea of turkey cupcake toppers but don’t want to assemble the candy version? There are cute and festive versions on Etsy here and here, as well as edible ones on Amazon.

Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes
Total: 1 hour

Ingredients

12 chocolate cupcakes
1 batch chocolate frosting
Double Stuf Oreo cookies
Whoppers
Miniature peanut butter cups
Candy corn
Yellow icing
Red icing

Method

Bake and cool the cupcakes, then frost the top of the cupcakes in an even layer of chocolate frosting.
Put a little bit of chocolate frosting around the middle of the Oreos on one end (this helps the candy corn stick a little bit better). Then place 5 pieces of candy corn tip-side-down into the Oreos.
Put a dab of chocolate frosting on the bottom of the Oreos (on the opposite end from the candy corn). Then place these on top of another Oreo cookie, so they are perpendicular to each other. It helps to have them sitting against a wall or a solid surface so they can set up without falling over. Allow the frosting to set so they stick together.
Meanwhile, cut a small sliver off one end of your miniature peanut butter cups.
Flip the cookies over so the candy corn is on the bottom, but keep them pushed up against the wall or your solid surface. Place a dab of frosting on the miniature peanut butter cups and place them on them Oreo cookies so that the ridged part of the peanut butter cup is facing up (the same direction as the candy corn).
Place a small dab of frosting on both the top of the peanut butter cup and the Oreo cookies and attach a Whopper so that it is touching the frosting on both the peanut butter cup and the Oreo.
Cut off the tip ends of candy dorn. Add a dab of yellow icing to the middle of the Whopper and attach the candy corn tips for the beaks. Add two yellow dots for the eyes and then a chocolate sprinkle or mini chocolate chips for the center of the eyes.
Once the beak is secure and set, you can flip the turkeys over. Use icing to draw some little yellow feet. Use red icing to add a gobbler under the turkey's beak. Carefully set them on top of the frosted chocolate cupcakes and serve!

Notes

Idea from Our Best Bites.

Photography by Becky Winkler.